cash in your BOB

Hi everyone.

How much cash to you put in your BOB? I put $200 in mine in $20 bills (CAD). I may add $20 every 5 year to keep up with inflation. Because say you put $200 today and nothing happens for 30 years and then all of a sudden you need to evacuate. Your $200 have lost a lot of purchasing power.

How do you determine how much cash you store in your BOB?

Thank you
Frankie

Along with the $20's make sure you have some smaller bills too. After a rather severe wind storm there were a few gas stations pumping from gen sets but cash was required and they didn't have a lot of small bills to make change. I carry several bundles of $36--one twenty, one ten, one five and one $1 bill, scattered around in both vehicles and various kits.

Pick a serious scenario that calls for a BOB.

Tell me how much money is to much.

When you are out of cell phone range, the wrecker driver will not tow you because he cannot confirm your card. $200 won't save your car.

When you have finally bugged out, with what is left of your $200, what can you buy?

Put a price column on your survival list.

A while ago, I had some spare money. I've never really had cash in BOB, so I put it into liquid assets (no, not THOSE kinds, CASH). There is a roll of quarters in BoB and in the truck, along with a bundle of 5x20 and 20x1.

I've never understood the need for a whole lot of cash in a BOB. Some, sure, but not a whole lot more than I carry daily. If a situation gets so bad that your credit cards don't work and banking has collapsed, you will be needing something more concrete than paper money to barter with. I'm not sure the people who hoard gold and silver will do much better than paper money. What in the heck can one do with a chunk of gold in an emergency? It's really pretty useless when you think about it. Food, water, shelter, gasoline, firearms, ammunition - I'd think these types of tangible things would get you much further in a bartering economy following a banking collapse.

"...If a situation gets so bad that your credit cards don't work..."

When could the almighty credit card not work!?!?

1. When the store won't take it.
2. When the 800 phone service goes down.
3. When the power is out.
4. When you are buying from someone other than a business.
5. When you are out of cell service.
6. When your bank says so.
7. After a magnet ruins your card.
8. And on and on and on.

I have a system that works pretty well for me. At the beginning of hurricane season each year I put $500(small bills)in the gun safe. At the end of the season the money becomes property of the gun safe for new acquisitions. Long ago and far away I encountered young men that spoke unique languages and wore clothing that blended in with the background. They wore heavy ID bracelets with gold links that could be separated. Possibly it is time for Credit Suisse to issue a civilian "blood chit" .... regards Les

Cash may not work in case of TEOTWAWKI. In all other cases it is nice to have. But, definitely, smaller is better! The best advice is to distribute the money over several pockets, wallets, shoes whatever. You are on a sudden budget. Use the money wise! I have been robbed. I have lost stuff. I have forgotten money , credit cards, wallet. What works for me is a moneybelt. You know these belts you can put in your jeans, but with a zipper on the inside. But then I have some other places to keep chance or bills.

haertig, I don't know were your coming from with that statment, it seems to me that situations that would require you to bug out AND have cash are far more likely than the situations your taking about.

I agree with this.

Having a decent amount on you at all times, (100), and then a hundred - 500 in a BOB seems like a decent idea.

I don't know about BOBs, but I know that when travelling by car, a couple hundred bucks in small bills is SOP. It solves a lot of problems and gets you out of dicey situations.

It also rewards honest citizens/Good Samaritans who stop and help you out. Most people won't accept "payment;" but the offer is important, and you can say "have a beer on me" or "donate it to your favourite charity." If they still turn it down, say "no problem, I'll just pay it forward;" good people get that.

BTW, in out-of-the-way gas stations, I still see the old card machines. They use them when the lines are too slow, provided you have other ID.

I have bills hidden in my belt (sshhh!) that range from $5-100 in denomination. Canadians love the $1/$2 coins - I like to keep a roll of each as well for vending machines. But add to the money things like pre-loaded credit cards and telephone cards (make sure they don't have expiry date!) Not a bad idea to add a little foreign currency as well.

BTW, nobody is going to keep a BOB unattended for 30 years, it has to be updated or review regularly (ie. 6-12 months) You never know when a local event will require you to relocate temporarily - (Heavy rain, flooding, tornado, ice storm, power outage, etc).

In a non-TEOTWAWKI type disaster, cash is king.

