It got me thinking: What is a viable amount of CA$H as in dollar bills to keep on hand at home or in your wallet? I’m not necessarily talking about TEOWAWAKI or even the great depression of 2023 ish or an EMP. This is your more rudimentary winter storm, hurricane, tornado fill in the blank loss of internet and electricity. Lets face it 20 years ago you counted the dollars in your wallet and change in your pocket, now you count the number of cards in your wallet and discount bar code fobs on your key chain.
Ever since I was a young Seaman Recruit in the Navy I ALWAYS had a $10 bill hidden in my wallet, when I made E-5 it was a $20, when I made Chief it was a $50 now that I am retarded it’s a $100. One folded up piece of U.S. green paper tucked wayyy in the back would get me home. I barely remember what my check book looks like.
If the power and/or internet goes down how much ca$h on hand do you have / wish you had / plan to have to get you through a week or so of “Cash and Checks Only”
IVE HAD A BUNCH OF UNCIRCULATED MONEY FROM THE BANK FOR OVER 50 YEARS SAVED FOR EMERGENCIES. IM GOING TO CHECK AND SEE IF THEY ARE WORTH MORE MONEY NOW. *** THANKS FOR THE
[ valuable ] REMINDER.
PS: EMP CAN CAUSE MANY PROBLEMS TO INCLUDE HEATH PROBLEMS.
If everybody loses power and the internet is shot, kappoot! Would greenback actually be worth anything? It wouldn’t be like cash registers would still work and how about gas pumps?
One would have to think $ would only be good in an isolated disaster like a flood, fire, hurricane, tornado or evacuation of a city. As for catastrophic world changing events like a “zombie” apocalypse, true pandemic (.one with a 20% death rate or higher), or nuclear war money will only be good for tinder. Potable Alcohol, drugs, antibiotics, medical supplies, mre’s, water purification, canned food and ammo more than likely would be currrency. Gold, silver or other valuables might be, however if survival is the issue, even gold is worthless. Pretty sure many of us think along these lines. As for cash on hand, i typically don’t have anywhere near what the article suggests.
I would spend that cash on hard assets like food, shelter, clothing, and security. Stuff like land will need to be protected with boundaries and ammo. A well or stream/river. Propane, generators, gas. If electricity goes away I don’t think cash will be worth anything.
Firm believer in diversification, 'as like fauci with covid, no one seems to know anything, and I don’t think there is a “right answer”. Some cash, some precious metals, some ammo, spare parts, water filtration, alternate power supplies, long term storage food supply, off grid heat source if climate call for it.
I think in a short term emergency where the internet goes down and credit cards no longer work cash would be King. People would be selling whatever they could to get some cash for food or gas.
In a more apocalyptic scenario cash would be very valuable for the first few days or weeks before the majority of people realize how worthless it will be. Then gold and silver may have their hay day for a short period before everyone realizes that beans and bullets are the only things that matter anymore.
Since the arrival of shortages,I have been contiguously stocking up on food and essentials and have water purifiers to if the water stops can go to river close by to get water,and am still loading bullets for all my weapons and M y garage looks like a mini mart and around the kitchen walls with what it will take to survive,I go along the WHAT IF scenario
I doubt I would keep three months wages in cash on hand, but think having $500 in small bills ($10s and $20s) in a fireproof safe at home is a good idea.
If electricity goes down - even for a week - everything goes down, including ATMs and gas pumps.
I read awhile back an article someone wrote having lived through the Balkans debacle that barter was king.
Having lived in hurricane zone most of my life, I have found having small bills is much more valuable than large bills. Most people don’t want to give up their available “change” to hold onto a larger bill because it can limit their ability to buy and sell.
Small bills, big safe, plenty of brass, gasoline, matches, gallons of water, Ramen Noodles. Just realized safe is battery/electronically locked.
Furthermore, since he devalued the dollar my noodles are probably worth much more. What are we worried about anyway! Who’s going to mess with the USA?
I ask that question as I’m sitting on my lanai, coffee in one hand toast in the other and a .45 strapped to my hip!
When shopping for safes i eventually chose a mechanical lock over digital keypad. Found they were good news, bad news. Good news was they are supposedly immune to emp and guaranteed immune to emp, bad news how will you collect after an emp if it doesnt work? Anyone with an electronic lock may want to consider grounding their safe, replacing the lock, or having a backup plan to gain entry. Check out youtube or rumble videos for alternate safe opening techniques if it is not backed up with a key. Also to consider, if there is an emp will your vehicles operate? There are mixed opinions on that. I digress a bit, but a true prepper needs to consider multiple scenarios for trade and survival.
If it’s obviously TEOTWAWKI currency in any form is useless. As mentioned above, it will be all about beans and bullets.
Most emergencies we need to account for would generally be short term. So how much money you keep on hand should probably reflect that. If you are getting home, some cash to buy the last loaf of bread, or last tank of gas, or otherwise top off your supplies before settling in. If you are bugging out (maybe wildfire coming or hurricane etc) then enough cash to get you some food and shelter when you get to where you are going.
If we get into a financial crisis (hello hyper-inflation) having a lot of money around will be next to useless, as the article points out. You would rather have had whatever that money may have bought before the financial crash.
I disagree a bit with the article on bribing officials… There are many stories of folks being able to get out by giving gold/jewelry to have someone look away at just the right moment (WWII comes to mind). I forget who I heard this from, but they suggested not to have gold/silver bars which are hard to trade but rather something like a Rolex watch. Even though there are “fancier” and higher value watches… everyone (even a common guard) knows a Rolex and they are worth “a lot” and they know they can keep it or pawn it later to get money. It is easy to carry and hide and produce when/if you need it.
The article did make me think a bit and maybe i need to revisit how much is on hand (or not).
The problem with “3 months of wages” (for those who can save that much) is that if the grid is down for 3 months, your cash could become worthless, anyway. If people can’t make digital transactions, that will cause severe supply chain disruptions. And there simply isn’t enough printed money for everyone to carry the cash that they need to make normal purchases, anymore.
Obviously, if we were forced to use cash again, those who have it stored up will have an advantage over those who do not. But for any long-term emergency, it’s going to become less and less relevant how much green paper you have. I don’t know what that span of time is… a week? A month? I have no idea what people will do when Walmart declares they are cash only.
At any rate, I can’t carry 3 months of cash in my wallet. Just off the top of my head, it seems like I should keep enough cash on me to fill up the gas tank and buy a meal or two. Maybe get a hotel room? I’m not a shelter-in-place prepper; if SHTF my plan is to escape and get my family to safety.
Cash preps, like “3 months wages”, etc, IMO, are more about personal hardships. Job loss. Medical bills. Short term disability reduction in earnings. Unexpected expenses.
Beans, bullets, brass, soap, whiskey, etc, won’t do you a ton of good if you can’t pay the mortgage, or will be little consolation if you’re raiding a long term investment/savings with tax penalties to make it through those couple months/whatever.
I’m also generally confused by the “Escape” as the primary plan. It depends on what you are planning for, I guess. If it’s localized, even regionalized, like a hurricane, or your city takes a direct tornado, or you are on the epicenter of an earthquake, bugging out to a family’s place or a hotel somewhere else might be viable. But people are talking like literal TEOTWAWKI stuff here, I don’t think there’s any escaping that by going somewhere else, being without any security other than your vehicle (bullet magnet coffin) and no supplies other than what your vehicle can take (for as long as your vehicle is operational) seems infinitely inferior, to me, compared to all of your supplies and security and community already invested in at your home.
