My Morning Commute Cost $85.94 Today

Bummer. Battery died while stopping to pay a bill en route to my work. The good news is that the full service gas station was 20 yards from where my truck's battery died, the bad news was that I had to pay what they were asking, which was 85.94 when all was said and done.

I normally EDC $90 emergency cash in my belt. Think I might bump it up to $200 because right now I have only 28 greenbacks in my bank account and that would have not gotten me anywhere.

The two thread questions:

1. How much cash do you EDC and is it for emergencies only?
I wrap mine in a million layers of bags and tape so it is not easy to get to or I will spend it.

2. Anybody had an expensive commute to work lately? I felt bad about the $90 because I am not a high wage earner if you know what I mean, but at the same time I am kind of elated and estounded that I was prepared when I needed to be. Sure this was not a life threatening emergency, but that is why it is called EDC. Saved my wife a trip to save my but, saved 1/2 a day trying to get to work, and only arrived 20 minutes late!

I only carry about $25 cash. I know I should probably carry more but I figure that's what plastic is for.

II got caught in the east coast blackout (2003?) with less than $20 cash. With ATMs down, I had to make due with that. Since then, I have carried $100. Been pretty good about not touching it unless it is a true emergency. I keep it separate from the wallet, in case some thug with a weapon demands "street tax".

I don't drive. All mass transit. In your case, $200 sounds prudent.

Good thing you were ETS

Is it a full size truck? If so then you can add a second battery easily by utilizing the space the factory would have put it for a diesel engine (those all come with two batteries) or the factory camper/plow package. My truck is farily new so I had to buy the tray from a dealer for about $30. Then every couple years I buy a new battery and put it in as the primary and move the primary to the secondary and turn the old secondary in for the core. I'm using an isolator which is basically a couple big diodes to prevent one battery from discharging the other but allow them to both charge. This gives two advantages, one I can jump start myself if needed and 2 if I ever were to be stuck/stranded someplace I have extra battery power to run all the gear I keep in the truck.

I forgot to answer the question.
I have about $200 split between two wallets currently. I try to add a little at a time then sometimes I'll use a little for a purchase and try to make sure to never spend more than 1/2 of what I have. For example about a month ago I had close to $250 and gave my wife $100 for her birthday so she could shop a little bit wherever she wanted.

A couple other suggestions:
1. always pay bills electronically then you never have to stop to pay a bill and if someone ever says you didn't pay the bill you ask your bank to research it and let them fight it for you.
2. always carry some tools in your truck so you don't have to pay someone else to put in that battery. even a simple adjustable wrench is sufficient to change a battery. You don't have to spend a lot, just don't buy cheap chinese made tools. Stop by sears right after a holiday and go straight to the clearance table and pick up a set of decent tools for cheap. usually they will discontinue sets or have some in fancy packaging specifically for that holiday that they will put on clearance and you buy it and toss the packaging and have several good tools for a good price. A basic adjustable wrench is a start, then add some screwdrivers and a small set of wrenches then a socket set, usually 3/8" drive will do most autmotive work. Then maybe a 1/4" drive socket set and maybe a 1/2" drive long bar and a couple big sockets, one that fits the lug nust because they have less chance of slipping off than the cheaply made factory lug wrench.

I have $100 in small bills stached in each car to be used ONLY for emergency purposes. Been doing that for quite a while and a few times have had to dip into it.
I also have AAA. Last time we used that my Darling Bride had a blowout (ran over construction crap on the highway). Not a chance that she's going to change a tire.

well there's something else for the BOB..a 20 pound car
battery..well if you were on the road with a earthquake
or whatever right behind you and the battery fritzed out
you would on the spot..with a traffic jam behind you and your
car being pushed into the ditch..if you lived someplace where
evacuations are common..the Keys or the Gulf coast..you may
want to think about having the smallest battery that will
start your car packed safe in you trunk along with water
and food..

It would go dead by then, you have to keep car batteries constantly charged hence my permanently installed and isolated second battery.

"...you have to keep car batteries constantly charged ..."

What do the guys at the store do to it when you buy it? I'm assuming they don't have a "live battery self" ...

