Money!

[sammibabe]

We are off in 7 weeks and I am thinking we should get some currency now. We usually get a little cash and dollar travellers cheques. I know out of favour now but worked for us. We found it easy to budget; we went off with our 'allowance' in TC's for that day and got cash for the change to keep our cash topped up without taking a lot with us.

My worry now is that as the currency cards are more common will TC's not accepted in as many places as they used to be? Also as we have not used the cards before can you advise on how we keep cash topped up (or do we have to take more) and how do we know the balance that is left on the card? I worry that the budgeting side of the holiday will go out the window as we will not be able to check so easily what we are using.

I would love to know how you organise your money to make sure you don't overspend. I have tried searching for past threads on cards but nothing came up (and I don't think it helped with these questions)

Thanks

[Andrena]

Many stores will not accept Travellers Cheques now. We use a Post Office Credit Card as they do not have any extra charges. We used to use Nationwide, but they now make a charge for using in the US although it is less than normal credit cards.

Andrena

[sammibabe]

We have the clarity Halifax card which is a good one to have (according to Martin Lewis!) but we don't like to put everything on the cc. We like to have our dollars and know what we are spending rather than guesstimate (rates on the day etc). Also, although not always accurate, forecast is for rates to drop over the summer. To hedge our bets we thought we would buy some now

[shona]

we are just back and took traveller cheques. they were accepted everywhere ( believe me we shopped everywhere! resturaunts ,supermarkets, shopping malls, jet ski's, segway hire, firearms adventure, gas) except 'golden coral' resturaunt. however most shops took so long to process them, they either didnt know how to use them or they have a phone number they phone to check, to say we were losing the will to live at some places!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so never again, will try the TC or a no charge CC. not sure but i think with the TC you can check free on line your balance or get a txt sent to your phone, might be a charge for that.
enjoy!

[Jill]

The Halifax Clarity and Santander Zero credit cards are two very good cards for foreign use as they do not charge any commission. If you have a Santader Zero current account then there are no charges for using your debit card abroad either.

[Val]

We have a Post Office card which we keep just for holidays, we find they give a good exchange rate and if payed off in full never pay interest and also take cash. Never a problem and Martin Lewis also recommends the Post Office Card
Val

[kitch50]

I would love to know how you organise your money to make sure you don't overspend.
Thanks

Sam,

We always take dollars with us and we budget for £100 per day for the family (there are 5 of us), old fashioned, I know, to take cash but it works for us. We do take the CC for emergencies and "just in case" but we very rarely have to use it other than for the card swipe at the car rental.

[sammibabe]

That's basically what we do with combo of cash and cheques and also 5 of us. We haven't been for 3 years so was wondering if $100 would still be ok. We usually have good brekkie, ice cream in the afternoon and meal out in the evening, not expensive (apart from a couple of more upmarket ones for treats)

[lafifille]

We never had any problem with traveller cheques anywhere in the US. It's true Golden Corral don't accept them, but apart from there it never really was a problem, in Florida or anywhere else in the US. Sometimes the waiter or attendant, usually the younger ones[msnwink] would wonder what to do with them, but we'd just ask for a manager and never waited more than a couple of minutes. Okay, once in Lawrence, Kansas, we waited a lot more, but that was in one of KU campus store and even the manager was barely 18, or so it seemed [] (ended up taking the cheque anyway).

I agree it probably sounds old-fashioned and all, but it's the best way I've found to buy $ when the rate is best anyt ime of the year, and I've yet to find a bank here which won't charge me when I use my CC abroad. Plus we also find it's a good way to keep to your budget, and they're insured. We also bring the CC "just in case" of course.

We also usually plan for $100 per day when we go to the US but there's only 4 of us (two teens though, they do eat their share at restaurants []). We have always been quite comfortable with that amount everywhere, specially in Florida where it seemed you could eat out for cheaper but that was 2 years ago. We reason we can't spend money we don't have and work around this budget.

[reemur]

I also use Post office credit card
Carol