Who keeps a secret cash stash?

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ewibolo

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 27, 2011
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Location
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Hi everyone, I am just curious. My wife has previously mentioned that she has a cash stash hidden somewhere. Now this was a while ago (3 years ago or so), but I have an inkling she still has a cash stash, so I now have one also. Only difference is that I know mine is for the benefit of both of us - this will go towards a boat eventually which she also enjoys. Hers, I'd bet will be just for shoes or something.

My questions are the following?
1. Do you have a Stash?
2. Are you Male/Female
3. What is the purpose of it?


Edited to add: I don't mean emergency cash. I mean cash that is hidden from husband/wife that is meant for personal/secret use for splurge items I guess.
 
I like to keep a small cash stash, usually at least $500 on hand. I keep it in my pocket. I just think it's a good idea to have cash, just about everybody will accept it. Credit cards and ATM cards etc are convenient but you are exercising faith that the network is up, payment processing is working, things like that. In an emergency situation like a storm or maybe some kind of internet terrorism or something that might not be the case.

Some stores, seemingly drug stores and gas stations often, rely on satellite communications to process credit card payments (I don't know why) and if it's raining hard or snowing hard I've seen them time out over and over. Well if it's something you really need you can just pull out cash then. Or gasoline, well in most cases in a power outage you aren't going to be able to get gasoline anyway unless you find a station that has a backup generator. But even if they have that they might not be able to process credit transactions. Again cash to the rescue. That's just a couple simple examples I guess.
 
I used to have a cash stash, but spent it all. At least a I spent it on what it was meant for.

I do save some $$ into an account for me hobbies and sometimes car parts or household needs.

But really a CASH stash at this time. I should start doing that again. I could hide it in the dishwasher where I know my wife will never find it.
 
I have a stash of about a grand in my dresser.

I am a male.

I like to have cash on hand because I like to pay for just about everything I can with actual money. I find that using a credit/debit card for everything tends to deplete my account. If I actually have to hand over cash, I know how much I've spent.

I'm sick of every DB who finds that they have no cash, and they have to pay for everything with a card. Seriously, you don't have $10 for lunch and you have to put it on your card?
 
To clarify you are talking about cash on hand in the house vs a bank account for hobbies?

I keep some cash in the house "just in-case" hidden. But the wife is aware. Its not like im hiding it from her, just like to have cash on hand in-case I need bail ;)
 
But really a CASH stash at this time. I should start doing that again. I could hide it in the dishwasher where I know my wife will never find it.

Ha! That's a location my wife also seems unaware of. I would also consider in the cleaning closet behind the vacuum cleaner.
 
Ha! That's a location my wife also seems unaware of. I would also consider in the cleaning closet behind the vacuum cleaner.

The entire laundry room. It could sit on the dryer and she'd never know.

PS. I used to have a stash, was around $500. Found a deal on a TV and raided it. Then tried buildin up a new stash and was around 300 before I raided it for a gun show. I gave up after that. I don't carry cash any more or even keep it around. If I do it's just spent. I may try again this fall. But it won't stay for long.
 
I'm sick of every DB who finds that they have no cash, and they have to pay for everything with a card. Seriously, you don't have $10 for lunch and you have to put it on your card?

I buy coffee every morning for .92 with a credit card. I get a 1% cash back for using the card, I never 'run out' of it, I don't have change jingling around in my pockets, and I can easily see how much money I send on coffee every month.

I actually hate the credit card cartels, and I think that cash is important because it's anonymous and facilitates tax evasion. But I personally buy everything I can on my card.
 
I buy coffee every morning for .92 with a credit card. I get a 1% cash back for using the card, I never 'run out' of it, I don't have change jingling around in my pockets, and I can easily see how much money I send on coffee every month.

I actually hate the credit card cartels, and I think that cash is important because it's anonymous and facilitates tax evasion. But I personally buy everything I can on my card.

Pretty well same deal here. Only almost everything is on a Debit Card, I gave up CC 2 years ago after a couple of them we had spiraled out of control. Better person for it even if it is harder.
 
I never spend change, but collect it in a (large) change jar that I save up until it's full. Then I take it to the bank, and convert it to cash (usually $200-$250). The only rule (which my wife is aware of) is that this is "fun" money, and has to be spent on something fun - no bills, etc!

It used to fill up pretty quickly when I was in a pool league and got a bunch of quarters for the tables every week. But I don't play pool much any more, and it's taking longer and longer to fill the jar these days, since I rarely pay for anything with cash (and therefore don't get change back.) It's probably been more than 3 years since I cashed out...
 
I keep a cash stash that usually hovers around $500. Unfortunately gun shows and Craigslist finds knock it down every so often. I also buy silver coins to stash as funds allow, can't spend silver and it's been on an upward trend the last few years which is nice.
 
