How Much Emergency Cash Should You Keep at Home? | WSJ Your Money Briefing

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It is important to keep change and small bills, 1's, 5's, 10's, 20's, 50's, and 100's. If grid goes down, there will be no change, keeping all large bills will not work. There is a story of a woman after Katrina, she spent $20.00 for $5.00 worth of items because of no change. Hope this helps.

We were without power for 13 days during the 2009 Ice Storm. Thankfully, we had $2,000 in cash stashed at home. It was lifesaving!

For the love of God, as a lifelong Florida resident don’t ever pay any contractor in cash during a storm. That’s the fastest way to say goodbye to your money and they skip town and you’ll never see them again. Tons of guys did this back in 2004 and 2005 ripping people off left right and center.

A few years ago I stopped spending $5 bills & stash them in the house. I got my husband to do the same and we have a few thousand dollars now so we got a safe.

Someone hit a power pole in Georgia a few weeks ago. ALL of the businesses in that area only accepted cash as their electricity was out. Starving, I was glad I had cash on me. Always keep some on me. Since the food wouldn’t last long without electricity, they doubled my order for the price of one serving. Big win for me.

When Sandy hit I was lucky to find a deli that was open because most didn't have power. They still didn't have internet connections so they were only accepting cash. This is the kind of situation you need cash for in an emergency.

I was in Puerto Rico during hurricane Maria, when the whole island went dark. My family spent close to $400 for around 2 weeks in groceries, gas, etc. So I'd say for extreme situations, $500 should cover the basics for a while.

I stopped by a McDonalds a few Saturdays ago, their system was down, all they could do was write down orders and take cash. I was fine, always have some cash with me.

Its crazy to think that this newer generation sees the use of cash as archaic 😮

I was out of power for sixteen days after Hurricane Ike and at least for the first few days it was a PIA to find stores or gas stations open. After that I started keeping a thousand dollars in cash at home. Thankfully I had plenty of non-perishable food on hand, so eating was not problematic.

It needs to be in small denominations, if they can’t make change you loose the difference.

People may laugh . But this is a real need. If SHTF. Having some cash in the house will be needed. At least in the short term.Good and important video.

Senator Menendez recommends at least $500,000 cash on hand

2k could cover everything for at least a couple weeks plus mis sized unexpected expenses. I've always been a envelope stuffer that pays my bills 6 months out so the 2k is there without really trying.

As a former power company employee and having to deal with hurricane issues, I found that the cash issue is nonexistent because when the power is off the merchant’s cash registers and refrigerator/freezers and gas pumps do not work. They can’t sell you anything without the register. If the register is up, then most likely their internet connection will take your credit card and cash. Very few cashiers know how to make change the old fashion way. The most valuable thing to have is a full tank of gas to get out of the area with a power outage. Hurricanes with power outages have a limited affected areas where you could travel 200 miles and find a hotel room. Winter storms power outages are far worse because they can be very broad in nature. A winter storm requires a generator and maybe auxiliary form of heating and cooking. Their power outage foot print can be highly variable and unpredictable. Panic buying up resources like gas and food during the outage is the major issue.

1 month’s expenses is a solid recommendation

If you own a gun, keep enough to hire a lawyer and pay bail. All I can say from experience, my own, is that I once lived through a hurricane and blackout that lasted a week, before power was restored. I was available on street corners, but was $20 a bag (1985). ATMs did not work, and anything that was available was available in exchange for cash. Bars were open!! but only took cash.

My credit union uses backup generators at every ATM, but I suspect that money would quickly run out if there was a sustained power outage.

$5-10K in petty cash seems about right to keep around. Just enough to do something in a pinch but not lose too much interest by not being in a savings account.