The phrase "you guys"...

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I used to say it a lot when i was younger despite the fact that it made no sense for a mixed group. strangely i'd don't say y'all a lot. i'm a weird southerner.

^ ah, yes i say dude and man a lot these day.

I use it regardless of gender.

I use it sometimes, in very informal company, but I usually use "you all". At work I usually use the Spanish you plural to address groups because it's just more natural.

I often use it for groups of girls/women at work (customers), it seems to fit best in the setting really.

I seem to always use that phrase, and I can't think of anything else to use other than y'all that would have the same meaning. Maybe I should just stick with y'all, or instead of "hey you guys" I could just say "hey" -- OR I could try to use their actual names instead, people seem to like being referred to by their own name.

But my default setting always seems to be "hey you guys" and I don't know why.

I always say "you guys" regardless of whether I'm talking to men or women.

While it is fine in informal, first-name-basis settings, I would not address a group of, say, visiting female college professors as "you guys." If I were culturally an American Southerner, it would be okay to use "y'all" with this group, but since I'm not, I'd probably go with the same words, differently arranged: "all of you," as in "if all of you will please step this way...." I used to host historic walking tours and this worked fine for me, no one either lost or offended.

Of course, the real culprit here is the English language for lacking a clearly plural form of "you" and requiring an add-on word when the plural must be emphasized.