Who keeps a secret cash stash?

[caber2615]

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.

 

[david_42]

My wife has one, I don't. I kept one around during my Navy days, but not since then.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Male,Married, my stash stays till a bulk grain buy, then my only stash is beer mine is tucked in my kezzer coffin.

 

[TrainSafe]

Interesting discussion. I'm going to decline to answer in case my bride stumbles across this thread.

 

[Yooper]

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".

 

[avidhomebrewer]

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...

 

[passedpawn]

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.

 

[Beer_is_good_for_you]

I used to have one, now she wears it on her finger. That's why I got it though, and I may start one again soon since it's handy to have.

 

[dkwolf]

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.

 

[motobrewer]

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.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Wife used to give me $20 for gas per week. $15 went in tank and $5 went in the ash tray! Once a year I would buy a new G Loomis fishing rod. Now I get whatever I want so no stash needed.

 

[weirdboy]

I have a poker bankroll that I keep in secure boxes at a couple of the local casinos. I have had one for many years. When we first got married, I used part of it to pay for our wedding/honeymoon expenses.

 

[ewibolo]

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.

You know, that's a great idea - an easy way to not argue about who's spending frivolously on "junk" - an "allowance" may be the way to go. I think that will finally get those staches, I mean stashes out of the closet!

 

[fosgate]

Each of us simply pay a portion of the bills and keep our checking accounts separate. She sometimes keeps cash on hand, I prefer to keep a couple hundred on me because like previously mentioned, I spend less when I have bills on me.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Joint checking account pays all the bills, including the credit card that in the past was used as a seemingly endless secret stash. Soon the credit card will be paid off leaving money in the account at the end off the month. Hopefully some of this will make it into a stash of my own.

 

[Beer_is_good_for_you]

Once we're married our plan is to have a joint account where the majority of both of our paychecks will go so it more than covers all bills, vehicle maintenance, etc, and the rest will go into our own accounts.