Access to cash

[2cupsofcoffee]

Hi all, really enjoy reading all your prepping tips and have gleaned a lot of useful info from you. As a lot of you are prepping for various scenarios and not just Brexit, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on money and access to it. Do you consider it necessary to keep a supply of cash at home in case of atm failures, etc? And if so, how much do you keep? And how do you determine how much you should keep at home?

I think everyone is different. I am uncomfortable with having a lot of cash but can see the sense in it. I guess it also depends on your budget.,
I generally have about £50 on my person at all times hidden in a couple of different places.
I am aiming to have a "picked at random " figure of £200 in fives and tens in the house. I might revise this up if I can but not down. Added to slowly. I prefer to spend my hard earned on food and other supplies.

Generally we have about £250.

For Brexit insurance purposes we will take out a couple of thousand in total. I don't think we will need it but if people panic and rush to take out money you just never know.

Interest rates are so crappy that we might as well have it at home to be honest.

We always have cash in the house (I try and aim for £5 notes as much as possible) but we have always done it and pay for things in cash more than most people.

A few years ago we experienced fraud on our account and unable to use our cards for about a week so having the cash proved very useful!

We've got a jar full of small change, which I periodically change into notes and keep handy. I've been wondering about the possibility of ATM failures (either accidental or as part of a planned hack) and came to the conclusion it'd be handy to have some cash on hand.

Jesus Christ it’s not a flipping apocalypse 😂😂

Hi @Youngandfree . This isn't really about Brexit. But if you love chiming in on other topics that don't fit your world view, you could pop over to The Litter Tray and say cats are shit and dogs are ace. Super constructive.

I never use cash so not sure of the usefulness of having any. But I think in general it's a good idea.

@bellinisurge Just wanted to say a big thanks for being a patient voice of reason over the last few months. I've found your posts really informative and useful, and I'm amazed you're still so calm with posters like YoungandFree is amazing. I'd have lost it well before now!

Thank you @MotherWol . The air is pretty blue around me in real life. I mentioned to my dh that some posters had described me as patient- "that's because they don't know you" was his reply .
My patience is wearing a bit thin, I must admit.

I keep a bag of coins in my car, mainly for car parking machines but DD raids it for the school vending machine and it's handy for coffee in coffee shop or milk in Tesco etc if I forget my purse. I aim to keep at least €15 there (covers enough of the day on street (2x3hrs slots) if I need to drive for work that I can definitely get the 3rd payment somewhere), often up to €40.

I found that in the economic crash 10 years ago, I started keeping some cash at home "just in case" (we have a safe), and I have found it useful since in general. Not loads, but there are times when life gets very frantic so having enough to give to charity collectors (especially children doing sponsored things or selling tickets), or DD needing €35 for a school trip "now, this morning, in the next 5 minutes!!!", or I haven't got to an ATM in a fortnight - its' handy having some available for those times.

But I don't keep loads there - just enough for a cushion. If there is very bad weather or serious disruption economically, I increase it slightly so that I don't need to go as far as an ATM or deal with panic. But even then, I only tend to have enough to cover our costs for a week or so.

We've had issues with banks (luckily not ours - but a couple of banks have had significant issues) and not being able to access cash, failures of the electronic card payment systems for 24/48 hours, and there are lots around us who still don't accept cards. So it's part of me being prepared to continue life as normal even when trouble strikes. (And nothing to do with Brexit).

I hope so @GoldenEvilHoor . I hold my hands up and say I have been directing non- Preppers here to start with. However most of the Brexit related stuff is now generally on the Brexit topic or in Chat or AIBU.

@BiddyPop I have a safe too, it's heavy-duty bolted to the wall.

I do keep cash in it, plus documents. My DS thinks it's hilarious and jokes about the 'guns and fake passports' but it seems sensible to me. We have a lot of opportunistic burglaries round here - sort of smash and grab stuff.

Have a safe at home and keep emergency cash and documents in there. It's fire proof so in case of house fire can get our documents, insurance details and enough cash for a week.

I think there are plans to issue new polymer £20 notes next year, so if keeping large amounts of cash in the house it may be wise to go for smaller denominations?

Also is anyone thinking of putting some of their non-existent-interest bank savings into Premium Bonds? Not for the chance of winning, but on a different thread somebody said if the worst should happen, the money would be secure as they're government bonds...

I’m holding premium bonds for that very reason.

Thank you

Yeah, our safe is mostly the passports, a couple of pieces of jewel left, some paperwork (receipts for a couple of expensive items named on insurance type stuff), and some cash.

I hold the cash for my Cub pack (never a huge sum, but couple of hundred usually, and lots of that in coin) - it covers our running. Costs, shopping for food on camp etc.

Leftover foreign currency from various countries as we travel widely and are likely to visit most again over time (family scattered, visits to the same cities/countries for work meetings or projects, and favorite places outside Eurozone). The small notes and some coins are usually useful on arrival and not worth the cost of changing back (if it’s even large enough amounts that forex will change it!). Probably less than €100 worth.

And some euros to hold in family cash.

Thank you all for your replies