You should have $500 - $1000 emergency cash at home

[JEDI]

Here’s How Much Emergency Cash You Should Keep at Home

Having some cash salted away in your home is a really useful thing.

lifehacker.com

The exact amount you’ll need for these things will vary depending on the size of your family and their specific needs, but generally speaking somewhere between $500 and $1,000 will probably be sufficient to get through a temporary emergency, although even as little as $200 can be useful. More than that is probably overkill—the money would be better off in a bank where it will be insured and earn interest.

/Obligatory ATOT $

 

[deadlyapp]

I was keeping a couple grand but have spent it all now on various cash things lately (some things off craigslist, house inspection, etc).

For a while, anything I sold through craigslist or otherwise as a cash sale I just stashed the cash, but haven't sold anything of value in a while now.

 

[lxskllr]

That's usually what I carry day to day :^D I only use cards online. Everything else is cash.

 

[Muse]

That's usually what I carry day to day :^D I only use cards online. Everything else is cash.

I usually carry no cash, not a nickel. I carry plastic, all kinds of plastic... CCs, license, HMO card, library card, ATM card, proof of covid vax's. I rarely need cash. Plus, I get at least 2% cash back when I use my Double Cash CC. Do have a $$$ stash at home and there's $100 stashed in my car.

If you spend cash you get change, which is always an issue. Where do you keep your change? How do you sort it? Do you count your change to see you weren't short-changed? And the coins! I have containers:

quarters
dimes
nickels
pennies

Every once in a while when I get enough I roll them up and bring to my bank, so have to have a stash of paper rolls for that. If I dealt in cash regularly I'd be doing that 20x as much as I do. That's a hassle.

But, I figure having cash on hand is smart. This is earthquake country and if we get the giant quake they say is coming cash could be king... for a while.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't save coins. They get spent ASAP. I keep a quarter in my wallet as my emergency aldi cart quarter in case I don't have one in my regular change.

 

[TheVrolok]

I have a petty cash drawer at home for things like babysitter, spur of the moment Facebook marketplace finds (courtesy of the my wife), or Saturday morning flea market trips.. Beyond that, though, I'm really struggling to think of a situation in which I would need actual cash without enough warning to conveniently go to the bank.

 

[WelshBloke]

The two examples they give in that article don't really apply to the UK. We don't have those sorts of natural disasters. Plus if the power goes out for that long no where's taking payment even with cash. The petrol pumps won't pump without power and the cash registers won't work.
There's probably more places here that don't accept cash than places that don't accept electronic payments. Pretty much everywhere (including buskers and beggers) have contactless payment machines!

 

[Scarpozzi]

I keep about $1k in an envelope these days for airplane rentals and av gas money. It could be used if I needed it. I'm paid monthly and replenish my cash as needed from a rotating savings account that also sits around $1k. The majority of my real savings gets moved into the stock market brokerage account in $3-5k chunks so there's typically a cash balance of another $10k in there or more of I sell stock....3 business days away.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

We had a major ice storm years back. No power for a week or more. No card machines working. Banks had staff on site to hand out cash to account holders.

I only keep a very small amount as I keep enough other stuff on hand that it's unlikely I would need to go to a store.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I keep around 1k myself and also started buying silver. The silver is more for long term and hopefully will keep up with inflation better than cash.

I also have a stash of Canadian Tire money, when SHTF that will be the most important currency here in Canada.

 

[MrSquished]

Some cash stashed at home, but daily carry is 20 or maybe 40 bucks. Usually use it at the freaking amazing taco cart near me or for gas. Here and there at some other rare cash only food joints.

No point in carrying cash. You can lose it and never recover it.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I have a debit card that pays 1 or 2% cash back on everything. 1% on $5 isn't a lot but it better than what cash pays.

 

[WilliamM2]

When we have lost power around here (not in years) cash was worthless. No store is open without power, gas pumps don't funtion, restaurants and hotels can't function without power, etc. Stupid article.

 

[zinfamous]

I've got about $2.5-3k melt value in a sack of old silver quarters and liberty dollars.

That good enough?

 

[sdifox]

I usually carry no cash, not a nickel. I carry plastic, all kinds of plastic... CCs, license, HMO card, library card, ATM card, proof of covid vax's. I rarely need cash. Plus, I get at least 2% cash back when I use my Double Cash CC. Do have a $$$ stash at home and there's $100 stashed in my car.

