Cash!!!

[Bosworth]

I keep quite a bit of cash to hand. Logic being that in most SHTF scenarios there will be a financial squeeze. In the early stages shops will still be open but unable to process electronic transactions. Before the looting starts, there is an opportunity to stock up using cash.

[Captain Darling]

With cash its not always whether you think its valuable or not, even if its totally worthless as a currency, if the person your trading with still accepts it then it still has value.

Or even keeping an amount handy and then if things start going to pot you can buy stuff up and either use those items or trade them.

Soon after any major incident/event most people will realise the uselessness of cash in those situations and go for high value/hard to come by items anyway.

[ForgeCorvus]

With cash its not always whether you think its valuable or not, even if its totally worthless as a currency, if the person your trading with still accepts it then it still has value.

Ditto Gold or Silver.
However, in this country (and most of the western world) people are programed that paper money has value. And your average shopkeeper is likely to still trade in cash when the power goes off

Or even keeping an amount handy and then if things start going to pot you can buy stuff up and either use those items or trade them.

Soon after any major incident/event most people will realise the uselessness of cash in those situations and go for high value/hard to come by items anyway.

As long as you remember that 'Value' is dependent on circumstances.
Flat screen tellies are high value here and now, but Virkon and good masks would be high value in an Ebola outbreak.

[diamond lil]

We deal only in cash. Amazing the number of shops that don't like cash and send you miles away to one special cash till hidden in a corner..
I draw money out of the bank the same day it goes in, leave only enough for the couple of DDs we have.

[PreppingPingu]

I must admit, using cash more is what I am setting about doing from this payday. As normal at this time of year I look at what I can do differently in the coming year and budgeting better to pay off more of the mortgage is up there. I am only going to use what I take out at the start of the month. Having cash on you good for emergencies and also it drives me nuts when stuff is "going through" as different shops and different banks take different amounts of time to process your transactions, so what the bank says you have is rarely accurate if you and your other half use a debit card frequently. Cash will help with that and staying on budget.

[Holomon]

The scary thing is, spending a lot of my time in the UK in London, how much the powers that be are pushing everyone towards a cashless society.
The way my bank cards are all now contactless, whether I want it or not piddled me off. All the shops seem happy to let you touch a card to buy a newspaper, and touch a card to use the train or the tube, and now the black cabs have gotten in on the act too.
Call me suspicious but it'd be really easy to track what I did day in and day out if they wanted to. At least for now you can still buy and top up an oyster card with cash, and places still take cash for goods and services.

Anywhere else I go in the world it's all cash, with the occasional bartering in the back of beyond. Western society seems intent on us all having a number and being a good little drone. (Or maybe I've had too much of the whiskey I got for Xmas!)

[Stasher]

The scary thing is, spending a lot of my time in the UK in London, how much the powers that be are pushing everyone towards a cashless society.
The way my bank cards are all now contactless, whether I want it or not piddled me off. All the shops seem happy to let you touch a card to buy a newspaper, and touch a card to use the train or the tube, and now the black cabs have gotten in on the act too.
Call me suspicious but it'd be really easy to track what I did day in and day out if they wanted to. At least for now you can still buy and top up an oyster card with cash, and places still take cash for goods and services.

Anywhere else I go in the world it's all cash, with the occasional bartering in the back of beyond. Western society seems intent on us all having a number and being a good little drone. (Or maybe I've had too much of the whiskey I got for Xmas!)

I think you're bang on the money there!

Cash is always handy to have on you (at least we've found that to be true) when our cashless society has a hiccup. Many years ago we stopped using credit/debit cards and moved back to cash only. Not only does it help us manage the finances more easily, you quickly realise how money is 'lost' thro buying silly named coffees/magazines/a bar of chocolate/a pasty etc

In a bad situation cash will get you out of it where a card doesn't

In my experience

[diamond lil]

I've never had a credit card and only used my debit card a couple of times.

[jansman]

I was reading yesterday that at the latest G20 meeting(of which we are members) future banking crises may take a different turn. The Americans at least suggested that instead of government picking up the tab, the bank customers i.e. YOU would. Your cash would be seen as THEIR asset! You would get an IOU basically. Whether that is true I cannot say.
I keep hearing an advert on the radio everyday about our own government bank assurance scheme ( you know the one £85,000 per account). I hear that, and keep hearing it. At the end it says "In most cases you'll get your money back in 7 days ". In most cases. Hmm. Meanwhile you have no cash, so it's off the the food bank for dinner if you are one of those who does not keep more than milk in the fridge.
When the Argentine banks went belly up, they just shut the doors. Eventually, customers got pennies to the pound on their savings. If that were here,our currency would still be good for a day or two so you could go and splurge it on anything you thought necessary. But only if it was to hand.

[Vespa]

I was reading yesterday that at the latest G20 meeting(of which we are members) future banking crises may take a different turn. The Americans at least suggested that instead of government picking up the tab, the bank customers i.e. YOU would. Your cash would be seen as THEIR asset! You would get an IOU basically. Whether that is true I cannot say.
I keep hearing an advert on the radio everyday about our own government bank assurance scheme ( you know the one £85,000 per account). I hear that, and keep hearing it. At the end it says "In most cases you'll get your money back in 7 days ". In most cases. Hmm. Meanwhile you have no cash, so it's off the the food bank for dinner if you are one of those who does not keep more than milk in the fridge.
When the Argentine banks went belly up, they just shut the doors. Eventually, customers got pennies to the pound on their savings. If that were here,our currency would still be good for a day or two so you could go and splurge it on anything you thought necessary. But only if it was to hand.

Placing a levy on bank accounts has already almost happened. During the Cypriot banking crisis savers were to lose 6.7% of balances upto 100,000 euros and 10% on balances above this.

In the past when the United States went bust they confiscated all privately held gold bullion and bullion coins, (the 1930's). Today they'd most likely just skim your bank account.

Just a quick question. What constitutes cash? Obviously notes and coins in Pounds Sterling does but does anyone hold US Dollars or Euros or even gold?

I have a small amount of all three, not sure I'll ever need it but then again I'm not sure I'll ever need any of my prep's, they're there just in case.