Do you keep cash at home?

Do you keep cash at home? I know so many people who don't keep any cash on hand at all which I think is just stupid. Even if there is just a power outage in the area for a couple of days how will they buy the things they need or travel if necessary? Debit/credit card machines do not work when there is no power!

 

I practically keep my cash at home tucked away in a small nook. I find it a hassle to take cash to banks and other financial institutions preferring to keep it in my mobile electronic money wallet. The downside is that financial discipline might hit a low ebb and the person has a reduced sense of the need to stock up.

 

I wouldn't say that people are stupid for not carrying cash. I'd probably use the word uninformed or ignorant. I do not carry cash on me at all. From time to time I will pull out money from the bank, but majority of the time I am using my debit card. I suppose a large power outage isn't something that I've ever thought about. Luckily, I have enough supplies at home to last me a good few weeks. I don't think I'd be in need of cash in a time of crisis. I try to stay stocked up on supplies prior to a disaster hitting.

 

I keep a bit of cash at home in case of emergencies. However in my day to day life with running errands, I feel safest if I have less than $20 on me. I'm scared of being robbed and there is always rare a chance maybe I'll run across something I really want to spend that on like a food vendor, artist, even a beggar, I don't know? I feel safest out and about with a little bit of cash on me, and a bit more stashed at home, but not a ton. I keep my emergency stash to $100-300 I guess.

 

When we first started re-organizing our finances, we decided that we would keep a good sum of cash on hand at all times. So, yes we do keep some cash, and feel it is very important to do so. If we use any of it, we replace it right away. We live in the country and it is not convenient to just run to town usually. When we need an electrician or plumber, they like to be paid with cash. Anytime you hire help for around the place, they want cash. There are certain situations where cash is the best way to go. It is convnient to keep some cash, and it offers a measure of security for us.

 

I was just talking about this with my sisters the other day. One of my sisters never carries more than like $5, maybe $10 on her. She always uses her debit/credit cards. Well, wouldn't you know, she lost her card (never found because she threw it out with the trash) and the bank was closed so she couldn't get a temporary card until the next day. I was like well what if it were more than one night or what if something else happened and you needed cash? She didn't know what to say other than "Well, that's why you're here", um. no ma'am. I will not always be, you need to be more prepared. I always keep cash on hand and at home. The same way you prepare for a disaster, whether natural or not, is the same way you should prepare for a cardless system because to some that is a disaster. More than likely means something else is coming next. If something happens to the system we currently use, debit/credit cards will be useless. Granted there will probably be more robberies because of it, but it's bound to happen when SHTF. I also carry more than one type of weapon on me at a time as well.

 

I always have cash at home oddly because I prefer to shop with cash. Makes it easier to save money. Anyway I always have enough cash around the house to buy everything I'll need for about two months. Should anything happen I'll have some cash with me to buy supplies that might get to be scarce.

However I think it's better to stock up on things you'll need in addition to having cash because even if you have the money and no one is selling anything, it won't do you any good.

 

I have a strategy to keep most of my money in cash in a metal safe in an "undisclosed location" (not at a bank) lol. Banks are now charging us interest for the privilege of keeping our money there, so no thanks. I also have a goal to buy some gold soon which I will also keep in my possession. I put other small amounts of money in two to three different kinds of cards like green dot cards, gift cards, pay pal, and regular debit cards. This way if/when the banks lock up I will have other ways to get some assets.

 

The electricity supply company have to be really incompetent to allow a power outage to happen. In power management industry, there are lots of security measures to prevent a city collapse due to a blackout caused by a severe short circuit or
a natural disaster. You have backup generators, Power grid redundancy, Power switchs, surge arresters, insulation, power fuse, etc. And every day these stuff are more advanced, therefore a major power outage for at least 24 hours is quite unlikely nowadays in a developed country.

Anyway. Even if a major power outage happens, I suggest to just buy provisions that last you for at least a month.

 

What about the threat of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) either from space or from a hostile country? The US Congress is well aware that ALL of our power grids are vulnerable to an EMP and yet nothing is done to fix it.

 

I keep some cash in my pocket but never more than 40 Euros/50 Dollars. Most of the time I pay with my debit card. However, I try to hide money at home as an emergency case but am always afraid that I would forget my hiding place or that the house gets so rearranged that I end up losing it.

 

Dude, you have no idea how much I admire someone in 2016 without a bank account. Kudos!
I wish I could do that!

Literally the same. If I have much more that $100 on me it's in my sock, under the sole of my foot, so if someone takes my wallet they don't get my cash with it (I can disable my cards with my phone in two seconds, so I'm not too worried about them.) I'll then go into the nearest public toilet, and transfer my cash into my wallet so no one knows what I'm doing, and so I don't look strange.

I have some cash at home. You know, change.

 

Honestly I doubt it! from the articles and such I have seen about that particular threat they estimate that it would take 100 years to get the whole country back up and running. Welcome back to the Dark Ages!!

 

Wait. This is confusing though.
All motor vehicle transport, or just the more intelligent computer reliant styles we have now?
If the former that definitely surprises me to no end.

 

Major power outages have happened and will continue to happen. Not sure if you've been in a natural disaster before, i.e., tornado, hurricane, major thunderstorm, car accident causing issues with towers, etc., list could go on. But I was just visiting my Dad about 8 months ago in the Southern part of the United States, and a major storm hit. Flooding was crazy and they did end up having to evacuate most people. My Dad was without electricity for about 5 days; other people were without power for up to 2 weeks. It just all depends on where the grids are located and how fast the crews can get everything up and running. So yes, security measures are put in place daily, sometimes even hourly. But sometimes natural disasters trump man's disasters and I think we all know which ones are worst.