Have as much as you can, but no more than you can afford to lose (depending on how you store your cash, in a BOB, home safe, etc.) Supplement that amount if and when you see trouble coming.

A number of valid points made here and I offer one more for consideration. In addition to the larger denomination bills, 5, 10, & 20s that are routinely carried, carry at least 20 - $1 bills, reasonably new and clean. The rationale is simple, many vending machines take the 1's when they won't take quarters, (ie: rest areas, hospitals, hotel lobbies, etc). It might well be the difference between eating and going hungry. Additionally, it may prevent the carrier from being overcharged in a situation where the rule is cash only and little small currency is available to make change. If carried seperately from the other cash, it could be used as a diversion to get out of a bad scenario, mugging et al. YMMV.

I never said "no cash". I keep an reasonable amount on hand, but not an excessive amount. Between my wallet, my wifes wallet, our gear bags, and household drawers and hideaways we keep about $500 available. If I ever have to bug out, I expect that $500 will be enough to get me to some better location that will accept credit cards. If not, then I think the situation will be quite dire and widespread, and people will need to be thinking about bartering with tangible goods rather than hoarding more paper money that won't be worth squat.

Do I think things will likely get to the point where paper money is worthless? No, I don't. Do I think things will get to the point where my credit cards won't work after I bug out from the immediate disaster area, and that banks/etc. won't give me the money I have on deposit? No, to that question too. But if that bad situation ever does develope and I run out of my $500 of paper money, I'll put my faith in tangible goods to trade, not larger heaps of stockpiled paper money.

In the state where I live, there are still a few remote gas stations that do not accept credit cards.

I also had the experience one time returning home late from a fishing trip. It was 8PM, I was really hungry, and still a hundred miles from home. All I had was a $50 bill. I went from place to place trying to buy dinner in the tiny towns I went through and no one would accept the $50. I don't carry credit cards with me as a matter of principle, so I might as well have been broke.

In recent years I have relented and I now carry a debit card when I travel. I also keep $500 in 5,10,and 20 denomination in my BOB for emergencies, but no $50's.

Cash is tricky stuff.

First of all, it's sure to lose value, unless we go into a deflationary economic situation, which is very very bad.

Secondly, if you lose it, it's gone and there's no getting it back.

Third, you have basically no consumer protections with cash purchases.

Fourth, it's getting harder to use cash to conduct certain kinds of transactions (like buying a plane ticket).

That said, I know that there are a few limited scenarios where cash would be preferable. Blackouts are one, and a widespread failure of the telecommunications infrastructure is another. The former has happened. The latter has only happened in limited area and for limited time.

For example, did you know that there was a cable cut last week that knocked out lines for Verizon and AT&T? http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100726-713152.html

I can't even find a record of a national telecommunications infrastructure outage in the last 10 years. There's been portions, but never the whole thing. So the credit card networks will stay up, even if parts go down.

So yeah, you might need some cash. Fuel purchases seem to be the big need, but if the power is out, the pumps are out, and no cash is going to help with that.

Food might be a concern, but you don't need a lot to eat.

I'd love to open this topic up in another thread...Bug Out to WHERE and WHY and can someone, anyone, please please please give me case history in the last 40 years where we had a "Bug Out" situation that was not related to a weather incident?

I can think of only two in the USA:

Centralia PA - fire burning in coal seam under town slowly eats it. "Bug Out" consists of packing up trucks and moving away.

Love Canal, NY - chemicals dumped turn town into hazmat site.
"Bug Out" consists of packing up trucks and moving away.

And of course, there's the all-time great example of Bug Out, Chernobyl, but that's a whole different situation, we don't have plants like that here, we don't have the same concerns and the effects of even a meltdown here would be bad, but not like there.

Earthquakes have Nothing to do with the weather,So... Starting with April 18,1906 Through to January 17,1994,I had friends Bug-Out to my place,from Northridge,for 3 weeks after the '94 Northridge Quake,& I'm only referring to California from,'06 to '94 The rest of the World has had some Major,Heavy-Duty Eartquakes,& I'll bet there are people Bugging-Out from one as, I type this!

Ah! Earthquakes...Us east coasters don't think like that!

Good point!

