FREE NEWSLETTER
Go to main Forum page »
In addition to my dad, my mom wanted someone else to know of a stash of cash she had hidden in the hem of the bedroom curtains. A fall resulted in a hospital stay and rehab for mom, and my dad needed to move in with me due to his health. I went upstairs to retrieve mom’s mad money and found an envelope with 70 neatly stacked $100 bills.
A few years later my mother in law was forced from her condo by a fire. Her unit was heavily damaged by water and smoke. When allowed back in to retrieve personal items we found about $3000 stashed in a dozen or so hiding places.
I’ve never been one to have more than several hundred bucks in the house. Now in this age of computer hacks and failures which can wreak havoc on banking and other industries I’m thinking that it makes sense to have more cash on hand.
What are your thoughts on the subject? How much is enough?
Kinda of surprised most of the amounts here are modest. Great question, though, I’ll be getting more to keep other than the sub-$500 I keep in small bills. Maybe not so much as several months of payroll!
I am a gambler and I always have a few thousand in winnings/stake at hand. I use it primarily for gambling but if I’m running short of $ in my checking account and don’t want to take anything from investments, I’ll pay cash for groceries, gas, etc until my next SS check comes along. I like having a little cash around the house.
“Be Prepared” has stuck with me since Scouting days. I keep some cash at the house in case ATMs are down, civil unrest, natural disaster, etc. Usually enough to get me thru a week of spending.
I like to always have at least $100 to 200 in my wallet. Last year public transportation out of Manhattan was shut down due to a flood and the Uber driver didin’t want to take us north when he realized where we really wanted to go, but when we offered him cash, he canceled the Uber call and was happy to drive us off the books.
In addition, I carry one dollar bills for beggars and buying snacks at street fruit stands. (Also occasional lottery tickets; how can I resist when I see the jackpot displayed at $1B?) I keep them in the side pocket of my work bag so I can get to them fast without pulling out my wallet. To facilitate this, every once in a while I get a pack of 100 ones at a teller window.
And when traveling or parking in commercial lots, for tips. We don’t get food delivered often, but I prefer to tip in cash after the delivery. Two aspects to this: tip after the service has been performed and make sure the person really gets the tip.
My wallet typically has $10 or so in $1 bills and I have less than $500 in the house. There is so little use for cash anymore.
Don’t know how much is enough but given the level of short-term rates, deciding is doubly tough. Just the same, I still carry a $100 bill in my wallet.
I keep about $2000 in the fireproof safe where my passport and personal papers reside. It’s all in hundreds and it occurs to me that I should have some smaller denominations in there.
Someone should do a new post on the 3% up charge being assessed on credit card payments. I agree with comments below: getting out of hand. I only recently saw this on vacation in Michigan. The arrangement has always been we the consumers know that you the vendor are raising your prices by 3% to cover your costs. But now, in addition to your increased prices you’re charging us a fee. Not good.
I just started a new one referencing the article I wrote about this a year ago.
These days, I don’t keep much cash in my wallet, but we keep enough in a safe to cover a few weeks of local buying of necessities, just in case. I also like to travel with extra cash.
A small amount to help cover expenses while bank accounts, etc are converted to our trust executors officially, should we both pass at the same time. Otherwise, it’s also an “Uh-oh” fund for us or to help others.
Ever since Hurricane Fran ran through central NC in 1996 and knocked out power for about a week, I keep a stash of 1s, 5s, 10s, and 20s on hand in case we’re reduced to cash-only transactions again, without any working ATMs. I’m hoping this week’s hurricane won’t be a problem here, but who knows.
Brian – I’ve lived in Raleigh since 1971, so I experienced Hurricane Fran, too. In our neighborhood there were so many trees down across the streets that we couldn’t exit our neighborhood for several days. We couldn’t use cash if we had it (and folks wrote checks back then). We didn’t have power for a week. Groups of people came walked through the neighborhoods with bottled water and non-perishable food.
You mean including the $3.4M I cashed out of the market this past Monday and stuffed in my mattress? (kidding).
Seriously, when the power goes out in an area due to storms or fires or whatever, not a lot of the merchants are going to be able to accept much else than cash. So, have some for a few days of that. Or, at least, when the storm is a cumin, hit the ATM well before (well before everyone else that is). And of course, nowadays, cyber crime is something that could impact cash flow too.
These days we rarely use cash. Almost everything goes on the charge card.
However … some small retailers and restaurants give a 3% discount if you pay in cash.
Also, we try to tip in cash whenever we can.
We DO take a couple of hundred in extra cash with us when we travel … just in case.
Winston…lately I’ve found that many merchants will ADD a 3% charge for using credit card as payment. Experienced this at car dealership just yesterday and recently with lawn care company.
This is quite common in other countries. The US has been an exception.
The 3% add-on is getting way out of hand. It doesn’t matter what kind of business it is, if one is doing it, they all think it is customary to do so. Some tell you in advance of the add-on and many don’t.
Just make sure they are crisp new $20 and $100 notes. In some ares that’s all a money changer will take. My bank always had surprising difficulty producing new notes.
I usually keep about $100 in cash at all times. We also have some extra food and h/ba. Spouse keeps a smaller amount. Chris
There are rare times when cold hard cash (as opposed to electronic cash) is truly the king, and though they’re rare, when they do occur there’s no substitute. While we rarely use much cash, we always have at least a few hundred US dollars no matter where we are in the world.
While I’m not going to go all Y2K, run-for-the-hills, build-a-fallout-shelter crazy, I think it makes sense to have a certain amount of cash and food on hand. A friend who runs a business keeps enough around to meet payroll for a few months. When the pandemic hit, I looked at my backpacking supply closet and said “yup, 2 months, we won’t starve”. With the Crowdstrike debacle a couple weeks ago, I can foresee hiccups where having cash might smooth things out. If there are larger problems, well, maybe I’ll have to beg the Y2K preppers for food, guns and ammo…. 🙂
Where I live we’re advised to have a hurricane preparedness kit, but I don’t remember seeing advice to include cash. I’ve never bothered as my area is usually far enough inland to escape, and now I will leave it to my CCRC.
Yup. Transfer the risk. Simplicity.
My mother-in-law was on the gulf coast for Katrina. Not pretty. Biloxi just gone. The real collateral damage was her social support network (all neighbors houses damaged/gone).
There are all kinds of good reasons to have a “go bag”, hurricane or otherwise.
My father in law kept about $7,000 in a box in case “somebody needed it”
I so rarely use cash these days I sometimes wonder why I carry any at all. I just checked – I recently restocked after needing cash for tips – and I have $93 in various denominations. I occasionally need cash for parking as well, although it’s mostly free around here.
Keep only saved coins in the house, but probably should have a decent amount of a couple of thousand dollars, but in a secure safe.
I generally have between $15 and $100 in my wallet at any given time. That’s it, other than my late Father’s coin collection that I need to sell.