I'm sick of every DB who finds that they have no cash, and they have to pay for everything with a card. Seriously, you don't have $10 for lunch and you have to put it on your card?

I put everything I can on my card, so that way I can track my spending habits very accurately.

if I use cash it won't get recorded.
 
I need to start a cash stash for fun toys. I have my checking/ savings for just that, everyday purchases. Credit card for gas and pay it off every month to build good credit to buy a house within the next few years. I am a male, and I will not be buying shoes with it, lol.
 
Male, married
Debt card for most things
Both of us have stashes in undisclosed locations
also collecting silver - have been for over 30 years.
 
I very rarely have any actual cash on hand, but I do have "stashed" savings. I open small account using ING to save for things I want. Right now, I have one open for repairs to my project car.
 
I very rarely have any actual cash on hand, but I do have "stashed" savings. I open small account using ING to save for things I want. Right now, I have one open for repairs to my project car.

What kind of money pit...err, I mean project car do you have?
 
No, I missed that thread. Hmm, the east coast must think differently about guys driving Miatas than the west coast :)

I had a '68 Cougar until a neighbors tree collapsed and crushed it into scrap, now I don't have the time or money for another even though my wife was suggested I get one.
 
I tried a few times but it never works out. I have no will power and it gets spent whenever something shiny comes along
 
There's nothing wrong with having a secret stash to work on a cabriolet. Now a secret stache, that's a different story.

So, this is what you wear while working on your Miata? :D

[ame]http://www.cafepress.com/+secret_stache_womens_boy_brief,683210479[/ame]
 
IMO, the only time you should use cash is if you are buying where a credit card is not accepted...like meeting your "guy" in a dark ally to support you "habit". Other than that, any legal purchase should be done with a credit card. I normally get anywhere between $250 and $1000 CASH each year from my credit card points.

To answer your question about a stash, yes, I do have one...but it is not in cash, it is in a bank account she is not aware of.
 
My wife has one, I don't. I kept one around during my Navy days, but not since then.
 
Interesting discussion. I'm going to decline to answer in case my bride stumbles across this thread.
 
I"ve never had a secret stash, but I had a big stash when we first got married!

I was trapped financially in my first marriage, and I wasn't ever getting married again. Well, then I met Bob, and changed my mind. But I was so afraid of being trapped again- and I told him so.

So when I sold my small house and bought a house with Bob, we agreed that I could keep the money I made in an easily accessible bank, in my own name. We jokingly called it my "running away money". Bob felt secure enough in the relationship that it wasn't a threat to him at all, and he knew I'd stay with him out of love and not being trapped.

I kept that money in my checking account for years. It didn't make much interest, but it sat there.

One day, about 5 years after we moved in together and 3 after we got married, I said, "Let's buy a new truck", and he just nodded and went with me to buy a truck. I wrote a check for $29,000 which was almost my entire stash.

Since then, I don't have a secret stash but I do have my own checking account for my "mad money".
 
I have about $260 in my secret stash. The wife found my first one about 5 years ago at Fleet Farm when we were paying for my slop sink setup, much to my dismay. She hasn't seen/found this one since...
 
It's easy to open a bank account. Tell the bank mgr that you don't want any mail. I've got lots of accounts for different things. I don't hide them from my wife exactly, but she doesn't want to be involved in what I do.

Once you've opened the account, get a debit card for each account you want easy access to. Now you're cooking with Crisco.

Amscot sells debit cards that look just like credit cards. You can put money on them. Instead of putting money in a box, you could keep it on a card like that. Works. There was a time when you could put up to 5k on one of those cards - no questions asked, no ID required. Great way to hide cash I'm told.
 
From what I can tell, there's two kinds of cash reserves being discussed here; emergency cash reserves - which I do keep a few hundred in a safe, and "hide from the wife" money. Four different couples that I'm friends with operate on the same system; they each have a 'slush fund' account at the bank. Both his and her paychecks get deposited into a joint account, and then a monthly "allowance" gets automatically transferred to the slush fund, and the other person has absolutely no say in what gets purchased. One couple, she blows her 'allowance' each month on massages and gourmet coffee; he saves his up for a couple months and buys a new pair of work boots or an air compressor.

My "main" emergency cash is usually on me -- when I go to the ATM, I'll take out $125-150, and when it gets down to about $40, I'll hit the ATM again. But tucked in a pocket of my wallet, behind my drivers license (not the same pocket as the DL, mind you), is a folded up $100 bill, so no matter what happens, as long as I've got my wallet, I have at least $100 on me.
 
i don't keep cash from the wife. i just buy what i want, and coincidentally about the same time i start getting yelled at, is usually the same time i should probably slow it down anyway.
 
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