Keeping Cash Around
 

We have never really kept cash around, but I'm thinking it's time to start. I have a friend who recently told me they have $5000 buried in their backyard in a tin can. I'm struggling to get my head around doing that. I guess I'm looking for opinions, pros and cons, and what amount is good to keep around without being dangerous. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Well, not that we have cash laying around, in tin cans, under the bed or otherwise, but.......

I think a good idea would be to invest in one of those small firesafe things & put some cash in there. Not all large bills either. And if you wanted to hide it in your home, not in a firesafe, I'd do it "in plain sight" kind'a thing. Hollowed out book, coffee can (well, maybe not, too many people do this, I think) or other normal looking type of container.

Personally, I'd like to stock up on junk silver (pre-64 dimes), but I'm not sure the exact reason(s) for your stash.

If you're going to bury something, do an online search for how to water / weather / varmitproof the container. Wouldn't want a mole or mouse to use your FRN's to make nesting material!

I wouldn't reccommend "burying" anything out in the yard. Even if it is waterproof, air tight, it only takes a few years to forget where "exactly" it was buried. Also, if you die, does anyone else know about it?

Much safer to get a fireproof (and waterproof) safe. Put it somewhere in the house where it's "hidden" in a spare bedroom in a cardboard box with clothes on top, in the basement with things covering it, etc.

That money you hid in the book or whatever won't be much good if your house is flooded or burns in a fire.

And limit who you tell just what money you do have around the house. I certainly wouldn't want to mention to a neighbor, "Oh, I have $5000.00 in the house in a safe in case I ever need money quick." No matter how good of neighbor or "friend" if they tell someone else and then word gets around . . . . .

PVC pipe and sealed end caps, with some of the crystal cat litter inside would be better for storing stuff underground. That type of cat litter is actually beaded silica gel. Silica gel keeps humidity from being an issue, preventing mold.

We keep a months worth of expenses in cash here and that is it. Our stockpile for if the SHTF is in things that will actually be valuable like chocolate..... :p

I know a lot of older people who don't trust banks. They hide money in places like cookie jars, freezers, fridges, under mattresses and in pillows.I know one lady who kept five thousand in the ash pan of the wood stove. She forgot and burned a wood fire. The money caught fire and burned too!

Trouble is those unsavory people who target older people know this and how the elders think. There have been too many robberies by some who befriend older people and then rob them. There was one man killed after befriending a teen girl here. She after finding his stash let her boyfriend know. He came with another guy and killed the poor fellow. Problem today is too many people have no conscience.

Everyone needs some cash on hand incase of emergencies though. The amount depends on the size of your family and your needs if the power is off for any length of time. Where it is kept should be a secret of the one who hides it and their spouse and no one else!
Anyone can be a target of thieves but I find people who appear to be or are rich and old age pensioners are more often targets. For some reason thieves assume old people have lots of money. They also are easy targets because of not being able to defend themselves. Rich people or people who appear to be rich living in expensive houses and driving new cars are automatic targets also.

With society is as it is today everyone needs to be aware of their surroundings and shouldn't be keeping huge amounts of cash around their homes. But if you do put it where it won't get wet or burned in case of fire. Remember a secret is only secure if you are the only one who knows about it! It's still not wise to do so though .

My granny kept cash in the freezer and in the toilet tank.

She figured that if someone broke in they wouldn't look in those two places. She figured the cold wouldn't harm the cash and if there was a fire it would just get wet. As for the toilet tank...she would put it in 3 ziplock bags and duct tape it to the part that meets the wall. You totally couldn't figure out that you were poo'ing just inches away from a thousand dollars! :teehee:

I think have a bit of cash on hand is important. You never know when an opportunity will come up and the ATM is down. Emergencies come in many flavors. I vote for a safe. I had a friend whose home was burgled. They tossed everything. Under drawers, in movie cases, under tables. Didn't much care what they broke. Cut mattresses and pillows - TOOK the LID OFF THE TOILET TANKS - dumped every box, ever container she owned. Everything tossed out of the freezer - even cereal boxes were dumped out. Crooks are aware of places people hide their money.

