But for many of my wife’s grandmother’s generation, this was the way to go. They did not trust leaving their money in the hands of others. And the safest was to bury it in their yard. (She’s about 82 now)

BTW: if you live in a cold snowy place, you should bury your credit cards, not your cash, outside in the yard. This limits their use over Christmas! What a great way to avoid growing your debt!

Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com

I thought about it some more, and if a natural disaster occurred, we’d have enough food on hand for a while. I like to stock up on stuff like that. It wouldn’t be the greatest of food, but we could live off of it for a while. Same for water. We have a good stash. Plus, I have three books on survival. So I guess what we’d need cash for would be gas if we had to leave or if we needed heat. Even if gas soared to $4/gallon, $50 would get us a tank full and that would last us a while.

Food-shelter-clothing. Everything else is extra. I think $50 and a good disaster kit should do it for us. As for money in the bank, we have a pretty good split with our accounts being at different banks. I doubt all of them would fail at once so we are probably okay.

Get a few sizeable rocks for decorative purposes around the lawn (I have a friend who redid her whole yard with stone she stopped on the side of the road and picked up over the course of several years. She kept thick plastic in the trunk just for this.) Drill a one inch diameter hole in what will be the bottom of one of rocks. Put your wad of cash in a plastic tube and put it in the rock, plugged with a heavy rubber stopper, roll the rock back over onto the plug. Make sure it’s a rock where the flat bottom side is stable so it won’t roll if bumped.

I like this idea enough to try it. Not sure how much the drill bits are going to cost…

Personally, I’d go for inside a loose block in the basement wall or something, where you’d need a crowbar and some time to get at it, so it would make it harder for a thief. That’s the kind of place people find old money stashed away by dead relatives during the great depression.

This problem shows why false bottom trunks and hidden compartments in desks have been popular for centuries. If you are handy with industrial glues and tools, maybe you could add a hidden compartment under a desk that’s pushed up against the wall. Ours all have modesty panels that leave a sizeable space behind them. You’d want to have a space large enough for a small fireproof box.

I happen to want the space a gun safe can offer however it would be just fine to get a combination fireproof lockbox (no key, keys can get lost or somebody else can use them) and bolt it down to the floor in the corner of a closet or washroom, out of the way. If you can’t do it yourself I’m sure you can find somebody you know that can help – it’s incredibly worth it.

Don’t keep too much cash though: inflation. One or two hundred bucks in small bills and you’re set.