Cash is a universal; its useful for many things; gear, hotels, gas, food. I've learned to keep some in a non-wallet location. Why you lose your wallet, its got your cash, atm card, id...no way to get more money.


Todays $20 tip

Cash is also pretty good tinder if you really need to start a fire. Helpful hint - $1 bills burn just as well as the fifties...

Hikermor: Glad to see that ONE guy is fighting monetary inflation. You go brother ... Burn that money pile down. Hahaha!

Pete

at the beginning of hurricane season, I put $500 in the gun safe... at the end of the season, the money belongs to the gun safe... to buy a new toy

Many friends and coworkers scoff at my tendency to carry cash. I've learned, though, what an amazing problem-solver it can be. I keep cash on my person as well as in the gun safe at home.

Good advice.

I have found this money pouch to work very well in the small-of-the-back position under a tucked shirt. It is very flat and does not print if you don't overstuff it. Once properly adjusted it is quite comfortable. Over the holidays I spent about 22 hours driving while wearing it and I forgot I had it on. I may replace it with a RFID-blocking version.

I like to carry some cash, a second credit card, and a passport card as a second form of state-approved ID. I fold the cash then secure it in a small ZipLoc bag (for sweat/rain protection) before putting it in the money pouch.

If you wrapped the credit card in aluminum foil, would you not create a RFID device?

My understanding is that yes, wrapping an RFID enabled device in foil prevents it from being scanned.

There are small credit card sleeves available which are supposed to block RFID and they don't crackle in your wallet. I have a couple in my wallet. None of my cards is chipped ... yet.

I think the passport card also has a chip and should be protected; my passport card came with a sleeve to keep it in. . .

I would like to get an RFID reader if only to test the efficacy of the protection sleeves. Until I test with one or someone trustworthy tests with them, I'll have doubts.

money belts: back about 40 years ago, I did a little traveling in SEA after the end of the air war.. the go to fashion statement was a Thai money belt of elephant hide...some crisp $20s, a set of orders with a TSCW notation, and a DIY microfiche
taken with some slide film of your US passport and GI ID card, and you could catch a ride on most space available aircraft, or more importantly get past the nice Marine at the gate of an embassy or legation...today, I think I'd stick a couple of 1/10oz gold coins in for good measure

Sounds similar to my installment plan. I keep the same amount of each paycheck for pocket cash. I take what's left in twenties from last payday & put it in the safe. Every so often the safe gets a new toy or ammo.

For a top quality money belt, go to a leather shop. I have never had one that was worth half what you pay for them from anywhere else. All the rest either cracked where it bends at the buckle or the stitching came loose (two thin pieces sewn together). The latest one is a single piece of leather with a leather covered zipper sewn on the back and stitching down each side to disguise the addition. Even the thread appears to be a better grade. It's similar to the thread that comes with a sewing awl.

"Money doesn't talk , it swears!" (Bob Dylan). I always carry cash. In my wallet is an emergency stash. In my pocket is an amount for work day needs, plus a bit more. An additional stash is in whatever happens to be my EDC bag. At various times an ankle sack or IWB hanging looped sack, both by Eagle Creek or a money belt ( see below) replaces the wallet or EDC bag stash. I might leave some in my hotel safe Amounts vary based on how flush I am and how far/long I will be way from home.

When I was a kid and NYC was a lot rougher than it is now, even though we were by no means well off, I and my friends always carried "mugger money". $5-$10. Enough to pay for a fix or two for the junkie mugger. (Yes, it was a long time ago.). That was the origin of the saying that cash saves your life.

Today, cash still buys you a ride, an unavailable hotel room in a blizzard, admission to a "full up" train/plane, a ride in an "off duty" taxi and a host of other products and services, unavailable with plastic. If you want a simple demo, go into a small shop and as you checkout, show your Am Ex Card, since it has the highest vendor fees. Then ask if there's a discount if you pay in cash greenbacks. More times than not, you can save 5-10%.

As to money belts, the best one I've used, so far, is the Blackscout Survival belt. Light nylon, plastic hardware, unique elastic slots on back, allow you to slide in cash,, and other small objects. It doesn't print, isn't dressy, does not stand out as unusual. Comes with accessories that you should omit in certain venues. . Downside is that it a bit pricey.

I carry cash but then I'm a child of times before credit cards. The only place I use my bank debit card is in one of that bank's ATM's. One of these years everything will go electronic/digital and the .gov will get rid of cash -- that will be a sad day.

Less, I like how you think.

Back when I did SAR in Alaska I kept about $500 in my SAR Backpack. It was always easier to negotiate with a boat captain to get a ride, or a plane pilot with cash for a ride out when your in trouble.

I have a money belt from Aker Leather. Nice well built belt, but for a pure money belt, I'd go with something cheaper looking like the Black Scout nylon belt acropolis linked to. But that's a real belt. I really like the Eagle Creek RFID Blocker Deluxe Money Belt.