Cash is King!
Yes, if the end of the world as we know it happens, cash will be best for keeping warm as you burn it, but beyond that, Cash is your friend.

There are times that the credit cards don't work, and there are places that they won't work. When I was doing SAR in remote locations I would always carry at least $200 in my pack, becouse there are not ATM's in the wilderness and you can buy a boat ride home with cash when you are stranded. (I did SAR in Alaska)

If you loose the money there is no recovery, You can do Travelers checks if you are worried about loosing it but that can be another whole batch of issues. and it is realy hard to buy off a mugger with a travlers check.

Cash is also faster. in a long line of people when you need to get out quickly you can pay for gas or food and bail quicker than waiting for the credit card to clear.

If your bugg out plan involves going to another City or another very urban area, credit cards and Debit Cards may be perfect, but on the back roads in rural Maine, NH, AK, or any other state Cash can buy you a pull out of a ditch, dinner, clothing, ect...


Having cash can save you money! I have been stuck in the sand, After calling a tow truck a big 4x4 finaly came by. The tow truck asked for $90 to come pull my little car out (don't ask how it got there, it is a long story) but the guy in the 4X4 asked for $25.. needless to say the tow truck got canceled and I was on my way in 5 minutes.

Back in 1992 I had a friend get supper stuck in the snow, the only way to get him out was buy paying a Skider operator to pull him out!! That was $50 in cash and literaly the ONLY way out.

Having Cash in a BOB I would say is bordering on a necessity. How much? for me it is anywhere from $500 to $1,000. The way I calculate how much I need is by taking the place I want to get to, figuring out how much gas I need round trip, then double the cost of that gas, I also double the amount needed for lodging or food for that trip. Regretably my bug out locations are VERY far away and I drive a RAM 1500 so I need a lot more gas and well I just eat too much so the food budget isn't good either.


Sometimes carrying money in mutiple locations also helps so that when you loose one the places you store money you have other places to go.

I'm gonna have to go with the $1,000 option too, now that I think about it. In small bills, too. $10's and $20's.

We all look for the right tool to do a job when disaster strikes. We save, to be able to buy a nice knife or a comfortable back-pack. Money is has a very special status in our world. In a survival situation it is just a tool. Unless you want to start a business just after the earthquake. :-) It is a tool to get stuff done. Invest in a nice knife. Invest in a money stash.

The interesting thing about money is that it is like a cellphone. They both rely on an infastructure to give them value. Cash can buy you a boat ride off an island and Cash can buy you a ride into a town to get out of the woods. Just like a cellphone with out the infastructure to back it up both are kinda usless.

The thing that I always like about this site and about Doug's phylosophy is that while in a survival situation you can't rely on the infastructure, you will eventualy return to civilization.

If a Katrian like event occured and you had to bug out of where you are Yes it will be very "apocoplitic" in both resorces and in feel. But after a few hours drive, maybe even a day, you will find civilization, and then the bowie knife and camping equipment that helped you to survive,(I am exagerating and speaking figurativly) is quickly replaced by cash, and maybe credit cards.

Yes if the civilized world today stoped, Cash would be usless, but I am hedging a bet that having about $1k in cash will still go somewhere in helping you get what you need to keep you and yours safe. .

Dang-when I read the heading, I thought I might be able to trade in my BOB for money somewhere...I am distressed at how attractive that seemed...

My BoB, GHB, E&E bag, and my SAK & Kabar are non-negotiable. But that's just me

My interest in survival is of the wilderness/short term type. I don't think we'll see TEOTWAWKI in my lifetime, and if it does happen no amount of preparation will guarentee survival. My interest in life is in living it, not merely existing on as a hardscrabble survivor fighting with the cockroaches after Armageddon. True, if it comes to I may have to reconsider. But since there's rarely if ever been a complete worldwide collapse of civilization in all of our written human history, I think it's prudent to devote the bulk of my resources to the emergencies I'm more likely to face.

Personally I look at the $ in my BOB as a tool.

I keep $1,000 in it broken down as follows .

$10.00 Quarters
$20.00 Ones
$270.00 Fives
$700.00 Tens

Hope this gives me the ability to get what I my need (gas , food , lodging etc ...)Hopefully I will never need it , but it is there if I do.

