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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
WaxOnFeckOff · 30/09/2018 23:01

I have to pay DS2s music lessons and driving lessons in cash so I need to keep cash in for that plus I like to have some in my purse and some for DC bus fares etc.

So, I tend to take enough cash out at the beginning of the month for all the lessons then I don't need to keep remembering to go to the cash machine. So, that's about £350 at the beginning of the month but it goes down as the month goes on. Plus DH and I probably have about £20 in our wallets. We also have a bowl with about a tenner or so of change. The boys will also have some up their rooms.

lolarose896 · 30/09/2018 23:01

I have a little piggy-bank with our pocket change in but don't have any other emergency cash.

FairyPenguin · 30/09/2018 23:03

I keep some cash at home just in case. Got winter coats out today - I tend to keep £5 or £10 in coats for when I do the school run and need to buy milk/bread as I usually only take my keys with me. Well, found £35 of old banknotes today! Hope banks still accept them!!

Daisymay2 · 30/09/2018 23:06

Use the market for fruit, veg, and fish and most stalls don't take cards, so get £100 out which lasts 2-3 weeks, possibly 4- depends how much fish I buy from the cash only fish stall. Also get weekend newspapers and local weekly paper.

McFugget · 30/09/2018 23:10

I think the same tenner has been in my purse for months. I hate using cash, throws me right off balance.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 30/09/2018 23:14

None in general. We have debit cards and several cash machines within walking distance. Even Uber is card payments. I’m on prepayment meter but even that is online payments via an app!

Darkbendis · 30/09/2018 23:15

DH has probably £10-£30 in his wallet and a few pounds change in the car. Myself, between 0.50 -£10, usually coins + the odd fiver. In the house, it's usually only the children's piggy banks, where there are always £20-£40, and they generously lend us money if we need any for emergency taxis Grin And pester us the next day until we pay it back Grin And the coppers jar, probably a couple of pounds there too Wink

FrangipaniBlue · 30/09/2018 23:15

I usually have less than £20 on me.

DH usually has a few hundred stashed somewhere.

We also have a safe that can have 000s in sometimes.

cheesymashandbeans · 30/09/2018 23:18

Literally the exact same question asked about 4 weeks ago... is DM trying to find a story!

DramaAlpaca · 30/09/2018 23:18

DH keeps a few hundred euro stashed in the safe for emergencies.

I usually have a few notes in my purse.

Firesuit · 30/09/2018 23:20

I don't routinely use cash at all anymore.

I have a few pounds coins to pay for parking at DD swimming lessons. I have some Euros left over from holiday lying about. If there's a fundraising event at DD school I draw 10 pounds during my walk to the school. Apart from all that, I never use cash.

Batteriesallgone · 30/09/2018 23:21

Very often pay cash on the bus, so I like to have plenty of shrapnel to hand. Window cleaner is £5 and DH often likes to buy lunch somewhere that doesn’t take cards so we tend to have around £30 in the house.

School payments are all online these days but I do live in fear of there being a surprise cake sale or something so I like to have a bit of cash on me for the school run.

twofrontteeth · 30/09/2018 23:23

None, generally. Cash has a short life span in this house, we have teenagers.

SpoonBlender · 30/09/2018 23:29

None, apart from whatever's in the change jar (probably £50 but a lot is coppers!)
I used to keep a fiver handy for the windowcleaner but they've gone to direct transfer.

melj1213 · 30/09/2018 23:29

I don't have a specific "emergency fund" in the house as there's very little I could think of that requires money at no notice. We do tend to have money in the house but that's just from general life rather than intentionally having money to hand.

Currently I have about £10 in cash in my purse left over from when I went on a night out last night; DDs piggy bank with about £10 in coppers and 5ps; my smashbank (one of those ceramic ones you have to smash to get the money) with about £40/50 in £2/£1 coins and the change pot that any miscellaneous change gets dropped into (and I take to the coin machine at the bank when it gets full) that has about £6.50, a button, a paperclip and 3 of DDs hairclips in it atm.

Bluesmartiesarebest · 30/09/2018 23:32

The card machines have broken down in various local shops quite recently and cards don’t always work. I like to keep at least £20 on me and around £30 in the house.

Snog · 30/09/2018 23:33

Around £200

Gammeldragz · 30/09/2018 23:33

DH keeps an emergency roll of divers stashed, minimum £100. Enough to fill the car with fuel, or buy food for a week or two.
You never know when the electronic systems will go down, either in a specific shop, for certain banks, or the whole system crashing down.

It's naive and irresponsible to take for granted a system that is so vulnerable. I find contactless payments magical and a great convenience, so much so that I sometimes forget to get cash and I always feel nervous when I realise I dont have any.

Also, I grew up very poor and like PP remember my parents scraping around for electric money or to buy bread!

Gammeldragz · 30/09/2018 23:34

*fivers, not divers. Obviously.

Laniakea · 30/09/2018 23:39

I try to keep a couple of hundred (there are six of us I like to be able to cover food, petrol/taxis, breakdown (car/emergency plumber etc), takeaway if the oven breaks etc) ... but I only have £30 atm because we’ve actually had a couple of emergencies this month.

PickAChew · 30/09/2018 23:51

I do hope you keep the divers' oxygen tanks topped up 🤣

corythatwas · 30/09/2018 23:56

I used to keep £20 (which is a fair bit of money for us), but these days there are very few emergencies that can't be solved with a card. Taxi companies take card, if I lived somewhere that takes Oyster cards they take card, if local shop wasn't able to take the card, we could survive for a few days just improvising out of the cupboard. I'm not the kind of person who would get stressed if I had to wait a few days to get milk or teabags or whatever as long as there was something I could keep body and soul together on.

LemonysSnicket · 01/10/2018 00:09

None. If I have cash I will lose it. See £50 the other week.
Card all the way...if I lose it then your ipay updates immediately and if they don't take card I'll do a paypal pay or go to a cash machine.

TheLittleThingsLikeVodka · 01/10/2018 00:14

Skint this month, but aim to keep £100 in cash, in case of bank issues/ having lots come out of my account at once

Pepper123123 · 01/10/2018 00:25

I have 35p in my bank. No chance I'll have cash sitting around the house 😄

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