In The First Week Of An Emergency / Disaster, Cash Is King (So Have Plenty On Hand)

Cash Is King in a disaster.

Really?

In first world countries in the early 21st century, cash has been largely phased out by credit and debit cards.

That’s fine for everyday needs, but if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF) it just won’t get the job done. In an emergency, in a SHTF situation, for the first week cash will still be king.

Emergencies take cash, not credit cards.

There’s a huge amount of talk in the prepper community about having non-cash assets to barter/trade with in a SHTF scenario, and this article isn’t going to go there, it’s more centered around the first week of an emergency.

Since, the most common situations & SHTF events last a week or before they stabilize, cash will get you through much better than something like precious metals will.

Spice and I talk about this subject in this companion podcast, you can listen by clicking here:

When the power goes out, cash in hand is the answer to most questions

When the power goes out, store registers go down. Credit card processing machines can’t work, generally (unless they are tied to a cell network, and even then cell networks are often down in emergencies).

When traveling, you may well run into emergency services that are unable to take a credit card (you may think this is strange, but the last one I dealt with didn’t). You may be on the road and your card company decides your travel looks unusual and they start declining your card. It’s not a natural emergency, but if you have no way to pay but by card it sure can be a personal crisis.

Sometimes, if you are in the middle of nowhere, your only option to buy food is vending machines. Many of these in high-traffic areas take cards, but most of them in lower traffic areas are cash or coins only. Even if they do take cards, the connectivity to authorize may be down.

Our rule of thumb when traveling is to carry enough cash to buy all the gas and food needed to get us home. If we are 1,000 miles away that means enough for 3 full tanks of gas, plus meals for the day it will take to get back… plus, of course, extra for safety’s sake.

So… what about in a big SHTF event, won’t people stop honoring cash?

This is an argument I hear a lot, that after the SHTF in a big way, things will immediately turn to barter instead of currency.

I don’t buy this argument for a minute.

Sure, EVENTUALLY if things continue to be bad, that would probably happen, but not short-term. Here’s why.

Preppers often talk about “Sheeple”, a term I dislike but I will use it here because it paints a picture with just one word. I find it HIGHLY doubtful that somebody who has lived their entire lives “knowing” that their dollars (or Euros) have value and can be exchanged for all necessary services will suddenly say “whoa, the power is down, my cell phone won’t work, let me go dig out my silver coins because I can’t buy some bread with cash any more.”

That’s just silly

The truth is, as I see it, that people would continue to take cash far longer than it makes any sense for them to do so, just because “that’s the way it has always been”.

If you need something a day or two after disaster hits, waving cash under people’s noses is stone-cold guaranteed to work. Not a credit card, not a check… cold, hard cash.

Don’t get me wrong, if a situation continues over a week nationally, then the barter system will come into play if for no other reason than most people simply don’t keep much cash on hand… and they can’t use what they don’t have.

How much cash should I keep on hand?

Well, obviously each situation is different. I personally want enough cash to last me two weeks living in a hotel/motel situation, at least. If I’m traveling, I want enough to get me home with plenty to spare.

Cash is king, up until it isn’t… it might well go from the most important thing you have on hand to a useless pile of paper overnight, but until people stop taking it in exchange for what they have, it’s a light, cheap, stealthy and totally indispensable prep.