Stash of Cash?

[Lsbcal]

...
As far as cash, it is in the $25K range mostly. The high point was over $90K. It seems like I accumulate cash, and my bank charges me money to deposit over $2,500 a month.

I have a large fireproof safe.

You win the cash stash contest Senator.

I would be worried about the incentive that really bad guys might have with so much around.

 

[2017ish]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Islandtraveler
More important that the wine cellar is full!

Or the liquor cabinet

....

Or?

 

[Another Reader]

I am not worried about denial of service attacks, at all. Having said that, I have plenty of firearms, and enough ammo that I could shoot for a while if I had to. If chaos breaks out, for any reason, I am ready to deal with it.

As far as cash, it is in the $25K range mostly. The high point was over $90K. It seems like I accumulate cash, and my bank charges me money to deposit over $2,500 a month.

I have a large fireproof safe.

Time for a new bank or a heart to heart with an officer of your current bank.

 

[Sunset]

Time for a new bank or a heart to heart with an officer of your current bank.

+1
I would not stand for that, and at a minimum would open a new account at a new bank.

 

[Sunset]

Or the liquor cabinet

We keep about a months worth of cash on hand.

For those without safes, can I recommend at the very least the following (I am paranoid about fire burning the cash):

U.S. Patrol JB5076 Fire Resistant Document Bag - $7.88
https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Patrol-J...162?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4ZF3RQ2VHR771GEETK37

Of course there are better ones for more money.

Be very cautious about this fire envelope, read the reviews. It's made of fiberglass and you will get splinters in your fingers.

Might as well just buy a roll of fiberglass from the home hardware store and wearing rubber gloves stuff the $ into the center (it would provide about 10 inches of protection which is an enormously large more amount).

 

[Koogie]

Be very cautious about this fire envelope, read the reviews. It's made of fiberglass and you will get splinters in your fingers.
Might as well just buy a roll of fiberglass from the home hardware store and wearing rubber gloves stuff the $ into the center (it would provide about 10 inches of protection which is an enormously large more amount).

The one I linked to had no such reviews. Others do, perhaps you read the wrong one. This one for instance has a review warning about fibres:
Utrax Fireproof Pouch Fire Resistant Document Bag Anti Fire Storage Seal Pockets

Either way, the actual point is to consider fire and water protection. Cash money is fairly fragile and if people don't want to have a safe in the house they should still make the effort to physically protect it. A lot of people used to say to put it in a sealed baggie in a freezer or fridge. Those appliances offer some protection in a house fire and the baggie will protect it from water.

 

[RobbieB]

If the 3 grand in my house burns up that will be the least of my problems.

 

[audreyh1]

The cash stash - a few hundred in the fire safe. We dip into it occasionally for paying people who do house maintenance chores. Sometimes use it as out ATM before leaving on a trip. Then replenish eventually.

 

[Koogie]

If the 3 grand in my house burns up that will be the least of my problems.

True but why add to your problems ?

Plus, our house insurance policy specifically limits coverage for cash/bullion, etc.. to a max loss of 2K. I gather a lot of them do (at various limits)

 

[Sunset]

The one I linked to had no such reviews. Others do, perhaps you read the wrong one. This one for instance has a review warning about fibres:
Utrax Fireproof Pouch Fire Resistant Document Bag Anti Fire Storage Seal Pockets

Either way, the actual point is to consider fire and water protection. Cash money is fairly fragile and if people don't want to have a safe in the house they should still make the effort to physically protect it. A lot of people used to say to put it in a sealed baggie in a freezer or fridge. Those appliances offer some protection in a house fire and the baggie will protect it from water.

I only clicked on the link provided, and read the reviews (just the first few)
https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Patrol-J...1162?ie=UTF8&refRID=4ZF3RQ2VHR771GEETK37&th=1

Not sure why I see something different, but regardless if you have a lot then protecting it from fire would be smart.

 

[Car-Guy]

It seems like I accumulate cash, and my bank charges me money to deposit over $2,500 a month.

I never heard of such a thing (Yet)... I've had them fill out CTR's on me from time to time, but not charge me for a deposit regardless of how much. Sometimes collectable car deals (or other hobbies) can generate large cash transactions so I'd find me another bank if they ever tried to charge me for a large withdrawal or deposit.

 

[samclem]

I agree it's a good idea to have cash on hand, we don't have a lot of it. I'd think about $2k would be enough to get through any temporary burbles in the IT infrastructure, but I could also see where a larger amount could be useful. I have read recently of government consideration of circuit breakers that would allow limits on withdrawals from regular FDIC savings accounts and other accounts in the event of a financial disruption (market turmoil, etc). Whoever is proposing that just doesn't understand human psychology--if they liberalize the rules that allow for withdrawal limits in hopes of avoiding a run on the banks, it will only encourage people to withdraw a lot at the first sign of trouble, to beat the shutdown.

As far as storing cash, a very cheap way to effectively protect it from fire is to just build a simple container out of several thicknesses of gypsum board ("drywall"). A simple metal box with several layers of drywall on the outside (including the door) and held together with another metal box or metal straps on the outside will keep the interior below the combustion temp of currency for a >long< time in a typical house fire. The drywall contains a lot of water, and the material can't get hotter than about 220-250F or so until all of that water is boiled off, which takes a while. This is how most "fireproof" safes are constructed.

 

[Senator]

I never heard of such a thing (Yet)... I've had them fill out CTR's on me from time to time, but not charge me for a deposit regardless of how much. Sometimes collectable car deals (or other hobbies) can generate large cash transactions so I'd find me another bank if they ever tried to charge me for a large withdrawal or deposit.

I can put as much as I want in my personal account, but the business account I have fees over $2,500. It's like a 0.0025% fee. Not much, but I do not like it

If banks paid more interest, I would not have as much.

