Do you hide money?

MSNBC  has an article today that discusses people who hide money and the problems that it can cause those who squirrel away the money. Many older people who hide money, may succumb to Alzheimer’s or die and relatives many not know about the hidden money. Also other people who live in the person’s home may not know about the hidden money and dispose of some of the hiding places such as tins, books or pieces of furniture.

Recently there was an Israeli woman who bought her mother a new mattress and tossed the old one. Inside was her mother’s life savings – $1,000,000.

Most of the money that is stashed in and around homes is for emergency purposes. Sometimes people forget where they have hidden money. Unlike when we were kids and would count our money daily, in order to save for that big purchase, some folks just put cash away and then forget it.

Who hasn’t found money in an old bag or jacket pocket just left there or money just in a drawer?

Hiding money in your home and forgetting about it isn’t a good thing. But if you choose to save money at home, buy a safe with a lock or a box with a lock and hide it. Tell someone you trust where you money is – just in case. My grandmother had money hiding places in her home when we sold it, that I knew about, but my mother didn’t. My father was recently shredding some old papers and found several hundred dollars in cash in a paper bag that he said he didn’t remember that he had.  The only reason he was going through the box was because my parents were sorting out some things from the garage for donation.

The small amount of interest that you can earn isn’t worth it to take to the bank for certain amounts. Many people have small amounts of cash that they save or even in the case of one episode of a woman on “How Clean Is Your House,” the lady just empties cash out of her pockets onto the floor or whatever surface when she came home. The cleaners found hundreds of dollars that they lady didn’t know she had.