How much cash do you keep at home?

[midnight]

How much money do you keep at home? I'm thinking of trying the envelope system, but is it safe to keep that much money in my house?

[Tree0164]

I got $3.00 in cash in my pocketbook. We use the debit card all the time. Very rarely use cash.

[MrsChambers]

we keep cash in our house.. all sorts of denominations... but there is only me and my husband and the housecleaner that comes once every two weeks... so if anything came up missing... there are only so many suspects.
however, when I was growing up, my brother would steal anything that wasn't tacked down!!... so I would have to hide everything and anything that was valuable to me... so it has taken me some getting used to leaving cash around and it actually still being there when you need it!
(old habbits die hard i guess)

[JLP]

I am not a big fan of the envelope system. Why? Because it is too much work. If you have a budget, you know how much money you have for each line item in your budget.

My wife and I always use our Debit cards.

JLP

[akaivyleaf]

I keep cash in the house- all denominations, but its just me. I suppose I would be a target for a burgular but... I don't think much about it.

I have company over, I just hide my cash jar, well actually I don't have the type of company to come and enter where I keep my cash.

I don't know why I keep cash in the house, I'm like most people and use my debit card or check book, cash just seems to accumulate.

[PrincessPerky]

We have a lock box with some cash, occasionally, but in general we don't have any, but then there isn't really any in the bank either so we just don't have it

[henrybemis]

I've found the envelope system good for non fixed expenses and not fixed reoccuring expenses. It helps me keep a real close eye on my discresionary money and paying in cash always makes me slower to give it up.
Henry Bemis

[henrybemis]

Has anyone used the online myenvelopes.com?

[amomof4]

I don't keep any cash. I write a check for everything. Even our McDonalds takes a check. This helps me keep track of my spending.

[MrsChambers]

oh no.. I have never head of that myenvelopes.com.. I will have to check it out!!

[FrugalTexan75]

It's actually Mevelopes.com

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

[terry1156]

I did the free trial of this system and felt it wasn't worth it. Especially the monthly charge you have to use the system. I found having the envelopes in my house where I could see the money work far better than their system and it didn't cost anything.

[tag61usa]

We do not keep any money in the house, unless you count the penny jar...

I am in the process of trying to set-up an envelope-style budget for my 20 yr old. He acts like all of his income is fair-game for wasting money.

[JLP]

Originally Posted by tag61usa

We do not keep any money in the house, unless you count the penny jar...

I am in the process of trying to set-up an envelope-style budget for my 20 yr old. He acts like all of his income is fair-game for wasting money.

That's a great idea. He needs to get in the budgeting habit while he is still young so that he doesn't make big mistakes when he gets older. Hopefully, he will see the importance of saving money.

Good luck,

JLP

[DivaJen]

Unless I have cash in my wallet, the only cash in the house is usually the change jar. Once in a great while I'll keep cash in the house if I've cashed some checks written to me, rather than deposit them. But I almost never do that.

Between the cc and the debit card, and writing the occasional check, I don't need a lot of cash on hand, and I find when I do have it I spend it frivolously.

[PennyPincher]

I really don't keep any cash in the house. The coin jar is the exception for me as well. I tend to keep about $60 in my wallet, but it usually lasts a long time because I use my credit card for purchases. (I know some of you may think that's bad, but I don't have any CC debt.)

Maybe I should keep at least something ~ $40 emergency cash fund???

[miclason]

My dad always insisted we needed to carry at least enough for a cab ride home!!...I don't, because I generally will spend it....also, we don't keep cash at home because my nephew was doing drugs and would steal anything he could find! (he's in rehab now)

[SeeAPenny]

I keep as little cash around as possible (usually in my wallet), preferring to write checks all over town instead.....

[mom232many]

We use the envelope system for variable expenses; grocery, household, pet food, kids allowance.. other than that we don't keep much cash around. With teenagers in the house it's just too much temptation. I'm not worried about our kids but they often have friends drop by and those friends bring friends, etc... For the same reason we don't have alcohol in the house.

T

[ebizpro]

A funny story.

We were renovating my parents home's br's last summer and taking up the old wall to wall carpet when EUREKA! there under the pad was a stack of 100's!

Now my parents are well into their 80's and my father has some dementia and he was the one who put the money under the carpet, and forgot about it!

My mother insisted she knew about it but I don't believe she did. I suspect my father has more cash hidden and has forgotten about it. They aren't wealthy by any means but as depression children don't trust banks much.

The moral of the story is: Remember where you stash your cash!