SHTF Cash On Hand Should I Change $50 and $100 Bills to 20s?

I've put aside $650 if cash is any good at all for SHTF situations. Right now I have this for convenience in $100 and $50 bills. Am I better off breaking this down to 20s and less should cash be needed/accepted during SHTF situations? I'd prefer having a small compact amount of bills but maybe that would be impractical.

 

Yes I would suggest smaller bills. Just send me your larger bills ,, and I will seed you an assortment of smaller bills that will be a safer option for you when the world is teetering on the edge of the toilet bowl.

 

Go with the smaller bills. Some people don't have change on them for the most part.

 

If you insist on fiat money (paper with no guaranteed value), the 2 most commonly used bills are 20s and 1s. and equal number or close to it of each should be sufficient for as long as fiat money is accepted. Have you not read any books on post shtf situations. Trade goods will be worth more than fiat currency it cost to buy them. Precious metals gold, silver, and lead may or may not hold much value. You need to use your fiat currency either in the run up to a total shtf situation or at the very start. It won't hold value for long. 22LR ammo at 3 to 4 cents a round properly stored will last longer than you will and will always be good for barter, but you need to be careful with who barter with. If you need an explanation on that .... there is no hope for you.

 

Weight

 

I concur with smaller denominations. Not only are they easier to spend, many folk see the larger bills as potentially counterfeit.

 

The weight of 650 in silver is not great enough to worry about

 

Yes, but then I’d buy silver with most of it. Paper money won’t be worth anything when the banks close.

 

Get at least $100 in good crisp $1 bills. On your way out of town you'll have money to hit vending machines if they are operable. Get another $100 in fives and another in $20. People won't be able to make change (or more likely just won't) and will round up. Grab yourself a money belt where luggage is sold and have it ready to put on. Be prepared for the money to not be accepted as well.

 

I keep 20s and silver ounces, rounds and bars, on hand with a little bit of gold. Not much gold though.

But keep your cash appearance small. My dad used to say that if you have a wad of bills, whatever denomination is on the outside is what anyone seeing it will automatically assume that the rest of them are, and will be tempted to rob you.
(He would have known, he was from Brooklyn, NY).

So if you have some bills in your pocket and you pull them out and there's a 100 on the outside and someone else sees it, it will be assumed that all the bills in your wad of cash are 100 dollar bills, setup for a robbery and maybe a beating when the thieves find out they're mistaken.

He advised me that if I have large denomination bills, keep them on the inside of the fold, exposing only ones and fives for observation.

Parents were pretty damn smart.

 

I have wondered how items would be valued after shtf. Pretty sure I wouldn't be trading/selling anything I had for cash. Look at how prices can inflate after disasters. I'll trade 5 22 cartridges for a rabbit. How about a gallon of gas for half a deer?

Always wondered how that would work.

 

For what I'd be carrying, it might be much as it would be my pockets or coat and not in a backpack.

 

Great idea. Will definitely do that!

 

Another great idea thanks that I hadn't considered. Definitely will get a bunch of ones now & carry 10 of them and put the rest in my backpack.

 

Wrap the 1's on the outside, even if you have 20s, 50s and 100s in the middle. Then you can just peel off the smaller denominations to pay off small debts.

 

The second SHFT happens spend that %650 on what you need based on the current circumstances. If you don't the next day it will have less than half it's pre SHTF buying power. Within a few days you won't be able to get a rusty coat hanger with it.

As silver you have two negatives:

1. it will take a while for people to realize that precious metals are money and you can't eat it or put it in your gas tank. Precious metals are more a "we survived the initial stages and things are starting to halfway stabilize into a new reality" kind of things,
   
   
2. How do you prove it's silver (or gold)? You can buy fake "replicas" on eBay so how do I as a seller trust it's legit?

IMO that $650 would be better invested in steel, brass, copper, and lead. Git yerself to Nevada or Oregon and spend $500 on an AR and $150 on ammo and a couple spare mags. Otherwise a M&P or Glock pistol and a thousand rounds of ammo. Post SHTF this will help keep you alive and will be worth far more than the $650 you plunked down

 

I always keep several thousand bucks cash in my safe. At least a grand of that is in 10s and 20s considering people I might be dealing with may not be able to make change for 50s and 100s. I sometimes even see signs in shops that say 100s not accepted.

There are many shades of SHTF that could happen and only the most extreme and lowest probability events might result in cash being worthless. In the vast majority of SHTF scenarios, and likely even in the earlier stages of the worst scenarios, cash would still be commonly accepted for trade when electronic fund transfers and debit/credit cards would be down.

For example, if you live in California a huge earthquake could be a SHTF type event and cash would still be an acceptable form of tender and might be the only functional method of exchange. Also note that if you just lost your wallet or had your identity stolen, you'd have to get new credit/debit cards, new bank cards, new ID, etc. and cash on hand might be really critical for a week or two. A freeze on your bank accounts, even mistakenly, is a SHTF situation. The IRS does this regularly to people. If you have a small business and are set up to take credit cards, the banks require they be able to pull money out of your account at their will. A friend of mine had Visa pull several thousand out of his account mistakenly and they put it back several days later but not until after several checks bounced and they refused to reimburse him the costs associated with those. (Moral of that story is have multiple banks accounts and keep a bare minimum in the one you authorize the credit card companies to access.) A spouse that surprises you with a divorce can clean out bank accounts when you aren’t looking. ALWAYS have a stash of cash.

So, I say keep enough cash to cover absolute necessities (gas, food, etc.) for at least several months and make half of that smaller denominations.

You heard the story of the three bills in the guy’s wallet?
The $100 bill says, “Wow, I’m having a grand time. I’ve seen some really nice restaurants, the purchase of lots of cars and trucks, casinos, and really cool places.”
The $20 bill says, “I’ve only been to lots of grocery stores and gas stations, not too exciting.”
The $1 bill dejectedly says, “Church, after church, after church...”

Have fun.
AT