I am guilty of this myself. Being in the suburbs of one of the most fascinating cities on the planet (to me) I too am guilty of whipping out a credit card or check card for every purchase. What if the power grid were to go down? What if the banking system went kaput temporarily. Money would be unavailable due to the lack of power. Those using money as a form of trade for goods and services that are still willing to sell would not be available to you because you had a worthless piece of plastic in your pocket. Cash would be king, for the short period that those with goods would be willing to take it.
Now, that said, I should have preceded this with the scenario as well. Let’s assume the grid is down for a week, maybe two. so that you have an understanding of how you will be affected. I have a convenient store around the corner and I would immediately go try and buy all the additional water I could out of the store. Maybe some additional Gatorade to add to my preps as extra. Without cash, could not do it.
Anyway, what spurred this little rant was a post on Bug Out Survival.com by Scott B. WIlliams.
You can check out the post here: http://www.bugoutsurvival.com/2010/06/money.html
Scott mostly discusses having a little extra money with you and saved, however, I am of the opinion, that if you do not, you should have a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars in the following places:
- Bug Out Bag: 200 — 500 dollars (cash)
- Home: 200 — 1000 dollars (cash)
- Bug Out Location: 500 — 3000 dollars (cash)
These are just my thoughts. The money is there to get you through in the event you run across someone who is selling something you need or to get you through a small rough patch while bugging in or bugging out. You should not touch this money unless it is an absolute emergency.
