![Looking to save money? Try using cash for these 3 purchases.](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/09/04/9f49d24a-b2d5-45ed-8934-76c584656ffb/thumbnail/1200x630/d021881c482ad9dea4873866a004c580/gettyimages-1749808234.jpg?v=631cf5f2b4e8db7f9bc428589402864d)
Looking to save money? Try using cash for these 3 purchases.
CBSN
In the age of credit card loyalty rewards, tap-and-go payments and "buy now, pay later" plans, the idea of using cash to make purchases might have the quaint whiff of yesteryear. Yet paying cash for certain goods and services can actually save you money, personal finance experts say.
With total credit card balances in the U.S. reaching $1.1 trillion in 2024, now may be a good time for consumers to whip out their greenbacks or their debit cards, particularly when it comes to the following expenses.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206121934.jpg)
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206040405.jpg)
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206003957.jpg)
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.