Cash Storage Options

[Pers5579]

Hi All,

One of my considerations is around cash. As the world has become more "digital" in the approach to cash what worries me is that in any number of events (national power outage, cyber attack, etc) there is a possibility of being unable to use/accept debt/card/online transactions.

The obvious solution is to stuff some cash in an envelope in the bottom of the wardrobe for a rainy day. Unfortunately I am not disciplined enough to use this method so I'd like to put my cash in some kind of container where I can fill it with around a grand in notes and not be able to access it whenever the window cleaner calls or the kids need a tenner for something!!!!

Do you have any recommendations of something I could use?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adults-Stainle ... d_source=1

[pseudonym]

A wooden ruler is cheaper...keep it by the envelope and give yourself a whack.

two if you take anything out.

[Frnc]

Bear in mind that your contents insurance might not cover a grand, mine only covers money up to £500. Metals is different, no limit apart from £2K single item or collection. Personally I only keep about £200 or so in money and a few small coins in metals. I do have a few K in two separate easy access or limited access (6 times a year) accounts, different companies to my current account, not accessible on phone apps.

I use the money for window cleaner and hair cuts. Sometime for other stuff, eg a small tradesman job. Virtually everything is card these days. If I use some for a tradesman I replace it asap. For larger jobs I'd have to use bank transfer anyway. I keep the £200 on me most of the time. I might leave some at home if I go out in town for an evening. I might use some for a taxi, but even those mostly use cards now I think. Some still take cash.

[grenfell]

We keep around a thousand in cash and it has been a lot higher. We keep it in a box in the loft. Yes if there was a fire there would be a high chance of not being able to getting to it and we’d lose it but on the other hand it’s not something a burglar would easily find and it’s a bit of a faff to get to just dip into casually. It does get rotated for want of a better term as some of my earnings are in cash and that or some of it gets used to top up any used out of the pot.

[Yorkshire Andy]

We keep around a thousand in cash and it has been a lot higher. We keep it in a box in the loft. Yes if there was a fire there would be a high chance of not being able to getting to it and we’d lose it but on the other hand it’s not something a burglar would easily find and it’s a bit of a faff to get to just dip into casually. It does get rotated for want of a better term as some of my earnings are in cash and that or some of it gets used to top up any used out of the pot.

I got a fire safe from Screwfix I think it was


https://www.screwfix.com/p/smith-locke- ... 60mm/683fa

Half hour rated if in the attic 30m from the plasterboard from a fire below before you start stress testing the 30 minute fire rating of the box...

[grenfell]

I initially read that as being 30 metres away from the fire which I thought a Tesco carrier bag could manage that but now I reread it I see you mean 30 minutes for the plasterboard before the box itself is tested. I suppose it would depend on just how fierce a fire was. I don’t think it would suffice if the whole house burned down.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I initially read that as being 30 metres away from the fire which I thought a Tesco carrier bag could manage that but now I reread it I see you mean 30 minutes for the plasterboard before the box itself is tested. I suppose it would depend on just how fierce a fire was. I don’t think it would suffice if the whole house burned down.

My mistake yes minutes id hope the fire service would arrive within half an hour of a fire then again with the current cuts .....

Saw some videos on YouTube they are fairly resilient unless you live in a blast furnace

[GillyBee]

There are two types of commonly available fireproof safe. Standard safes are rated to protect paper for the stated time - usually 20 mins. Meanwhile data safes are rated to protect plastic based data tapes/CDs USB keys etc which degrade at a much lower temperature. So a data safe is the better choice for anything "fragile". And if you are storing gold, you can put it in a steel box & it will be fine unless your loft fire beats 1000C

[grenfell]

Of course that’s all dependant on still being able to get to the safe after a fire. If the house is badly damaged it could be under a pile of rubble or the police might not be allowing access . Still I suppose that answers the original question of how to store money and not just easily dipping into it.
Incidentally I did notice the safe in YA’s post is fireproof but not waterproof which may be a consideration when one thinks of the amount of water that can be thrown at a fire…