Thanks everyone for the replies. $1000 in a BOB is a lot of cash for someone like me with a low paying job and no car. I do have an emergency account at ING Direct with $6000 at 2% interest rate in a "tax free savings account" (a new Canadian plan started in 2009) and after just a couple of months I earned something like $70 in interests so if inflation rate is 2% you better reevaluate your $1000 cash after a couple of years... What I will surely do is get more quarters, toonies and loonies and some $5 and $10 dollars bills.

François

Whatever the amount each of us keeps on hand for emergency situations --my feeling is don't keep all your eggs in one basket applies.

This. Cash is great for dealing with day-to-day problems that crop up, especially when traveling. But all the cash in the world will be better used as a tinder source or T.P. in TEOTWAWKI.

What are the people with gold stashes really going to do? Stroll into their neighborhood grocery store, slide a gold bar across the counter, and walk out with bags of groceries? You can't eat gold, you can't cook with it, and it won't keep you warm at night. If anything, a barter and trade system will be developed to "buy" goods and services.

I think at least a few hundred dollars in small denominations in your B.O.B. is good. More than that just makes you a target.

I have to agree with you one at least some points. My primary interest in this forum is wilderness survival, but as I read about other scenarios, I realize how thin the veneer of civilization really is, and how fragile the technological environment we have created.

I now think of TEOTWAWKI as a more personal and localized thing. It doesn't have to be 'THE' world, just 'MY' world. Even if you don't live in earthquake or hurricane country, a TEOTWAWKI situation could occur almost instantly as a result of a large scale extended power outage. This could occur as a result of acts of war, terrorism, or solar flares. A coordinated biological terrorist attack against the air and water supply in major cities would also have catastrophic results everywhere.

I have spent countless hours in the woods and on the waters of the three state boreal region where I live. I have never been hopelessly lost, seriously injured, or attacked by an animal (OK, I got pecked in the head by a robin once), and yet I prepare for those things. While I agree that a post-apocalypse Mad Max scenario is for the movies, I also think that reasonable precautions against reasonable risks makes a lot of sense.

Every place has it's STOBOR!

With the heat waves that have hit the country this summer, I'm surprised that the electrical grid has held up so well. It has apparently been under great strain with all the increased demand for electricity.

I don't have one single kit that is comrehensive enough to be called a BOB. Rather i have a SYSTEM of kits. Maybe a GHB or EDC kit, plus several stashes here and there.

In every kit or bag, I have put cash in medium and small bills.
So, in every situation , I will be having cash in the portable kit/bag I am carrying plus cash in a kit nearby ( in car, office ..etc.)

Between any two kits ( mobile and stationary ) I may be having around $ 200. But this does not count what I have in my wallet which is usually medium and larger bills and it is usually around $ 1000.

BTW, I am not in the U.S.

Cash really solves problems that would otherwise make me frustrated. As a matter of fact, I have so far stubbornly refused bank advertisements and junk-mail SMS ..etc. to have their credit cards. I may go for debit cards though to purchase stuff from the U.S. Other than that, cash is both comfortable and suitable to my stressful lifestyle.

I have $250 in my EDC, another $250 in the Get Home bag in my truck, and $500 in my BoB. Since I also carry at least $250 in my pocket, that gives me quick access to between $500 and $750 when I'm out and about, or $1,250 if I can get home.

Having weathered some mini-disasters where cash was not immediately accessible, I keep between $1,500 and $3,000 cash in my safe at home. It also is convenient for paying tradesmen and contractors, who typically give a good discount and preferential scheduling when paying cash. I generally throw another $100 in the safe each paycheck, and then invest half when it gets to $3,000.

Recently I've been buying silver and gold coins for investment and preparedness reasons, mostly Silver Eagles and 1/10 Gold Eagles. I now have about $2,000 in silver and gold coins in my home safe. I try to add a few more whenever there's a dip in the market, or when I have enough disposable cash to warrant an order large enough to get a good rate.

So all total, I have about $5,000 I can draw on if SHTF, assuming I can get home to my safe.

Did I mention my safe is embedded in the concrete foundation of my home and well hidden, that I have a very protective dog, and several firearms within easy access?

You might want to re-think this strategy. As long as you pay your credit card each month it will cost little or nothing, maybe $50-75/year for card membership. At least in the states, there are cards that will pay you back for using the card between 1 - 2.5%, sometimes even higher for special offers. This is competitive with or even better than most savings accounts and does not tie-up your capital.