"As to money belts, the best one I've used, so far, is the Blackscout Survival belt. Light nylon, plastic hardware, unique elastic slots on back, allow you to slide in cash,, and other small objects. It doesn't print, isn't dressy, does not stand out as unusual. Comes with accessories that you should omit in certain venues. . Downside is that it a bit pricey. "

Something much cheaper, but still effective is the money belt made by Eagle Creek. Nylon, 1 1/4" with a plastic buckle and a zippered compartment. Cost is about 1/3 the Blackscout. For me, it is a regular item when traveling.

I also carry a money belt, just a simple webbing type with zipper compartment and a metal buckle.

How do other stuff there money belts? You obviously need to fold them to fit in the pocket and the spread them out to keep it as thin as possible, but still sometimes I find them a little on the bulky side.

I have used that method for years on potatoes, and have never had one illicitly scanned. I did find a few mashed however.

The outside of that one is similar to mine. Is the compartment an additional section stitched to the back?

For U.S. bills, I fold it in thirds lengthwise.

Mine is a tan basket-weave. There is an 18" zipper on the inside center (lengthwise). To store US bills you fold them lengthwise in thirds. This a limited space and is not for storage of lots of cash, just enough for an emergency.

Thanks for the laugh! I guess I'll have to think twice about wrapping my head in tin foil to prevent scanning. I wouldn't want my brain to be mashed… Oh, wait, it's too late!

"I have used that method for years on potatoes, and have never had one illicitly scanned. "

That's a really good idea. I am sure we have all heard of potato chips...

Looking for a slightly wider money belt; most are just a touch too thin in the secret compartment. (the kind you use to hold up your pants)

Link? I tried Googling this and couldn't find it.

Try http://www.blackscoutsurvival.com/2013/05/escapetravel-belt-review.html

brandtb, I bought mine from Shomer-Tec. Go to the site and enter, Escape/ travel Belt, in the search box. That brings it up. I confirmed this, just before writing this reply.

I like the name. I am guessing Shomer-Tec got a boost after the Big Lebowski came out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPo9OBrIOi4

Thank you!

cash is king.

towns out here are often a hundred miles or more between. recently my neighbors were traveling thru a good-size town, stopped for the night and found in the morning that power was out in the whole town. credit cards were worthless. without cash they couldn't have purchased fuel to leave.

moral: always carry a few hundred in your wallet or anywhere else you like (preferably in 20 dollar bills)

I loved the BBC reporters John Simpsons 'get out of jail' phrase that magically solved beauracratic problems in the third world: " we are rich and willing to pay". :-)
qjs

Other places to stash handy cash; keychain, jacket pocket, car, lunch bag...

I had one; the plastic buckle broke. Actually I think I then brought a new one, and the buckle broke on that too. It was a while ago, so maybe they've improved. I was wearing it every day, not just on holidays.

Nowadays a microSD card will fit, and can contain vast amounts of data. Think insurance documents as well as ID, and photographs of your loved ones. You can also get SD-to-USB adaptors that are small enough that you won't notice one packed in a bag.

Of course paper backup is good for the essentials.

+1 on the microSd card. And its worth learning how to encrypt the data.

There's a lot of commercial encryption out there that's very poor. For example, it's trivially easy to crack passwords for many encrypted ZIP files. I'm a big fan of TrueCrypt, and it's free.

Make sure to use strong passwords with whatever encryption you use, and keep those passwords secure.

7-Zip uses AES with a 256-bit key. That's pretty good. I use it because the compression is helpful. When I tried using TrueCrypt for general backup, I had trouble fitting what I needed into a 4GB volume, and anything bigger wouldn't be accepted by the microSD card (because they use FAT).

I classified my data and the only things that really need encrypted fit in a small volume. You could easily separate into multiple smaller volumes or format the microSD in ext rather than FAT.

I used a small volume to make syncing to my phone easier, EDS lite will open a truecrypt volume, the OpenDocument or AndrOpenoffice to read the files.

I have a 16GB SD card for backups and it is formatted as NTFS and it has no problems with file sizes larger then 4 GB. My current backup.7z on the card is 6.GB.

I no longer bother with EDC'ing small change.

I am the opposite. I do carry a good amount of cash in my wallet plus the following :

- Emergency cash at home (large and medium bills )
- car glove compartment (small and medium bills )
- Trunk bag ( small and medium bills )
- Emergency bag - One pouch loaded with small bills, another loaded with medium bills

Emergency cash has saved the day so many times.

Cash? Whats that?

I have between $5-10 in my car, and around $500 @home in a safe. Otherwise I have actual cash probably fewer than 5 days/month.

To avoid the small problem of not being able to shop on no wallet days, I'm adding 5-$10 to the glove box, lunch bag and a few other places.