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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much cash you have?

217 replies

Member786488 · 12/12/2023 22:09

For various reasons I’ve been thinking that I need to be able to have cash to hand in case of emergencies…
usually in my house we have about £20 or so between 3 adults…

how much cash could you actually lay your hands on tonight if the banking system went down?

OP posts:
Flatandhappy · 12/12/2023 22:46

I have a $50 note - I always try and keep one - and around $20 in coins. Very handy a few weeks back when there was a major Telco outage (Sydney) and most shops and cafes couldn’t take cards all day.

Chocolatelabradorsarethebest · 12/12/2023 22:46

My dad was in the army and always kept £1k in cash, a charged pay as you go phone and a gun (legally registered I’d like to point out!) in our safe in case there was a need to go off grid…he always instilled in me to have an emergency cash fund if you need to get away and be untraced for a while.

I have £1k in cash always in the house. I’m 40+, married with two kids and work in HR so not sure what I’d need to go off grid for, but I still keep it and it makes me chuckle and reminds me of him and his eccentricities every time I see it (he passed away a few years ago).

WickedSerious · 12/12/2023 22:47

There's £1,200 in a drawer upstairs and I've got £164.00 in my purse.

claracluck1978 · 12/12/2023 22:48

I always keep cash.
£1,000 in the safe in case the banks 'go down' temporarily. That should last us a couple of weeks day-day expenses.

We then have a £2 jar which currently has over £240 in it; a loose change jar that's almost full so I imagine about £150.

I also have £30ish in my purse, £200 in an envelope to go towards the Christmas butchers bill and a tin with €100 or so in.

Then there's DP and the kids' wallets and piggy banks.

So about £2.000 all in I think.

I also keep a number of gold Krugerrands and sovereigns in the safe. I joke that they are my portable possessions for when the apocalypse comes!!!

Frasers · 12/12/2023 22:48

I take 250,out a time, to pay cleaner, hairdresser , window cleaner etc, and when it runs out, I do the same again. My husband carries less, currently we have 50 between us, and need to go,to the cash point.

DyslexicPoster · 12/12/2023 22:49

If I gather all my change up from all round my house in various bags, maybe £30

itsgoingtobeabumpyride · 12/12/2023 22:50

£1 for the shopping trolley.
I never have cash.

MuchTooTired · 12/12/2023 22:51

I've got about £56 cash, probably could get to the dizzying wealth of £82 if I borrowed the difference off of the kids.

Ladyof2022 · 12/12/2023 22:51

About £200. I always keep about 100 in a fake book which is actually a secret storage space

Original poster
Member786488 · 12/12/2023 22:52

@CagneyAndLazy Omani rials… unusual choice of currency?

OP posts:
AppleDumplingWithCustard · 12/12/2023 22:55

Zero as I had to pay a tradie for a minor but urgent issue that he popped round to rectify. I had to open a Christmas card I had put a £20 note in to pay him. Rarely have very much cash on me unless for a specific reason.

Lizzieregina · 12/12/2023 22:56

Enough to keep us going for awhile.

I actually prefer to use cash for a lot of things,
especially small businesses and restaurants. The card fees eat away at their profits. And I always tip in cash (US so a lot of tipping!).

SocksAndTheCity · 12/12/2023 22:56

£320 plus some scrap in my purse qhich is my Christmas money.

It was more, but I spent some on Christmas food and cards yesterday Xmas Smile

determinedtomakethiswork · 12/12/2023 22:56

SpringingJoy · 12/12/2023 22:35

Dh is a taxi driver so he always has a load of cash. He has one of those metal money tins which he keeps cash in until he banks it/pays his rent etc.

There's about £2k in there at the moment we could get if there was an absolute energency. He's generally got a float of about £300 at all times and it will vary between £300-£3000 at different points in the month.

If it was down to me we'd probably muster about 36p from one of the pockets in my coat 😂

Isn't he worried about it being stolen?

penjil · 12/12/2023 23:03

GideonSmideon · 12/12/2023 22:15

Maybe 800 At least. Always keep some in the OFRS and then some for music lessons, subs, anything school related inc nursery

What's OFRS?

LapwingDove · 12/12/2023 23:04

After smashing open piggy banks, probably less than 25 quid.

TheMamaYo · 12/12/2023 23:05

Around £400, but would like to build it up more.

SkySecret · 12/12/2023 23:07

Crikey. I’ve got some old pound coins in a tin?… 😂

SwooningCamille · 12/12/2023 23:07

About £30 in my purse, if I needed cash this very minute.

I pay for most things in cash as I don't like the idea of being tracked and traced via debit card purchases.

RealBigBarbie · 12/12/2023 23:09

I have 34p to my name and that’s good for me as I NEVER have cash! It’s only because the kids dad gave me a £20 note three weeks ago and that’s the change that is left

Blondeshavemorefun · 12/12/2023 23:13

Always have £20 in back of phone

And around £30/50 in cash at home in a safe secret place incase need it

Plus a 50e note

My dad said always have a spare emergency 50 for on holidays so the same one is kept in hand luggage holiday purse

bananaboats · 12/12/2023 23:13

I could probably rustle up a couple of pounds but we don't carry cash or keep any in the house.

stargirl1701 · 12/12/2023 23:14

A few random coins. I did have £10 at the weekend to give to DD1.

baroqueandblue · 12/12/2023 23:17

Probably around £1800 in various hiding places around my flat. Some is from savings I withdrew, some for a cash payment I expected to have to make but then didn't need to after all, and some from work that isn't banked yet.

Haven't thought about its potential usefulness if life as we know it goes tits up, but I have worried a bit over the last few months that it has dwindled in value a fair bit because of the cost of living crisis Hmm

OrganicCamomileTea · 12/12/2023 23:20

I think I have about £25 in my purse. There are also a few change pots lying around, probably another £20 in those. And somewhere (can't remember where I've put it!) we have another purse containing about €500 euros that we couldn't be bothered to change back to sterling after our last holiday.