The danger with debit cards is that if a merchant makes a mistake or commits fraud, that money is GONE from your account. You have to fight to get your money back, and in the meantime may incur overdraft or insufficient funds penalties if the cash to cover legitimate transactions isn't in your account. In my experience, the banks are difficult to deal with regarding these disputes, and worse, have no qualms about seizing funds from any other accounts to cover the shortage in your disputed account. By the time you get the dispute resolved and the cash credited back to your account, you may have racked up several hundred dollars in overdraft and returned transaction fees from your bank and other payees that had your payments returned, which can take months to resolve.

Add to this the fact that security is so lacking in the ACH system used for debit transactions that it is amazing that fraud isn't more widespread. Basically any ACH-approved merchant, or person who opens an account with an ACH processor, can access your funds without a password, PIN code, signature, or any other proof of your authorization. All they need is your debit card number and expiration, or bank routing number and account number.

Personally, the only places I use a debit card are in my bank's ATM's. For everything else I use cash or credit, and just pay the credit cards off as soon as the bill arrives.

With debit cards you are guilty until proven innocent. The money is gone and you can end up liable for fraudulent charges under many circumstances, with no limit on the amount.

With credit cards, federal law is that you're innocent until proven guilty. An assertion of an erroneous or fraudulent charge immediately suspends any attempt to collect the disputed monies, and the credit card company cannot hold you liable for fraud over $50 (most cards have a policy reducing that to $0).

My credit union sent us debit cards to replace our ATM cards; I insisted that they be replaced immediately with ATM-only cards.

Debit cards are BAD NEWS. Take it from me, I used to be "in the business" and they are totally stacked against you. A prepaid credit card is much better if you don't have good credit.

$1k is in my BOB. But I rarely have more than $20-40 in my pocket.

Also I've heard that for an international bug out scenario (e.g. to flee from a local war, revolution, civil unrest etc, and to settle in some other country) it was advised to have around $10k on hands. I only hope that USD will stay solid to be gladly accepted worldwide in this unstable world's economy.

Some banks are better than others, a smaller more local bank will put the $ back until the outcome the investigation. But you have to be dilligent to catch it too, I sign in my online banking daily. If your someone who never does and you sit down once a month and write checks for bills then you may never know someone got your card number until that day. I had a card # copied by a gas station attendant when I was using a pay at the pump (so the gas station attendant never saw me or physically touched my card). I've had another card number stolen though a yahoo's wallett when I checked the "do not save" option but it did anyway. I've caught it within a day since I check often.

I do use debit cards but split my pay into two different accounts at two different banks and each one has all the bill pay info so if one card were stolen/lost/ bank's systems down I could run from the other.

[quote=Eugene
I do use debit cards but split my pay into two different accounts at two different banks and each one has all the bill pay info so if one card were stolen/lost/ bank's systems down I could run from the other. [/quote]

We have a similar setup. My DW and my paychecks are electronicly deposited 75% into our household account, and 25% to a reserve account at another bank. All ATM, gas, groceries, and automatic payments come from the household account. There are no electronic withdrawels from the reserve account (except possibly some checks converted), and checks written against it are used very rarely, and then only to pay utility bills, boost the household account, or pay taxes if we get short in the household account.

I have steadfastly refused to use personal credit cards on principal, but after reading some of these posts, I am starting to realize that some things have changed and I need to rethink the strategy.

Thanks to the new banking bill, my bank now holds all checks for four or five days before posting, but debits are extracted at the speed of light. They also just lost a lawsuit in CA for rearrainging debits to pay the largest first in hopes that the account would dry up quicker and they could charge $15 to $20 for each smaller cash advance thereafter until the automatic paycheck deposit comes in to cover. I used to go online and check, and if short just write a check from my reserve account to cover immediately. That doesn't work any more with the four or five day wait to credit checks.

I think it's time to put up the debit cards and get another credit card for DW and take the one out of the safe for me. Makes sense to use the protections available and get aweay from the debit card scams, and stay disciplined and pay the balance each month.

At least don't write checks for utilities, those were the first to partner with the banks to do online bill pay and the most likely to 'loose' checks.