Recent power outages in Europe (Spain,Portugal,France), again prove when the power goes down, the credit card becomes a flat bit of plastic, that is worthless. The phone becomes an empty promise waiting to die and cash is KING as always.

So with this sort of understanding, how much cash should one keep available and in reserve for those times when electronic payments go tits up and one would like to purchase food or other essentials like hookers or booze to get through trying times?

I'll use USD$ as that is my native currency, you can calculate into your favorite currency or precious metal or black market barter drug or however you find easiest to carry a emergency fiscal reserve.

Lets use 1 week, 7 days as our time base for this model. How much cash would you need to keep on hand to make it for 7 days ( and would you keep another ready reserve - cause you know how 7 days can turn into 2 weeks if you let it..)

 

This is damn silly, no one needs cash in this modern day and age. The power can't possibly stay off for more than an hour or two. my iphone can do anything and pay for anything and this is more mad fear mongering by the establishment or the communist or whoever your favorite boogey man is.

(there got that favorite response out of the way, so we can just have a jolly chat and not get sidetrack by mad rants)

 

say old chappie, have yous seen this bit of news?

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/spa...-as-massive-power-outage-hits-country-8279324

"Everything Is Totally Out Of Control": Spain Brought To Halt By Huge Blackout
Carlos Condori, one of millions of people affected in Spain and Portugal, was travelling on the Madrid metro when the blackout brought his journey to a shuddering halt.

• Agence France-Presse
• World News
• Apr 28, 2025 20:14 pm IST
  • Published On Apr 28, 2025 20:02 pm IST
  • Last Updated On Apr 28, 2025 20:14 pm IST

Madrid:
Panicked customers scrambled to withdraw cash from banks and streets overflowed with crowds trying in vain to get a signal as a Spain-wide power outage plunged the country into chaos on Monday.

Carlos Condori, one of millions of people affected in Spain and Portugal, was travelling on the Madrid metro when the blackout brought his journey to a shuddering halt.

"The light went out and the carriage stopped," but the train managed to crawl into the platform, the 19-year-old construction sector worker told AFP outside a metro station in central Madrid.

"People were stunned, because this had never happened in Spain," he added. "There's no (phone) coverage, I can't call my family, my parents, nothing: I can't even go to work."

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/spa...-as-massive-power-outage-hits-country-8279324

 

24 liters of water (or better yet, more), canned food, essential medications, and some cash.
Alcohol and cigarettes are good for bartering, and in return, you'll always get a sack of potatoes.

 

I like a currency that you can always drink if you can't find a customer to barter with..
keep a stash of about a case of hard liquor of various flavors in the basement, and of course some of those wacky bendy straws for entertainment.

They say laundry detergent is a common barter good as well. can't drink it in a pinch though...

 

As much as you can, or rather as much as you can afford these days. Many can put aside absolutely nothing.

 

Depends really on the emergency.

Let's say it's a massive snowstorm and everything stops. I can survive 7 days with my current supplies (water, food, medication). That's easy.

Anything worse I don't think money is the way out, but I should be good for a month or two, though massive supply chain disruption might fuck my medications up. But then we'll have the army calling us up to do our service anyway.

 

all of them, take your money out because when you put them in there they acquire the property, and aren't yours anymore! ....can I say I hate banks? ...if I had millions, I would donate them for 90%, for good cause I could see it happen ...people dont need banks, we need love, understanding, helping each other, build something for each other ...and the banks are the enemy of humanity ...

PS: dont respond to this.

 

I like cash because I can buy whatever I want anytime I want, regardless of electricity, banks or my phone functioning, I think it's called freedom lol,
people are obsessed with all sorts of non-cash options because they like being math-dumb and lending money to transaction institutions for free I guess,

that said, for 7 days, you probably shouldn't carry around more than 1K in your pockets,
but frankly daily limit for single cash purchase at a shop (or whatever is it called) is legally around those 10K (at least here in Europe I think) so 10K emergency cash may definitely prove useful

 

There is this little detail that bothers me... I know lots of people who don't have any cash or just have some change, with them all the time. These people will have to barter to acquire things they don't have. Like, immediately on the 2nd, 3rd day. Taking this into consideration, you won't need much cash at all, but you could sure use some extra supplies of necessary things-food, drink, drugs, porn, toilet paper.

 

Do we really need rows and rows of canned beans or the knowledge of how to build a shelter to survive the apocalypse?

Folks, think about it. Really think about it. Be ahead of the survival curve here.

It is cash we need. A mere handful of coins will do. To buy a power bank from a less fortunate fella.

With a power bank, you can power an AI chat bot on your rooted Android phone. For a couple of minutes.

"Hey Phone-AI, give me your best pitch for surviving the apocalypse."
"Phone-AI, more grounded ideas plz."
"Phone-AI, ration one potato between two adults and one six year old."
"AI, we urgently need more power banks???"

AI is the solution, folks.

- Estevan de Souza,
Tech enthusiast, CEO of Windows Tweaking, AI prompt engineer. LinkedIn in my bio.