[font:Comic Sans MS]Hello Gentlemen....

I'm new to the forum but I have been lurking for a bit.

What does everybody feel about phyical cash in your BOB. If the lights go out cash will be king, coins more so than cash.

I just picked up a roll of 25 $1 coins. I want to devise a way to make carrying them less bulky and easier to store, currently they are still in a tight roll.

Ideas? Tape Maybe?

Ronin[/font]

IMHO - Unless TEOTWAWKI occures

$100 bills are much more desireable than gold or coins.

I personally go with quarters, dimes, and nickels since they are acceptable to vending machines.

Coins = weight, and in a BOB that weight might better be used for something else. I am not aware that of your bug out situation, but mine is hurricane-related. Most vending machines will not be working in the wake of power failures caused by hurricances. Additionally, I have not encountered a modern vending machine without a bill changer. The new dollar coins will appear strange to most people (not many in circulation) and may not be accepted as legal tender in an emergency situation. Vending machines may also not be calibrated to accept them.

In short, you are likely much better off with a good assortment of paper money. YMMV

Craig.

Welcome, Ronin! I'm a bit of a fan of $1 coins, too, compared to say, $1 bills when it comes to that "rainy day" money. We had a thread in the Campfire not that long ago about the new $1 coins.

I don't have any particular tips on carrying or storing them. I do prefer when they are wrapped in plastic versus paper since the plastic is waterproof and just generally a more durable storage medium than paper. I'll just keep them in their rolls as is, I think.

What would be the value of $100 bills?

I would rather be in the position of handing someone $10 for a $8.50 purchase and telling them to keep the change. It could be
the difference between making the purchase and "Sorry, but I can't get the register open to get change".

Sue

I suggest a variety of bills, maybe a few coins, to equal $100. I usually keep 3-$20's and 3-$10's and a couple 5's in my "secret" pocket in my wallet. I never spend it unless it's an emergency.

Just like a few weeks ago, I detonated a tooth and had to go to the tooth Doc, pronto. After it was all done, tooth fixed, face numbed, they said $110 please, and we don't take checks or credit cards...???

Yikes. Glad I had the cash. Now I need to look into a better insurance policy....But I digress.

I have a vision that in the future, coins will be the first to go, soon to be followed by paper money. Everything will be electronic money. Penny's are almost usless except for dropping on the ground of filling up my cup holder in the car. I know of nothing that can be bought with a penny anymore.

Stick to bills. Lighter and will be accepted more. Some think that in TEOTWAWKI, cash will be useless, as trade-skills or barter items will mean more than cash.

DLR

My grandfather had a stack of $2 he used to keep in a separate thin wallet. He called it his emergency money. His thought process was that $2 was the right amount of money to be able to buy just about anything without loosing much to change (say needing to buy a $20 item with a $50 bill and the person can't make change). He also liked $2 bills because some people treated them as being worth more than $2 due to their somewhat rarity. He could often buy something worth more than $2, just because the seller wanted a $2 bill. He also used to give them out as tips when he wanted people to remember him ("Hey, that was the guy that gave me a big tip in $2 bills, I want to get his table again.")

I do the same thing today, but on a smaller scale. I carry a few $2 bills and $1 coins in my belt (money belt). Really though $2 doesn't get you as much as it used to, so I'm thinking a stash of $5's or $10's a long with the $2's might be a bit more helpful. Also, I think he used to carry around $50 total. Today $500 would be needed to have the same buying power.

All in all, I think an assortment of bills and coins would be the most useful.

I'm not sure I understand why if the lights go out coins would be more advantageous than paper money, at least not the new dollar coins. Gold coins or silver coins I can understand but the new dollar coins have no appreciable precious metal value so in essence they would be no better than paper cash.

As for vending machines, if the lights were out the vending machines would be useless and besides in that situation I would not waste money on a vending machine I would simply break the glass to access the contents.

Carrying a small cash stash is a good thing. I've needed to go into mine a couple times. I agree with a variety of bills: a few $1's & $5's, then $10's and $20's. In a bad situation don't worry about the change if the cash register won't open.

In a short term situation any small denominations will be handy as will larger for more expsesive buy's but if the situation continues for a long time ( long enough or wide spread enough to disrupt resupply of stores) cash won't do you much good.

All I need the cash for is/are immediate needs such as getting home or buying a bottle of water on the walk home. For TEOTWAWKI situations, cash will be pretty much OBE.

I carry $100 in mixed bills in a K&M Match case. I also carry a few dollars in quarters - think pay phones.

If your are thinking pay phones, I would think calling card instead. Much easier to manage and you can put as much as you want on the card. I won't go into detail as this issue has been discussed in detail in a seprate thread recently.

Craig.