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After a disaster, it’s common for ATM machines and cash registers to be out of order. Therefore, if you want any hope of buying things, you need to put cash in your 72-hour kit.
But, how much cash do you need?
There’s no industry-wide standard on the amount of money you need to put in your 72-hour kit. However, $100 to $200 per person is a good target. More is better.
Our recommendation is simple — As much as you can!
Cash Won’t Always Help You
While we recommend that you put money in your 72-hour kit, it’s important to realize that it could be useless in some circumstances. A lot depends on the extent of the damage in your area.
It’s hard to predict what will happen after a disaster…
- Will buildings be safe to enter?
- Will there be civil unrest around you?
- Will stores even be in operation?
- Will you be able to fill your car with gas?
Cash can come in handy if things aren’t too bad. But, you can’t count on it!
You might be able to get a hotel room or buy gas. You might not…
We recommend putting cash in your 72-hour kit just in case you can use it!
Acquiring Cash for Your 72-Hour Kit
Make sure all the cash you put in your 72-hour kit is in small bills. Otherwise, you might end up paying $50 for something that should have only been $10.
Having a roll of quarters is also a good idea so you can use pay phones. (Yes, we know pay phones are becoming less common, but you can still find them.)
FYI…
Banks don’t like it when you walk in and ask to withdraw a large amount of money in small bills. Depending on how much cash you want for your 72-hour kit, you may have to put in an order at your bank and then go back in a few days to pick it up. We had to do that… Apparently, banks don’t keep a lot of small bills on hand.
If you can’t afford to add much money to your 72-hour kit right now, work on it a little at a time. Even a small amount is better than nothing. You could even make it a habit of adding a few dollars to your 72-hour kit every month. This makes a huge difference in the long run!
