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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

How much cash do you keep around the house, for emergencies?

111 replies

AbsentmindedWoman · 30/09/2018 22:06

Just curious. I'm not really comfortable with cash amounts over about £30 (worry of it getting stolen or losing it somehow) so tend to just have about £20. Always enough to get emergency food/ stick a fiver on an Oyster card, but not really more.

Do you keep cash handy for emergencies?

OP posts:

WelcomeToShootingStars · 30/09/2018 22:28

Barclays have a habit of cancelling my debit card for no reason so I tend to keep a couple of hundred pounds in cash at home to cover me when that happens. Also means there's money there to pay for taxis etc when we need them.

PickAChew · 30/09/2018 22:28

Don't be so confident about using plastic. Three times, over the past year, I've found myself in a position where it wasn't possible. Once, none of the shops in our city centre had access to card services, meaning I had to pay cash. once, a particular provider was having problems, meaning I had to pay cash. Once, M&S card terminals had crashed, meaning I had to pay cash.

None of this was in any time of turmoil.

I rarely have less than £50 to hand.

Longdistance · 30/09/2018 22:29

I don’t really keep cash in the house. Only what’s in my purse.

CloudPop · 30/09/2018 22:30

None. Can't imagine what emergency would require cash?

CloudPop · 30/09/2018 22:30

Having said that do usually keep my change of Euros from last holiday

TemptressofWaikiki · 30/09/2018 22:32

We keep a few hundred in cash hidden in a special money box. For probably really irrational reasons. My parents were refugees and had money and jewellery sewn into their clothes, so when they needed to flee in a hurry, they had something on them. When I was very little, we also had to leave suddenly to get to safety in Europe. It’s a weird thing that I grew up with especially, my father always carrying enough cash to be able to get us away to safety and to be able to buy a train or plane ticket with cash. Nowadays it is all done online and there is probably no reason to continue doing that but I have this weird and very vague, illogical dread of some civil unrest and banks being on lockdown with no access to money. So along with the cash, I have passports and valuables all stashed together to be able to flee at a moment’s notice. I realise that makes me sound totally bonkers but I am actually not a very scared or panicky person IRL.

Maelstrop · 30/09/2018 22:32

Zero. What could possibly happen at home that I’d need cash?

PinkDaffodil2 · 30/09/2018 22:33

£5-£10 to buy chicken wings from the Chinese across the road which doesn’t take card. Not really an emergency though!
If we keep any more around we’d just spend it at the Chinese.

Dyrne · 30/09/2018 22:34

I can think of a few instances recently where cards didn’t work for a large section of the population due to banking errors...

I keep £20 at work, £20 in my car, and £20 at home. Try to have at least £10-£20 in my wallet as well but i’m failing at that atm. Been thinking of increasing the amount of cash I have to hand but get paranoid about someone nicking it.

Fully appreciate it’s down to what people can afford though. For me, having ~£100 earmarked for emergencies is doable, for others that money is needed for essentials.

Original poster

AbsentmindedWoman · 30/09/2018 22:34

There was a blip earlier this year where cards weren't working at lots of different shops. I suppose things like that. I wouldn't want to be stuck unable to buy milk and teabags if there was a few hours where cards couldn't be used. Stuff like that always happens at the most inconvenient time too!

OP posts:

Josiebloggs · 30/09/2018 22:34

Around a thousand plus spare change jars which can have anything upto about £400 in depending on when they were cashed in. I also always have around £40 in the car for emergencies which gets used much more frequently usually when a purse or wallet has been forgotten.
I keep emergency money everywhere because we didn't have any growing up and used to try and hunt down the sofa to feed the electric meter, not having any around makes me feel nervous.

BackforGood · 30/09/2018 22:36

I can’t think of anywhere these days that I couldn’t use my plastic in an emergency.

Do none of you have dc, particularly teenagers???
I'm regularly needed to produce a tenner or more for this, that and the other.

Plus, I would often have £100 as that is what I tend to get out the cashpoint. I'm not going to head off to the cashpoint every time I need a tenner, when I can get several out in one go.

royaltrux · 30/09/2018 22:37

About £20 and a money box I out change in usually so u can grab a couple of quid when I'm told it's needed for school at 0745 Monday morning

cementpointing · 30/09/2018 22:41

none, if i need cash (rarely) - i drive to the cash machine or ask DH who has some notes on him sometimes.

fieryginger · 30/09/2018 22:45

I usually have about £20 in my purse, but we are moving towards a cashless society. I don't need it as much as I do my debit card.

Contactless is genius.

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 30/09/2018 22:47

Anywhere between about 50p and £80 ish I suppose, depending on if we've been out for the day, been to the cashpoint, needed money for ice creams for the kids or something. I wouldn't deliberately keep money in the house though.

Nightmanagerfan · 30/09/2018 22:47

About £150 I think - mostly to pay the cleaner and to shop at cash only farmers market each week without having to trek to the cash machine first. We top it up every so offen

maddiemookins16mum · 30/09/2018 22:47

I’ve an emergency tenner in my spare handbag and a 1978 Dusty Bin piggy bank with about £20 in, all 20ps.

neveradullmoment99 · 30/09/2018 22:49

none

ofclocksandkings · 30/09/2018 22:50

None but I have the cash float for one of my youth groups looked in my flat which I could raid in a real cash only emergency (can't think what that could be though)

Judydreamsofhorses · 30/09/2018 22:51

I rarely use my debit card unless buying online - I draw money out every week and use cash. (I started doing this a few years ago when I realised I was spending loads in small transactions for things like coffees and magazines - using cash makes me spend more mindfully.) So, what’s in my purse varies day to day. DP never has cash and uses his card for everything.

Skittlesandbeer · 30/09/2018 22:54

Kid’s money box, and a dish of ‘schrapnel’ change from DH’s morning coffee run.

If the economy falls, we’ll have to sell things on gumtree to eat. Or knock a few teeth out of the DC and await the tooth fairy?

My late DF had £10,000 cash in a local safety deposit box. He sheepishly told me about it on his deathbed, called it his ‘rainy day fund’. Running away fund, more like. I asked him where the spare foreign passports and glock were stored.

Creeper8 · 30/09/2018 22:54

none. but then my bank card did randomly stop working the other day and I had no cash and no card! wasnt fun i really should keep some.

TheRealHousewife · 30/09/2018 22:56

Anywhere from a Minimum £20.00 up to about £250.00. The minimum £20.00 is window cleaner money. Have to have it to hand as he comes so ad hoc.

Parker231 · 30/09/2018 22:58

Yes, keep quite an amount of cash at home, in particular for cashline and credit card machine failures. Normally I use plastic for everything,

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