Life Hacks: using cash

One of the everyday tasks covered in London Vision’s Managing Sight Loss sessions is handling cash and the challenges it brings when you are blind or partially sighted. Below you will find some of the tips and tricks discussed:

• If it takes you a little longer to pay when you are in a shop it really doesn’t matter. You are a valued customer, so take your time!
• Organising your cash before you leave home can really help.
• Use a purse which allows you to separate your coins or place coins in different pockets.
• If you pay with a note, you can place change into a separate pocket for counting and sorting at home.
• When collecting your cash from the bank or post office make sure it is in denominations of your choice.
• You can try folding different notes in a certain way as they are given to you, so you can easily identify them when you take from your purse or wallet.
• Recognising notes, visually the £5 is bluish green and has no tactile marks. The £10 is brown in colour and has two clusters of tactile dots in the top left corner side of the note with raised lettering. The purple note is the £20 with a three dot cluster in the top left corner. The £50 is red and has four clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner. You can visit the Bank of England website for detailed descriptions and accessibility features.
• Each note has a different width. Place your forefinger and middle finger together in the fashion of a pretend gun and slide the notes between your fingers width ways. Depending on the length of your fingers, the £5 will sit close to the first joint and the £10 above the joint. Practise at home to work out how far up your fingers each note comes.
• Smart phone apps can be used to identify notes.
• Contactless cards can be a quick and easy way to pay for items up to the value of £100 (end of 2021), so no need to use cash.
• Certain banks offer ‘preloaded’ cards, bracelets or key fobs which can be used to pay using contactless technology.
• You can also use Apple Pay or Android Pay to use your smartphone for contactless payments. Voice over or talk back will let you know how much you are to pay.
• If you don’t like entering a code into a card machine you can make arrangements with your bank to have a chip and sign card.
• Templates are available to guide your pen when writing a cheque.
• A signature guide will let you find the correct place to sign.

If you would like to learn more about ways to make everyday living a little easier, why not join a Managing Sight Loss session? You can get in touch with us via email on info@londonvision.org or on the phone: 0203 761 3651.

Want more resources? Go back to the Managing Sight Loss course resources page.