 

I don't keep cash at home, but I know that my parents. I am always afraid that when they get older someone will catch wind of their stash and try to rob them. It makes me nervous when people leave large amounts of money at home. I guess I would put it somewhere that couldn't get hit by a flood or fire. I wouldn't keep it in a small safe that can easily be carried out.

 

I keep some in my house, just in case. Not a ton of money but enough, in case of emergencies. I should leave it all in the bank but there are times that places don't accept cards and I have limited transportation so it's like a safety net in the back of my mind. It's silly, I know.

 

With the introduction of mobile banking I don't need to keep any cash at home. I usually find it easier to buy goods and services through the mobile platform. I remember my friend told me that if I wanted to save money then I must avoid keeping money at home. If you keep cash at home you'll get tempted to buy what you never planned to buy. But if you know that you will have to pay some fee for withdrawing, you'll try to avoid that.

 

This is a very good point. When I have cash on me, I tend to spend it very fast. If my money is in the bank I don't really think about it and I'm less likely to spend it. However, I do like to keep a little cash on me just in case I ask someone to go to the store for me or if my family all puts money in to order out.

 

I was just talking about this with my sisters the other day. One of my sisters never carries more than like $5, maybe $10 on her. She always uses her debit/credit cards. Well, wouldn't you know, she lost her card (never found because she threw it out with the trash) and the bank was closed so she couldn't get a temporary card until the next day. I was like well what if it were more than one night or what if something else happened and you needed cash? She didn't know what to say other than "Well, that's why you're here", um. no ma'am. I will not always be, you need to be more prepared. I always keep cash on hand and at home. The same way you prepare for a disaster, whether natural or not, is the same way you should prepare for a cardless system because to some that is a disaster. More than likely means something else is coming next. If something happens to the system we currently use, debit/credit cards will be useless. Granted there will probably be more robberies because of it, but it's bound to happen when SHTF. I also carry more than one type of weapon on me at a time as well.

 

The way I do it is by somewhat budgeting. I keep the amount of money that I'm willing to spend at home and add the rest to my bank account. I rarely visit the bank to withdraw any money. If I earned more money I repeat the process by adding the largest shares of the fund in my account and the smallest shares I have tucked away at home.

 

I think in the initial stages it would be imperative to have decent transport out of cities - for us city slickers at least.

 

The collapse of the dollar would trigger panic and negate the motive of having cash. Sooooooo, let's say some other apocalyptic even occurs. In this case keeping some cash would be helpful. Bugging out with a motor vehicle could necessitate your having to refuel and most gas station owners would likely want cash for fuel. During hard times, it will be to your benefit to pay-off cops, to keep the cops happy -- maybe you can do things for their families. My dad, his brothers, his friends had to pay off the authorities due to their business operations being less than above-board. In hard times, everyone should be prepared to make payoffs. You can't fight the cops, they are the biggest gang going in most communities.

Eventually cash will return to its paper value, but until then ... .

Post fiat currency collapse, we'll go barter -- just like throughout history.

 

What's the point of keeping wads of cash stashed in your house? Now only does it make you a target but in an apocalyptic scenario, money will be useless like the guy said above. Barter and stash valuable necessities for survival. You can use those ones for TP because they won't be worth the ink it's printed on. There will be no banks, no stores to buy things and no reason to hoard cash.

 

I have a little bit around the house. I guess that I think to myself if things really did hit the fan, then realistically both money in the bank and cash around the home would eventually be rendered useless...whether it was banks just not functioning (ie. no ATM's dispensing cash) or cash just not being a used commodity. I think the most valuable things to invest in are tools, plants, and things like that. A way to sustain the family is the most important to me, so growing things, or educating myself about things that are edible in my local area is super useful.

 

Yes, I still keep money at home (although I'm sure putting it in a bank is the best way to keep it safe and earn a monthly income).

I like to have a reserve available by hand more easily for some sort of eventuality or to simply make routine purchases of small amounts because when the amounts are small, I'd rather pay everything without a credit card.

 

I work in a bank so it is only logical for me to keep our money in a bank account. However, we also have a substantial amount of cash at home in our small safety vault. That cash is for emergency cases only. Others would say that there is the ATM machine, all right, but you don't know if that would be working in case of emergency. So I guess having cash at home will give you peace of mind that if anything extraordinary happens then you have money to buy what you need. But don't be mistaken, our cash is just a minimal amount that would see us through for one week to cover food expenses.

 

Sometimes I have a small cash reserve at homed and other times I don't. I am not religious about it. I prefer to keep my money in the bank. There are times cash comes in handy though, and not all retailers take credit cards. In the event of some global apocalypse, it is doubtful that cash would have any real value anyway. It might as well be pieces of paper.

 

Yes, we keep emergency funds at home, in the vehicles, in the BoBs and I have small box at my office/lab too. You cannot count on ATMs working in the aftermath of a disaster. And money is the most liquid of tools: it can be used to acquire just about anything.

 

Well, my society is not as advanced as the western nations. We still carry much cash around. Don't mistake my answer, we have banks, we operate bank accounts, but the ability to pay everywhere with credit cards is not prevalent here. If you want to go to the market, you have to carry cash. A lot of supermarkets and malls I know don't use POS, so you have to pay cash.