Cash to carry while on the road?

[justRich]

Opinions needed: 
What is a fair amount of cash to carry while on the road for five or six months?

Keep some money in the RV and some in the wallet?  
How much?

Thanks in advance. . .

[Kirk W]

The answer to that is a pretty personal one and depends largely on your spending habits. We carry a credit card which rebates 2% of all purchases and use that for the vast majority of spending, paying it in full each month. We also have a second card that is mostly a backup which pays 1% and it has different numbers on my wife's card from mine so if one were compromised, the other could still be used. As a result, we spend very little in cash whether stopped or traveling. We usually carry about $100 each, replacing what has been spent each time either of us drops below $80. Our bank refunds any foreign ATM charges so we can easily replace cash, but that rarely happens more than once every couple of months. 

If you are one who prefers to spend in cash, then you probably need to have at least 1 o3 months of spending available. 

[sandsys]

I carried enough to pay for sites having an iron ranger instead of people. Those like BLM and CoE sites which I enjoyed. I did carry it in various places so I wouldn't lose it all if robbed--never happened, of course. I never used an ATM while RVing--just used my debit card when buying groceries at Walmart so I could get extra cash from them.

Linda Sand

[Payroll Person]

Not using a rebate card is giving money away, as well as giving away fraud protection.

[justRich]

18 minutes ago, Payroll Person said:

Not using a rebate card is giving money away, as well as giving away fraud protection.

I was thinking of cash as an emergency backup system - not really for spending - with the exception of having enough small change for the iron ranger - such as the campground at Castaic Lake in So Cal where iron ranger expressly stated no check accepted.  (i had no cash, so they got a check anyway)

 

[Payroll Person]

Where we like to kayak close to home, there is a couple dollar fee box. We use a check for security reasons. If it gets cashed, we have proof and can fight a ticket. 
 

As a merchant, the fees are extreme as the high reward cards cost more to accept, but we just build the cost in, like all do. If someone were to send me a check, it is a 3% bonus for us. 

[Payroll Person]

The interesting to me moral issue is tip via card. The merchant has to pay fees on the tips, and in some cases, deducts the fee. But if you give cash, you can be helping enable tax fraud. 

[2gypsies]

We always use our CashBack credit card and also have on hand $150.  You can always use a ATM to get more cash.

[rickeieio]

We carry cash.  Of course. "enough" is a very individual number.  I used to figure $1/mile from home.  Now it's more than double that.  And yes, when we went to Alaska, we left home with over $10k on board.  Even when not travelling, I don't walk out the door without $300 or better.  That said, we don't spend a lot of cash, but have it available for emergencies.

Over the past year, we're seeing more businesses giving a discount for cash.  Good for them.  The card companies have been hosing them for years.  BTW, we always tip with cash.  It's not my job to make sure it gets reported.

[TXiceman]

After an attempted robbery, we seldom carry more than $20 in cash and one or two credit cards with us.

Ken

[2gypsies]

7 hours ago, rickeieio said:

We carry cash.  Of course. "enough" is a very individual number.  I used to figure $1/mile from home.  Now it's more than double that.  And yes, when we went to Alaska, we left home with over $10k on board.  Even when not travelling, I don't walk out the door without $300 or better.  That said, we don't spend a lot of cash, but have it available for emergencies.

Over the past year, we're seeing more businesses giving a discount for cash.  Good for them.  The card companies have been hosing them for years.  BTW, we always tip with cash.  It's not my job to make sure it gets reported.

All I can say is WOW!!!  You carried $10,000 on a trip?  

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

We're like rickeieio and carry the maximum cash we can across the border for long trips.   As Canadians any ATM's we use we are hosed on not only exchange rates but fees, and restricted on how much we can withdraw each time.   Likewise if we use our credit cards .   Also we find when we've needed big mechanical work done we've saved a ton of money not using credit card on the bill!!   Again using our credit cards at grocery stores or otherwise the benefits of the cards don't cancel out the crazy bank fees/rates converting back and forth.

We used to have a BOA account and that made things easier but they caused us untold issues with trying to get replacement cards when out of date to our Canadian address (we sold our Fla home address we used prior in 2017).   So post Covid when we next able to cross the border we closed down the BOA account and now try to operate with as much US$'s cash as possible on all purchases.  

However, on extended trips of course we have no choice but to use cards or get cash from banks in the USA.

Just saying and to each their own.

[rickeieio]

7 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

All I can say is WOW!!!  You carried $10,000 on a trip?  