I keep just enough to pay the water bill (because I *always* forget until the day it's due and hate going to town just for a bank visit!) and buy groceries.

Really, no need for much more than that, not for me anyway. I have a toddler who has been known to hide my keys/wallet, so that bit of cash has meant some nights I've ordered a pizza while tearing the house apart asking a giggling DS where on EARTH he put mommy's wallet?! lol

I tend to keep a goodly supply of cash squirreled away, available to my fingers if I need it. Surprising how often that need can show up. From interesting emergencies to interesting cash only opportunities.

PVC "Survival" cache, buried vertical, looks just like sewer access ... ;)

In one house I had some wallpaper peeling off the inside of a closet wall, we used to keep cash in there, was not noticable at all.

I vote for some cash, but other items usable for bartering too.

Wish I had some cash right now! LOL

I think that everybody who has any money should get it out of the banks, right now. All in cash too. The money should be put in a safe place.

People who think banks are safe must never, ever; read the news.:bouncy:

This small action would cause the banks to run completely out of money, and have to create some other scam to enslave us.

Another trusted person needs to know where the cash is.

never announce on the internet thatyou are keeping cash around..people can find out who you are and where you live.

however..it is a good idea to have some money available.

one thing remember..that cash is only as good as the money it is printed on..sometimes it is better to store your money in other things..things you use regularly..than in cash..as cash loses its value very very quickly..

if you had an emergency situation and couldn't get cash..what would you have to buy..make sure you have some of THOSE THINGS on hand extra..and buy them on sale.

I would invest in a cheap metal detector for the next time your friend goes out of town....

Keep some cash in a place that someone will look in if they were looking. Cookie jar, jewelry box, that sort of thing. If someone decides to rip you off they will probably stop at the bait and be happy. I'm talking a few tens if you are saving hundreds, a few hundred if you are saving thousands. Five hundred dollars will satisfy most varmints. If anyone asks about your money, you can then say you keep some cash at the house but most of your money is in CD's. Then, put the big money in zip locks inside of large zip locks with beef liver. Even better, have a false wall in your pantry to get to a second pantry that has your big cash, jewelry, and chocolate.

While I don't know that chocolate would be my prefered 'gold standard'... ;)

I agree with you that I'd keep no more than a month's bills sitting around.

Paper money is only bits of paper these days, with no real backing behind it.

Banks will & do fail, but the big wigs of govt & Wall Street will not let things fail just a little - as they did last year, they will print out more & more pieces of paper. As the banks go down, they group them bigger, and while your assets will be frozen for a couple weeks, you will get some of the new bits of paper to take care of you.

Of course this system can fail in big, dramatic fashion.

If it does, those few bits of paper in your tin can will be just as worthless as the bits of paper the bank used to hold for you.....

So, sticking a whole bunch of cash around your property really doesn't seem like it would do much.

What you want around is enough to get through a 2 week 'problem' period should your bank fail.

Should the whole ecconomy/ country fail, the only valuable bits of paper will be the softest 2 ply. And any other real goods....

As poor as intrest rates are, I'd still want most of my cash drawing intrest somewhere. Perhaps start an account in a different bank, keep some money in 2 unrealted banks so you can always access one or the other. And just keep enough cash for the basics for a few weeks worth of stuff.

--->Paul

My grandparents in Poland buried all their valuables and the family Bible that went back hundreds of years of family records when the Nazis came through. After the war the landscape was so devestated that it is lost forever. If you are going to keep cash, I would suggest a floor safe. Install yourself.

Wow, great thoughts everyone...thank you!!

I like the false pantry idea.

I had a great aunt that kept 5k in her freezer in cristmas cookies tins. She kept 1k per tin and the money was split into $10/20/50 bills within each tin. She then added water to fill above the cash, froze them, and placed cookies on top of them. Nothing like COLD, HARD, Cash.