Sue

They don't keep them on the shelf for very long. When you go buy a car battery its best to buy them from a store that moves a lot of them so you can be sure you have a fresh one. There are web sites which tell how to decode the date code marked on them so you can be sure it hasn;t set for too long. They are kind of like produce, if they sit for too long they start to go bad.
Note that there are deep cycle batteries which can be deeply discharged without harm but you don't normally put those in cars, those are for things like the "house" battery in an RV, you normal car battery the plates are thinner and start to deteriorate (did I spell that right, can't have firefox on the work pc) when they discharge.

I recently got one of those "power pack" jumper boxes to serve this very purpose. It has an air compressor and a pretty useful work light built into it as well. I can't think of the mfr right now but it seems to be a solid, well-built item.

Wow, my battery died yesterday too, but it was under warranty so I got a free replacement. Luckily, I also had a portable power booster/compressor (Campbell Hausfeld Power Pal) to get me up and running long enough to get to Wally World. I've used mine on several occasions.

I usually keep about $30 in singles in my car for emergencies, and $10 in the bag on my mountain bike. If I need more $$, I pull out the plastic.

I EDC $200 for emergencies. I built it up slowly by adding $20.00 a paycheck to my stash until I got the $200 level. In addition, I also have emergency money stashed in each of my vehicles.

I feel for you on the expensive commute. I had a relatively new tire blow out on my way home this week. That and the $3.00 a gallon gas is killing me on my 50 mile daily commute but I have friends that have an even longer one so I don't complain too much.

I also have one of the power pack boxes and they are extremely handy. I have used it to inflate tires after I plug them and jumpstart mine and my wife's vehicles. They are great to keep in vehicles and also come in very handy when camping and you need a power supply.

The one I got was from Home Depot and it is 400 watts. I think I paid about $75 for it and it was money well spent!

It's funny, AAA is one of those things you will have and almost never need. Yet the day you don't have it, you will definitely need it!

It's worth the $50 or so a year just for the three complimentary tows / roadside assistance. They can bring you a battery as well now (but I believe you pay for the battery).

If you like maps they also have tons of free ones for just about anywhere, and offer insurance (not the lowest rates), and a travel agency.

One time I had a job interview in the morning about an hour from home. Made it to the interview, but came out to find a dead battery in my old Mazda truck. A quick call to AAA and they were able to come out, provide a jump start, and I went directly to the auto parts store for a new battery. That was worth the $50 alone.

my truck is a chevy s-10, not a full size, and I do not have any credit cards. I think the real trick is to keep the money hard enough to get to that you will not spend it because temptation is hard to resist at times and impulse buying sometimes hard to control.

I am on the fence about charger/inflater things, and my truck has never left me staranded, so I just have been lucky I guess. At any rate, I am more happy that I was prepared than bummed about $100...

Sorry about the luck. I keep $50 "hidden" in my wallet and another $100 in my belt (one of those travel belts with a zipper compartment).

Came in handy last fall when we were coming back from vacation.

It was getting late on I-77 North -- 8:30 pm-ish -- on a Saturday night midway between Beckley and Charleston, WVa. My poor wife was driving when a deer decided to take a stroll across the northbound lane, just around a bend and at that moment we literally knew what is meant by "that deer in the headlights look". Thankfully everyone was ok.


AAA Plus got us towed the almost 75 miles to Charleston and the cash came in handy to tip the driver to take us to a hotel after dropping the vehicle off at a dealership and for cab fare the next morning to get from the hotel to a car rental agency (The only ones we could find open on Sunday were clear out at the airport).

So, I try to keep $150 - $200 hidden on me.

-- buckeye

I carry a credit card which is what I would have used in stealthedc's situation. I also carry normal cash and "reserve" cash. I am happy to spend the reserve cash like any other cash; the main difference is that I rarely need to because I top up the normal cash before it gets to that point.

It's a bit like petrol - I try to keep the car half full, but on long journeys I let it get lower because it's inconvenient to stop to fill up too often. Unless I know a disaster is coming (eg a hurricane warning), I figure disasters are very rare and I'm not going to let preparedness intrude too far into my life. Many of my preparedness habits are things which make my every day life easier rather than harder, and if they do get too hard I give them up. For me the point of having reserves of cash or petrol is to have it available for the little things as well as disasters.

I actually feel a bit paranoid about going into detail about money amounts.