Why have a money stash.

 

First off I want to say thank you to everyone that left very encouraging comments on my frugal fatigue post. I am hoping and trying to get back into the swing of things. As I have said before the reason I started this blog was to share what little information I have with others. I have felt like this is what I have been asked to do and when I start falling down on the job I'm  not keeping up with what I have been asked to do. So hopefully I am back at it.

I received this question in one of the comments.

Could you please explain a bit more about the money stash. Food storage challenge is a brilliant help to me and have just been through them all again to see what else I may have missed. Cannot find original post about money stash though. I take it this is different to an emergency fund and rather if banks were not open or chaos prevails. Thankyou for all your ideas and help you provide here.

I thought instead of just answering her I would do a small post about this.
In all my food storage challenges I recommend putting back money every week, however much you can afford. For a few different reasons.

# 1 If the power is out for an extended time and you can't get money out of your bank, then you have some cash on hand to get by until the power comes back on.

# 2 If the banks have a bank holiday once again you have cash on hand.

# 3 If at all possible I do recommend having enough cash for 3 to 6 months of bills and living expenses. I know this is difficult for a lot of people, that is why I say to try and put back something every week, even if a very small amount, it all adds up. I would hope that we would never have bank holidays, but they have happened in other countries.

#4 And it is also nice to have if you are a little short and need a few extra dollars for what ever ( especially if you have teens) Just be sure to try and replace it.

#5 Peace of mind. Just knowing that you have that little back up helps to give a little peace of mind. Back when I was a single parent and very broke I would scrounge every where all over the house looking for change just to get something that the girls needed. I don't want to ever have to do that again, that is a feeling that I will never forget.

 Ok so you are putting money back, the next question is where do you keep it. The ideal place is a fireproof safe, but that is not an option for everyone. Before we had a safe I keep ours in the freezer. With the freezer if you have a fire it is less apt to burn. If you put it in the freezer make it look like it belongs, wrap it in freezer paper, put it in a bag that vegetables were in, or a box of frozen food just make it blend in and then put it at the very back of the freezer where you have to take out several things out to get to it.

I don't recommend burying it. My Mother in law use to do this years ago and never kept a record of where it was, I am pretty sure there is money buried in her yard that will never be found.

Have a great day.