I alsoi have a family member with over 10k in $20s locked into several fire safes embedded into a wall. The idea is that if SHTF an axe will access Cash, and most dumb people will still take it immediately after an incident for stuff that they need.

In a house I lived in years ago, there was a wall safe hidden behind a picture in an upstairs hallway. I didn't have any "extra" cash to stash back then, but it seemed like a good place to hide some.

If all of the banks fail do you really think that cash would be worth a hill of beans?

Too bad fuel wont last forever. That stuff makes great cash in a SHTF scenario.

I like the idea of stashing enough cash to see you through should something unforeseen occur. I also think other items (expensive jewlry, quality coins, etc.) would be good to stash. If something did happen, you could probably "barter" this for what is needed.

As for where to stash these items, I know of one friend who created a concrete floor and anchored a bucket with a lid in it. This was his safe place. I would advise more than just one person know where this stash is and what it is in case something happens to you.

Ha, ha. Did you ask your friend "where" his can was buried???

I think having cash is a good idea but I'd be more inclined to buy a small fire proof safe and put it in there.

As Dogbert said..."all in Mercury dimes, please..."
Matt

Trust me when your neighbors wife gets a bad case PMS after the end of the world as we know it happens and you are the only person with a supply of chocolate anywhere around he will trade you all sorts of good stuff for some! ;)

Why would cash be of any worth if the SHTF?

I used to keep quite a bit of cash around the house. Finally did a little more thinking and decided to only keep a little silver and coins. Too many things can happen to paper money. My house has several hiding places built in and completely unknown by anyone besides myself. If something happens to me anything hidden in my house will not be found unless the house is destroyed.

If something happens to all of the banks paper money will be just about useless. If it is a true SHTF situation you won't need money for a while.
Any problems that has any effect on large numbers of people will make people forget to pay bills and make people forget to try to collect.
Like I said, there is little reason to keep much paper money hidden.

Well...I'm struggling to grasp the original intent of the thread. Was the question intended for being prepared for some post-apocalyptic event, where the banks fail and cash is king? Or is the question intended to ask about having a reasonable amount of cash on hand for emergencies/oppurtunities?

If the former; it's important to recognize that if/when banks fail, the value of the $$ would be so worthless, it would virtually do you no good to hord it, as it would literally be worth pennies of the $$ or less. Then the hard work of investing in 'liquid assets' would have done you no good.

If the latter; my g-grandparents used to call this seed money. In the days before being hooked into savings accounts, poundwise folks used to squirrel money away in jars, walls, mattresses...etc. The money would thereby be available for emergency expenses, or oppurtunities - such was the case when the family chose to expand their humble acre lot into a 15+ acre farm, when oppurtunity came knocking.

Of course the right answer is probably diversifying funds. While the greatest yield is had by putting all your eggs in one basket - when systems fail, you lose big. Having split your assets into cash, savings, credit, land...etc. provides for well-balance.

Just a few thoughts this morning.

Paul B.

Wish I had some, to hide, or not.

Well we have all discussed at earlier times the advantage of having cash after a natural disaster. Here there are hurricanes, with a certain regularity. When the ATM's don't work afterward due to a lack of electricity, and the banks are closed (a month after Katrina), its nice to have cash for all the things that come up: gas, food, bills, rx's and repairs. That said, most here only have $ in the house during hurricane season; there's too much robery! Cash is part of prepping. ldc

Hey Paul B.

Putting your money in "savings" and "credit" are DANGEROUS, always were and still will be. People don't get any decent return in savings accounts. And credit can be good or bad depending on who you ask. I say stay with tangibles, land, gold, silver, stored seed and food crops.

Borrower nor lender be.....

As the govt has several protections and coverages for money one puts in the bank - it is fairly 'safe' these days. As banks crash, your assets are covered ultimately by the USA government.

