A nice wad of cash too – like all rubberbanded and stuff ;) It’s all about feeling safe these days, and this helps me to do just that. And we all have our own “right” amounts. Some feel good w/ $100 tucked away, while others have $1,000 locked down somewhere. Sure you won’t be earning interest on it, but it’s really about feeling comfortable here.

For me, $500 does the trick. All in ones, twenties, tens, and fives too – nice and easy to spend if needed. I used to have them in $100 bills, but you can’t really do much with that. I guess the point of it all is to be prepared just in case one of those “what if” scenarios actually occurs, ya know? Just like the Boy Scouts say!

I took some time and conjured up a few of those situations, in order of importance:

• The house is burning down – Naturally, we get the H outta there asap. But say we have 30 seconds to grab a few things? Well, you better believe i’ll swing that safe open and grab the stash along w/ our passports, birth/marriage certificates, and anything else in there that would fit in our pockets.
• We run out of money in all bank accounts – Scary! I would never wish this on anyone, but it’s still a possibility. It would be nice knowing there’s $500 as a super duper emergency fund.
• All electricity goes out nationwide – no atms, no internets, no way of getting your cash. Of course, i suppose even having the cash in hand would be pointless since the places you’d be giving it too would be down too…..but it would still make me feel better :)
• You don’t have change for the pizza man/plumber – this may sound silly, but i’ve had to borrow from this a number of times! That’s another reason why breaking down the denominations like that are good – no one can use a $100 bill!
• An emergency splurge is due – This could happen if you convince me that $500 in a safe is pointless. In this case, i can go on a spending binge! haha.. i keed, i keeed.
• Any other crazy situation you can’t predict – I’d write what they were, but naturally i can’t predict them ;)

So yeah, some of these are pretty farfetched (and i PRAY they never happen), but better to be safe than sorry i say. And if a few dollars stashed away helps you sleep better at night? Then more power to you brothers and sisters!