If you spend cash you get change, which is always an issue. Where do you keep your change? How do you sort it? Do you count your change to see you weren't short-changed? And the coins! I have containers:

quarters
dimes
nickels
pennies

Every once in a while when I get enough I roll them up and bring to my bank, so have to have a stash of paper rolls for that. If I dealt in cash regularly I'd be doing that 20x as much as I do. That's a hassle.

But, I figure having cash on hand is smart. This is earthquake country and if we get the giant quake they say is coming cash could be king... for a while.

Our cash is also made of plastic

 

[IBMJunkman]

I recently sold some gold jewelry and an 18kt gold watch. All purchased back when gold was $400 an ounce. Even at today’s less than wholesale prices I made money. That cash is in the home safe.

As for coins I don’t carry them. They get dumped into a 32oz drink cup. When it is full I go to a green Coinstar machine and get an Amazon credit. No charge. Average is $90-120 per cup. Given how much I use Amazon it is like free money when I buy something and the credit gets applied.

 

[MrSquished]

All my emergency cash is in singles too. I figure if the shit goes down, I'm just gonna head straight to a strip club and enjoy the end of times while everybody else can bug out to the woods.

 

[snoopy7548]

I have about $500 in CoolCoin.

 

[Muse]

I have about $500 in CoolCoin.

I found a 5 dollar bill a couple weeks ago. Thought, gee, what special treat should I get myself with this. Couldn't think of anything.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Cash in the safe at home, typically $300 but thanks to inflation I should make that $500.

Small potatos when talking about earned interest vs buying supplies in an emergency.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

You should HAVE supplies on hand to get you through at least ten - fourteen days, preferably thirty days. It should not be necessary to buy anything when you probably shouldn't even be on the roads at all.

And if the emergency is such that your house is severely damaged or inaccessible, having cash stored probably won't help.

 

[JEDI]

You should HAVE supplies on hand to get you through at least ten - fourteen days, preferably thirty days. It should not be necessary to buy anything when you probably shouldn't even be on the roads at all.

And if the emergency is such that your house is severely damaged or inaccessible, having cash stored probably won't help.

i have a gallon jug of distilled water at home. that'll last me 3 days.
then i'm dead

 

[Red Squirrel]

Water is an easy one to overlook. A few years back there was a water main break that shut off my water for a few days and that's when one realizes how much we rely on having water coming out of the tap. I had my regular jug of drinking water in the fridge so was fine as far as drinking water goes but things like flushing the toilet or taking a shower were not exactly easy. I was melting snow in a big container but to take snow that has a core temp of -30 and bring it up to over 0C takes a lot of effort and energy so it took a while to get a usable amount to flush the toilet, especially if I needed to go for a #2. I ended up going to church for that. It's kind of a perk of having the key, backup bathroom lol. I also have access to all the telephone exchanges which have bathrooms. There's one near my house. Of course that would not help me if there was a city wide issue.

Crossed my mind to setup an insulated/heated IBC tote outside for backup water and set it up with a pump so I can plumb to the rest of the house with just turning a few valves, but not really worth the effort for the few and short time that we might lose water service. In a full blown SHTF situation even that won't be enough. The only way to be safe is to be out of the city in first place and already self sufficient.

 

[deadlyapp]

Water is an easy one to overlook. A few years back there was a water main break that shut off my water for a few days and that's when one realizes how much we rely on having water coming out of the tap. I had my regular jug of drinking water in the fridge so was fine as far as drinking water goes but things like flushing the toilet or taking a shower were not exactly easy. I was melting snow in a big container but to take snow that has a core temp of -30 and bring it up to over 0C takes a lot of effort and energy so it took a while to get a usable amount to flush the toilet, especially if I needed to go for a #2. I ended up going to church for that. It's kind of a perk of having the key, backup bathroom lol. I also have access to all the telephone exchanges which have bathrooms. There's one near my house. Of course that would not help me if there was a city wide issue.

Crossed my mind to setup an insulated/heated IBC tote outside for backup water and set it up with a pump so I can plumb to the rest of the house with just turning a few valves, but not really worth the effort for the few and short time that we might lose water service. In a full blown SHTF situation even that won't be enough. The only way to be safe is to be out of the city in first place and already self sufficient.

Showers and shitters are not critical things. I've shit in the woods more times than I can count and showers are only necessary for making you socially acceptably smelling, which in an emergency situation should be so low down your priority list you don't care.

At the end of the day, all you need is drinking water, and having a good portable filter is all that is needed.