While the USA govt can crash itself, at that point there would be many, many issues more pressing than the value of bits of paper.

At this time, it would seem money sitting in a bank drawing a tiny bit of interest is going to be a safer/ better investment than paper money sitting in a coffee can in your back yard?

Either case has a bit of risk, but we have to be real, if you have some cash sitting around then you have more than your basic needs (good!) and so you can surely apply some small risk to it, and weigh the risks & rewards of different stratigies with it.

In any assessment, it would seem having $5000 burried in a tin can is about the worst risk, with the least return, of any use of that money.

Gold & silver can be good long-term investments, but as happened in the past it can become illegal to own gold and have a fixed value on it; thus making it a poor investment if you will plan to use it for trading in tough times. In tough times, the value of the gold might be high, but you'll need to find someone willing to deal in it. Long term you will, but short term in times of need it may not be worth much either. Having some precious metals as part of a plan probably is a good idea.

And so on.

Diversity is a good thing. I sure wouldn't want every dollar I had sitting in one bank either. :)

--->Paul

And limit who you tell just what money you do have around the house. I certainly wouldn't want to mention to a neighbor, "Oh, I have $5000.00 in the house in a safe in case I ever need money quick." No matter how good of neighbor or "friend" if they tell someone else and then word gets around . . . . .
_____yeah like maybe on the computer_____________:stars:

puddlejumper007 - Point taken. But of course some people on the computer are not who they really are in real life. Course - that goes both ways.

The person saying they have $5000.00 in a safe in their house could very well be a person who barely has two nickles to rub together. Of course, the "honest" person here could also be a thief looking for an easy theft too!

Here's a story. My Step-Mother who always had money in her purse and was known to put it around the house died. The house was left "as is" until after my Dad passed away. When we went in and started to clean up for the upcoming auction - we knew we had to be careful of looking in things, under things, and everywhere for money.

Not only did we find your typical $20.00's & $100.00's in shelves, drawers, and the step-Mother's clothes pockets - when all was said and done, we had found over $6000.00. We found close to $1000.00 inside a recipe book - just your typical recipe book sitting on the book shelf.

Like I said, "what we found". I wouldn't be too surprised if some of the auction people who bought "junk" boxes didn't find a bit of cash in a book, or something similiar that we DIDN'T find!

The point is, the money was "squirreled" away and not even in places the Step-mother would have remembered either! Time has a way of making you forget things.

this is such a great thread.

i love it

my dad taught me when i was a child to invest in stuff and people rather than cash..cash always always always always loses value in savings..interest rates never beat inflation.

always best to purchase things that increase in value (here at my home that has been permaculture: fruit trees, nut trees, perennial fruits and vegetables and ornamentals, herbs, flowers, building a pond to hold water, firewood, windbreaks, insulation, products that are useful to have on had in large amounts when they are really cheap on sale, like toilet paper, laundry supplies, deoderant and soap, and i still put up a lot of things that are in my eating plan in cans or dried to have as an emergency food supply but remember to rotate out of those supplies so you aren't eating stale or spoiled food when the shtf

I am the original poster. The person who told me about their $5000, undoubtedly has it and it is in their backyard. Her husband went through a terrible divorce years ago, and lost everything, bank account cleaned out, etc. He literally had the clothes on his back and nothing else. I'm sure that has led him to be almost paranoid about losing everything without a backup plan. They have one very close friend who knows how many feet this way and that way to dig up the cash if something happens to them. Anyway, it just really got me to thinking, we raise all of our meat, dairy, veg, fruit, etc here on our 5 acres, but we have never considered any type of on-hand cash for "just in case". You all have raised great points and I think having some cash is a good idea, but also some things of value in case cash isn't.

10kids, that's a little different perspective that I can see as well. Going through a personal thing, as opposed to regional or national disaster.

--->Paul

10kids, I am on my way with metal detector and shovel. tell me neighbors address.