To ask if you keep cash at home for emergencies?

[Lookatmemeow]

By emergencies I mean things like

• mass credit card failure
• power cuts
• banking systems going down

I don't routinely keep cash at home but considering it to mitigate for issues out of my hands. AIBU to ask if you keep emergency cash and how much?

I have several old pound coins and an old tenner.

So no. I don't want to be stuck with out of date money. Yes I know I need to exchange it at the bank.

We don't
My in laws do so it's something I've thought of and should so as I'm often popping to the machine for cash for the kids/ birthdays/ the cleaner etc.

So when the notes change (for example) do you just take it to your bank, pay it in and then withdraw it agin? Genuine question

nope, but DP always has cash on him

No because if the banking systems crashed then your cash is worthless.
If visa goes down and you can’t draw out money you can still pay by PayPal or bank transfer. If the whole infrastructure has gone down and there is no electronic access to money then you’re already fucked and £200 is going to do nothing,

Also for day to day emergencies I’m less than 10 minutes walk from 6 cash points.

Naomi, you have 5.5k???? What type of emergency are you planning for? Hostage taking?

@gamerwidow

You can't pay by PayPal or bank transfer at the supermarket, cinema, soft play etc. If visa doesn't work for a weekend, i'd still like to do my normal stuff with the kids.

We're not talking end of civilisation emergencies; just days were you might need some cash. But since I'm a jeweller, I have a safe with gold and silver sheet/wire so I could get by for a while with that maybe!

Nope, not a penny

@Hohofortherobbers

It used to be £3000 but then a friend paid me back some money id loaned her and I just added it to the safe. Never took it back to the bank!

I did have about £200 in a drawer for emergencies, but I ended up raiding it for holiday money instead, ahem.

I feel it's worth doing if you can spare the cash. And also worth carrying some cash on you. There are lots of situations when you might not be able to get your money out of the bank for a few days or even a couple of weeks, having cash for essentials will make it a nuisance instead of a total nightmare.

(Loss or theft of bank card, bank/Visa/Mastercard technical issues, your bank account being fraudulently emptied, the bank freezing your account because their computer thinks you're laundering money, and probably more.)

Never rely on a cash point

If you're insured I suppose its good idea but if not & you're burgled it's gone for a Burton (& the baked beans tin trick is really well known). The naice areas round my way have had a spate of burglaries recently. Usually cash, TV's & laptops acc to community police guy.

Yeah about 300 quid. I also keep the car full of petrol. Yes I know that it may be no point because of Xyz. But if most things went down where you couldn't electronically access money then cash will still work in most cases.

If it was an apocalyptic event then salt would be good currency

Not for your sort of emergencies, but I do like to have some cash in the house, for all those times I or more likely someone else in the house need cash.

I've never got any cash, I annoy myself. I have to pay parking meters by phone, avoid shops that don't take cards for small amounts ie coffee. I think it's because my DCs routinely "borrowed" small amounts of purse money as teenagers. So I stopped carrying any.

Only the kids money boxes...probably should though

Errr no ... we might have £50 if we’re lucky. I know I have £12 in my purse right now.

Very surprised to read that people are stashing hundreds of pounds of cash at home. I have just a few pound but about a couple of weeks worth of tinned food for emergencies.

An emergency fiver in my phone, but if the country goes tits up we have over 1000 tonnes of wheat in the shed but not much ammunition to keep the nasty theives at bay.

You should probably ask this in preppers 😂

Hmm this thread gives me food for thought. I have been tending to have less and less cash to hand, might be an argument for having a little. I think in a major problem situation I'd barter!

We do however keep some $Aus and my mother in Australia always takes home some £ so that in the event of an emergency trip we can arrive with a bit of cash to hand rather than relying on being able to use cards when we get there.

We have a army surplus ammo can buried in the garden of our second property containing:

Spare keys
Spare passport
A weapon
Money
Scans of all our important documents
Basic first aid kit
Basic survival kit
Map
Compass

I barely carry money in my purse.

At this moment in time there is about £320 in the house
And £310 of that is in eldest dc money box.
The remaining tenner is in the bottom of my bag, kitchen drawer etc.

Maybe I should...

It's never even crossed my mind tbh. I think I have £20 in my purse at the moment but normally I don't have any.

We try to keep about £100 in a tin at the back of a cupboard just in case, but often take some out and forget to put back.

Apparently after my great-grandad's death, they found what seemed to be his entire life savings under his mattress - he never trusted the banks!