Cash on hand

[curly_kate]

I am notorious for having no cash - I rely mostly on my debit card when buying something. Several years ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ike came thru and knocked out our power for 3 days. The stores & such in our town came back online within 12 hours or so, but it made me think about what we'd need should something more major happen.

How would you determine how much cash you would need to keep at your house? And if something really major happened, wouldn't it be better to have something with more bartering power than cash? I'm not thinking gold, but something that people would really want if the S really HTF. It sounds silly, but I'm tempted to stock up on stuff like cigarettes and alcohol because it seems like there would be people who would want that more than anything else.

 

[murphysranch]

As I can, I'm slowly adding 20 bucks to my stash. I think currency will be the only way to purchase essentials at some point. Now if only my mortgage would go away....

 

[deb4o]

Well I never thought about keeping cigarettes or alcohol, on hand but thats not too bad of an idea people will smoke and drink in any situation.

We try to keep a 100$ or so in cash, plus we are avid change keepers and have containers of coins around.

I also keep stuff like TP ( and lots of it,)and other personal hygene items that everyone uses.
Lots of different type of items would be good to keep for bartering, food stuffs, tools, hardware, even clothes.

We keep lots of extra stuff that we would use, and the spare could be traded if need be.

I started small with non-parishable food items, spending just a few extra bucks a week and built up form there.

 

[SKR8PN]

We have a special emergency stash we keep here at the house. I used to have a safety deposit box a the bank that I kept the cash in...........then one day it dawned on me that if the banks close their doors, I am still screwed! Needless to say the safety deposit box went away.

We keep some booze that could be used for trading, but I prefer to keep it around for medicinal purposes. The Wife and I are both X smokers so we do NOT keep any cigarettes around.

 

[big brown horse]

This is such a great topic. Right before Hurricane Ike came everyone, in a panic, tried to get cash out of atms at the last minute and the whole thing went haywire...many cards were just sucked up without an explanation.

Anyway, after the storm we were w/o electricity for 11 days as I've mentioned before. Eventually some of the small corner stores opened thier doors without it, allowing only two-three folks in at a time. They were selling items for cash only, b/c credit card machines wont work w/o electricity.

And after 2-3 days in the hot TX sun your ice melts and you have to get more....no matter how prepared you are.

 

[abifae]

My goal is 3 months bills in cash.

In a normal recession that'd get me to having a job again, and is enough to cover any regular emergency.

If I get the new job I applied for at work, I'll keep 6 months bill in cash because I feel safest at 6. Always have

But 3 months is a minimum.

My paychecks are direct deposit and I automatically move 75 a check to savings, so that is 150 a month (I make about 800). This way, every few months when things are a touch tight I can pull 50-100 no issue and still be saving over a thousand a year.

My monthly expenses are rent, utilities, internet, food, bus fare.

When money gets tight there is almost nothing left to cut out but it lets me save so I can do extras sometimes

I keep part in bank and can pull ATM and part in cash.

 

[k0xxx]

Like Abifae, we keep three months worth of expenses (including enough for our home/auto insurance premiums), plus a bit more. Our goal is to have three months of income, rather than just expenses. Only a small percentage is in twenties, the rest is tens, fives, and mostly ones. That way making change isn't a problem.

We do have an undisclosed amount of metals available should the need arise though. We also have a lot of items that could be considered barter items, such as strike anywhere matches, coffee (perish the thought!), sugar, salt, candles, etc.

 

[Mackay]

If the SHTF silver is where it will be at.
guess it depends on what kind of S is in the fan.

If it is minor, then enough CASH to get though one months bills. If it is major three months bills.. I guess. But what would make a bank close for 3 months if not mega collapse?

You should have enough savings to get though at least 6 months of expenses if you are unemployed, that use to be the rule, but in this day and age I would up that to one year... and if you can up it to two years.

In a totally busted economy silver will be a fair trade item. Junk silver, dont bother with primo proof or collectors stuff.
Gold too but to difficult for the multitude of small tranactions needed in everyday life. Never purchase gold or silver certificates. You want gold under your floorboards, not on paper.

Then the other trade goods, and around here in Idaho alcohol certainly is a primo commodity, I have never been around more alcoholics in my life! Stash vodka and whiskey and wine. I would expect it to quadruple in value and I might need a machine gun to protect it

Cooking oil, crisco for those who want that.
Matches or fire starters, we all got wood stoves around here
Chain saw repair items, sharpening tools
medicines of all kinds
Salt
Soap
Light bulbs
propane. 10 or 20 filled 5 gallon propane tanks could make for some valuable trade.
space heaters
reading glasses
socks
gloves, especially work gloves
lots of condoms, and I ain't kiddin

 

[SKR8PN]

Mackay..........funny you should mention the 20lb propane tanks.........I have been in search of them for the past year or so. A buddy just gave me 5 of them a month ago. Every trip to town I get one or two refilled. Just found the cage at a shop going out of business for, don't hate me, 20 bucks and they loaded it for me!!
6 on the top shelf, 6 on the bottom and we have 3 others in use around the house.

 

[Mackay]

Lucky you!

You won't have to stand over them with a machine gun. Just electrify the cage! Put your whiskey in there too!