Yep.  And when we returned home, most of it went back into the coffee cans in the back yard.....not.

When interest rates are low, it costs nothing to have cash on hand. Plus there's the convenience factor of being able to pay for a repair when you're 100 miles from nowhere.  We broke down 60 miles north of Destruction Bay, Yukon.  No cell signal, or atm, for a long way.  But the mechanic accepted Franklins.

[justRich]

8 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

All I can say is WOW!!!  You carried $10,000 on a trip?  

The guy who bought my Jeep brought $20,000 cash from Washington to Arizona.

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

When interest rates are low, it costs nothing to have cash on hand.

Do you have a safe in the RV or some other secure place to keep it? Do you don't walk around with that much in your wallet? I have at times traveled with a few hundred dollars in my wallet, but never as much as $1,000, let alone $10k. 

[Jaydrvr]

I have carried as much as $1000.00, but I would never have tens of thousands in cash. It's all too common for LEO's to use civil asset forfeiture to take all your cash and accuse you of a crime. Then it's up to you to prove your innocence and it may take months or years and lots of $$$$ to get it back. I have enough other problems to deal with... Jay

[Danfreda1]

We carried 12000 once with us when we sold a truck and the guy brought all $100 dollar bills. We weren’t near our bank so we took a long time to use it up. Any pay boxes at campgrounds with self pay get a check, no cash. We don’t carry more than a few hundred now because it’s easy to get. Any time we go to a Walmart we get cash back with no fee. $100 max

[ms60ocb]

17 hours ago, rickeieio said:

We carry cash.  Of course. "enough" is a very individual number.  I used to figure $1/mile from home.  Now it's more than double that.  That said, we don't spend a lot of cash, but have it available for emergencies.

Over the past year, we're seeing more businesses giving a discount for cash.  Good for them.  The card companies have been hosing them for years.  BTW, we always tip with cash.  It's not my job to make sure it gets reported.

This could have been my words. I remember two occasions where Cash was King. 10-15 years a major ice storm took down a large area of electric and communication, The area of communication was larger that the electrical. Those with electric that didn't have communication was dealing with Cash for several days.

I don't like the Credit Cards shorting business so rather than cash I often buy Gift Cards. Easier to hide than cash. and there is always a Walmart near.

Clay

[Kirk W]

3 minutes ago, ms60ocb said:

I don't like the Credit Cards shorting business so rather than cash I often buy Gift Cards. Easier to hide than cash. and there is always a Walmart near.

Will Walmart give you cash for the gift cards?

[ms60ocb]

3 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

Will Walmart give you cash for the gift cards?

At one time, WM treated like at check, yes you could get cash but I have tried or needed lately. Of course you purchased the CC with cash.

Now I have 2 bank accounts, one being "First Convenience" which can be found in most Texas WM's and some HED's so in my travels I can easily get cash with 6 weeks.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I carry enough cash to buy gas and groceries to get home.  Once when I was in my 30s while on a trip to Colorado a malfunctioning ATM machine ate my debit card.  Not having any credit cards at that time, I had to go to the bank's branch the next day where the teller intercepted the ATM courier and retrieved my card before he had a chance to shred it.

[rickeieio]

2 hours ago, justRich said:

The guy who bought my Jeep brought $20,000 cash from Washington to Arizona.

And the person who bought our Volvo brought $29k in cash.  That was 2 years ago, and we still have a lot of that on hand.

 

3 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Do you have a safe in the RV or some other secure place to keep it? Do you don't walk around with that much in your wallet? I have at times traveled with a few hundred dollars in my wallet, but never as much as $1,000, let alone $10k. 

Yes, we have a safe, same as most other 5ers.  I've yet to put anything valuable in it.  We hide small amounts in many places.

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

We hide small amounts in many places.

I do something similar when attending an event where I will spend cash--like the Big Tent in Q. I put one dollar bills folded in half in my right pocket with five dollar bills folded in 4ths in that same pocket then do the same with ten and twenty dollar bills in the other pocket. I can alway retrieve just what I need without exposing what else I have.

Linda

[Wrknrvr]

     Remember where yo stashed it?

[rickeieio]

1 hour ago, Wrknrvr said:

     Remember where yo stashed it?

Ummmm, not always.  A few months ago we were showing my sister a feature on a car, and when we opened it, there laid a wad-o-cash.  Not a huge amount, but enough to make you cringe at the thought of losing it.

We normally return home with most of our "war chest", but it's like having an emergency fund for unscheduled repairs on the road.