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

[AbsentmindedWoman]

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?

Nothing, occasionally I curse this fact!

I usually keep £10 or £20 note in my phone for either an emergency or as a surprise for me lol. My memory is seriously bad and I tend to forget the money in my phone so when I find it it's a nice surprise.

Reminds me I should restock mine. I did have £200 but I raided it. It's for bank fuckups mainly.

If your bank's computer decides your transactions look like a money launderer they'll freeze your account. The law prohibits them from telling you why because that's "tipping off" and you have essentially no right of appeal and you could be blacklisted by other banks too. It's extremely hard to get resolved. In such a situation having cash at home for a few weeks of essential expenses will make the difference between being kind of fucked and being really fucked

And then there's plain old getting your card lost or stolen and having to wait for a new one.

I keep enough to cover my train fare into work, in case my credit card is maxed out or the system is down and I can't buy one.

Plus the DC's piggy banks

I keep £30 in a specific place. It's £12.50 each way to the hospital in taxi so there and back, plus a fiver for a drink or two. When I've been able too I always keep that after an incident when DD2 broke her arm when she was little and I wasn't able to drive at the time. I realised I had no-one I could rely on as all the people I called to beg a lift were busy so ended up asking a complete stranger neighbour and was mortified (although she's now my best friend!). Vowed if I could I'd never get stuck like that again.

None, I keep 2 debit cards in my purse. I'm not allowed to take cash into work and I don't fancy leaving it in my car...

About 2 weeks spending, plus whatever is in my purse.
I don't live in the UK.
Last month, the bank decided to cancel my card, no warning, and 3 months before the expiry date.
And just last weekend, the whole electronic payment system went down (it was a 4 day weekend), and you couldn't get cash out from the atm or pay by card in any shop.
This sort of shit is normal here. You would be bonkers not to keep cash on you.

We live in the middle of nowhere. Nearest cashpoint is 11 miles away so we make sure we have enough cash for a bus/coal/electric key ( the village shop is cash only) We also keep milk and bread in the freezer for when we are snowed in.

I always have a bit. What if your purse was lost or stolen and you needed to get a taxi home for instance, how would you pay?
Makes me feel a bit safer for some reason.

Usually keep a regularly topped up cash float of 20 quid under a carved wooded Buddha figurine in the dining area if anyone needs to buy milk, bread, etc. Any unaccounted cash goes under there too. ‘Give the money to the Buddha’ and ‘take the money from the Buddha’ or ‘have you looked under the Buddha?’ is banded about fairly regularly. Most transactions are made using my smartphone & card though so tend not rely on paper money.

I used to keep a few hundred around the house until a few years ago when I started moving around a lot. Thanks for the reminder via this thread and I’ll start the habit up again. I do currently have almost a couple hundred in the house now due to birthday money but I think I’ll take out a dedicated amount this week.

@safariboot I agree about the cards getting lost thing. Before OH and I moved in together we were long distance. He was really stressed during those years (about other stuff) and would constantly forget his debit card in ATMs. I had to wire him money several times to pick up at a money place so he had cash in hand to pay for food or transport while his bank took their sweet time mailing him a new card.

@BobbyGentry nice username. :)

If it was an emergency I'd be raiding my £2 coin collection, so maybe £20-£30. I keep some loose change maybe £3 in my sons changing bag incase I ever get caught short for parking or something.

Usually around £100 or so - in case cards get lost/need a taxi to the hospital/to pay my hairdresser who comes to the house/money to put in birthday cards etc.

Just like to have a bit of money around as it saves going to the cashpoint and avoids any problem if the cashpoint isn’t working and we need money urgently for something.

What sort of emergency though? we have a small Co-OP with a cash machine less than 5 minutes' walk away. They also do cashback and are open really long hours, like 6am to 10pm 7 days a week.

What "emergency" might occur outside those time which would mean I needed a stash of cash in the house?

A few thousand.

I keep around £100 usually, mainly in case I lose my card!

What "emergency" might occur outside those time which would mean I needed a stash of cash in the house?

A lost or stolen card!

If I lost my card, then I’d just instant transfer money to DP’s account and take it out of there instead.

Have a change jar that has about £20 in it at any given time for bread/milk or gas/electric emergency (read bank account empty the day before pay day!) Gets raided quite often but as soon as I get paid I try and take a tenner out for a small purchase and top it up.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul really.

Nothing. Debit / credit cards will solve any and all emergencies.

My main reason for cash at home is a problem with the banking system so no cash available.

I usually keep 10-20 in cash. Dd take a pound to school every day for the snack shop. Once it gets down to about 5 pounds I'll stick another 10 in. We also have a window cleaner and someone who cleans our bin when it's emptied so I need cash tobhand for them too

Between us we’ve usually got about £300 in cash - we need it for taxis to station, dog runner, cleaners etc. We’d use that in an emergency. We also have a small amount of squirrelled foreign currency which we’ll increase pre Brexit.