Money Stashes for Everyday Preparedness

After watching this video on EDC Necessities Kit, it got me to thinking about some things I do that aren’t solely about preparedness, but more for just in case something happens day to day. And one of the actions that I do (more so than I realize) is keeping small stashes of money in various places.

I’m not talking about a lot of money, $20-50 in most cases, but the idea is to have some means of payment in case I find that my credit card was lost or the card readers don’t work, or I simply happened to spend every last bit of cash I typically carry on me for whatever reason. Maybe worse came to worse and I lost my wallet or the banks were closed and I needed some fast cash.

Here’s some thoughts:

On Your Person

• For a long time I’ve always keep about $50 stashed away in a “secret” place in my wallet. This is money that I try to NEVER use day to day, and in the event that I did use it for some reason (because I have) I replace it immediately. I ask my wife to do something similar, but she tends to use that a part of her normal stash of cash which annoys me to no end.
• I’ve also kept about $20 folded up and taped to the back of my phone, between the phone and case, for years. I know I’ve seen people say that this is a bad spot in the event your phone gets lost or stolen but, in my opinion, I’d be far more upset about my phone contents possibly being compromised than losing a small amount of money that was taped to the phone.
• When I used to carry a separate pocket EDC kit, I kept some money in there.
• I know people have found many creative ways to keep money on their person, including stuffed in their socks or shoes, a money belt or something similar (especially when travelling but also useful as EDC), in their bra, on a keychain capsule, and who knows where else. Personally, I like to ensure that whatever I choose goes with me each and every day that I leave my house, my phone is a good example. A keychain may be another good option.

In the Vehicle

• Hiding money in the car can be a bit trickier, but one thing I like to do is to keep a small stash folded up and hidden in my owner’s manual. After all, who looks there? Granted, if I ever sell a car I’ll probably forget that I left money there and be out $40. Oh well. At this money is there if I ever have to fill up with a tank of gas and lost my wallet.
• Since I keep my bug out bag in my vehicle as well I have hundreds of dollars in there, and I would surely hate to lose that bag. Besides the money stash, I have plenty of relatively expensive survival gear, documents, and more, all of which would be horrible to lose. It’s a risk keeping my bag in the car, I know; I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself if it ever gets stolen, but I do keep it well hidden and keep everything else out of sight too, so there shouldn’t be any incentive for a thief to want to smash and grab my vehicle. Plus, I tend not to go anywhere lately for some strange reason… oh, right… COVID-19.
• I’m sure there are plenty of other places that you could hide money in your car, but I wouldn’t make it really easy to find, such as in the center console or readily accessible in the glove box with the exception of the owner’s manual as stated previously. Maybe shoved behind a back trim panel or near the spare tire.

In the House

• Whatever you do, DON’T stash money anywhere in your bedroom, master closet, or even a child’s bedroom, for that matter. Thieves always go there first. And don’t stash money in an easily accessible or “carry away” fire safe either; if you’re going to use a safe then make sure it’s a quality model and either bolted to the house or well hidden somewhere away from all bedrooms.
• Beyond that, think of something that’s not obvious or looks mundane. There are many hiding places (I wrote a book about it), but one of my favorites is a DIY diversion safe which I wrote about years ago. Now if I can just figure out which can it is again, lol. FYI, your could purchase a commercial diversion safe, but be very careful about which one you choose as I’m sure plenty of thieves are aware of these fakes.
• Some people also like to use pill bottles as a small hidden safe instead. Just be sure to not use any bottles that a thief may find interesting to take or sell, especially prescriptions. You might also want to keep some actual pills in there to make the bottle feel and sound as normal as possible.
• I also like to hide a bit of money in pictures between the photo and backing. Just pick a photo that is well away from your bedroom and doesn’t look interesting whatsoever and that should suffice. Maybe an inconspicuous family photo would be a good choice.

I’m sure that if you start to think about good places to stash a bit of money in and around your home, car, or on your person that you’ll come up with some good thoughts yourself, perhaps even better ideas which I’d appreciate hearing about if you’d like to leave a comment below.