 

[RobbieB]

So, you do a lot of your RE stuff with cash?

 

[aja8888]

I can put as much as I want in my personal account, but the business account I have fees over $2,500. It's like a 0.0025% fee. Not much, but I do not like it

If banks paid more interest, I would not have as much.

Well Fargo wanted to charge me the same for deposits into my business account over $2500 a couple of years ago. So now my business account is at B of A (no charge for deposits of any size).

 

[Sunset]

I would caution anyone using a safe to make sure they put some moisture absorber inside and change it or recharge it monthly.

I had a safe where I stuck papers inside and within a couple of months they grew mold.

I was reminded of this just the other day when a lady came into a store, complaining some revolvers she had put in a safe last year were now all rusty. They had quite a bit of rust on them. Sad because for the past 58 years she had them on the mantle and they were fine, then 1 year in the safe and they were in bad shape.

 

[UpAnchor]

$40 in each car and typically a few hundred in crisp $50s for gifts so I no longer have to run to the bank for just that. The amount is small enough that I don't worry too much about hiding it. Slipped between two boring titles on the bookshelf is good enough and quick to access.

Years ago I would often have multiple G's stashed in envelopes of hundreds. My "safe" was a pvc pipe capsule dropped into the column of a milling machine in my home shop. Way heavier than most home safes and much less obvious. No, not fireproof. But while I've had problems with burning cash at times, fire has never been the culprit.

And once - back in my Harry Browne/hard money days and living on a rented farmstead - I had 3/4 bag of junk silver quarters buried in the yard (also in a pvc pipe capsule) with measured ties to corners of barn and house foundations. The recorded ties were encoded and the "key" was mental. So only a total obliteration of the farmstead or a personal brain-dump could separate me from my stash.

Aaah, its nice those days are gone and I've long since joined mainstream society. Though some would argue otherwise.

 

[splitwdw]

I am not worried about denial of service attacks, at all. Having said that, I have plenty of firearms, and enough ammo that I could shoot for a while if I had to. If chaos breaks out, for any reason, I am ready to deal with it.

As far as cash, it is in the $25K range mostly. The high point was over $90K. It seems like I accumulate cash, and my bank charges me money to deposit over $2,500 a month.

I have a large fireproof safe.

Similar to Senator, have a large safe and keep up to 40k for buying collectible cars. It has come in handy for emergency funding for us, family and friends. Right now the cash is just sitting there on hold due to my husband's illness. I check/change the desiccant every couple of weeks.

 

[Senator]

I would caution anyone using a safe to make sure they put some moisture absorber inside and change it or recharge it monthly.

I had a safe where I stuck papers inside and within a couple of months they grew mold.

I was reminded of this just the other day when a lady came into a store, complaining some revolvers she had put in a safe last year were now all rusty. They had quite a bit of rust on them. Sad because for the past 58 years she had them on the mantle and they were fine, then 1 year in the safe and they were in bad shape.

I have a electric rod in mine. It generates just a touch of heat. GoldenRod Dehumidifier is what it is called. $40.

 

[harley]

I have a electric rod in mine. It generates just a touch of heat. GoldenRod Dehumidifier is what it is called. $40.

How do you get the cord through the safe to plug it in? Just drilled a hole?

 

[Lsbcal]

How do you get the cord through the safe to plug it in? Just drilled a hole?

What a dumb question. He just leaves the door open.

...

 

[Car-Guy]

I would caution anyone using a safe to make sure they put some moisture absorber inside and change it or recharge it monthly.

I had a safe where I stuck papers inside and within a couple of months they grew mold.

I was reminded of this just the other day when a lady came into a store, complaining some revolvers she had put in a safe last year were now all rusty. They had quite a bit of rust on them. Sad because for the past 58 years she had them on the mantle and they were fine, then 1 year in the safe and they were in bad shape.

I have a electric rod in mine. It generates just a touch of heat. GoldenRod Dehumidifier is what it is called. $40.

I have used a number of different dehumidifiers. What I have found that works best for small enclosed areas, like a gun safe, is a rechargeable one like in the picture below. (YMMV) About every 3 months I just plug it into an electric socket for a few hours which "drys it out" and is ready to be reused. Cheap, small, no water to dump (as with damp-rid), no "in safe" electric power required and seems to last for years.

A word of caution. This is a case where bigger is not necessarily better. You can pull out to much moisture from a gun safe and cause things like wooden gun stocks to dry out too much and crack. There are a lot of articles out on the net on what moisture levels are best for different environments.

 

[Car-Guy]

How do you get the cord through the safe to plug it in? Just drilled a hole?

Many (most) good gun safes that I've seen have a small hole in the back and near the bottom of the safe that you can pass a small electrical cord through.

 

[harley]

Many (most) good gun safes that I've seen have a small hole in the back and near the bottom of the safe that you can pass a small electrical cord through.

Ah! I don't have a gun safe, just a regular (supposedly) fire resistant safe. I don't keep the cash in there, but we do have jewelry and papers that I'd like to maintain properly. Maybe it's time to update. And I could put all the guns in it too.

 

[old woman]

There are hundreds of places in a house to hide things like money. For example in the rolls of wrapping paper or in Christmas decoration boxes. I was hiding some in the box of 3D glasses for my TV since I never watch 3D and nobody is going to look in a little box that isn't even closed tight. Theives will toss your kitchen and bedroom looking for money and jewels and look behind pictures and in books but will they check your linen closet it the folded wash hand towels? or in a box of envelopes in your den. It would take them 10 hours to check every little place. I have even hidden money in a woodstove I don't use in a box. I could lay a fire and they would never guess the little box had money, they might light the fire so not a great plan. I don't have any now except in my purse and coins in a coffee can but hiding places are easy as in your sewing machine or box of knitting.