You can use small amounts of unexpected money you get as gifts, find in the couch, or otherwise for traveling, provided you make the small effort it save it. Below are some of the responses I received when I asked,
“What creative ways do you save or spend for traveling the small amounts of unexpected money you get as gifts or find in your pockets?”
- Stephanie: All my money generally gets lumped together in one mass sum but these smaller bits are useful for buying things like guidebooks or other travel supplies.
- Shannon: A friend donated cash to me while I was in Scotland for my trip and I very specifically used that money to see a Fringe show…with the extra $20 though I picked out one that I was sad that I wasn’t going to get to see, used the extra few dollars for a beer, and then enjoyed the heck out of it!
- Akila: Now that we’re traveling, we put any change or extra amounts we find into a bag and then spend it on internet charges or laundry. It’s not particularly romantic or fun, but it works!
- Mark H: I’m also a change in a jar (actually an old margarine container) person.
- Quickroute: I’d buy beer but then I’m Irish – What d’ya expect!
Considering we all tend to run into or accumulate these micro-quantities of spare money, it’s best to account for them in your simple travel budget.
[photo by: alamosbasement]
I read your earlier post first and then this one.
I too collect my change in a small box, (a metal candy box) and I let it grow for sometime till I need it. In India, there are other ways of accumulating small amounts such as by selling your old newspapers and metal/glass/plastics etc. to small time vendors.
Within months this becomes large enough to buy something like a rucksack, some accessories or something like that. Last time I bought a 8GB pendrive with it.
I have to consume this money in India itself since abroad I won’t be able to buy anything with it.
Makes sense since the exchange rates are not in your favor for most places I’m sure. The small amounts sure do add up though – and a pendrive is a great way to spend them.
Oh, easy one. Food, of course!
Food is *always* a huge portion of my travel budget 🙂
im with quickroute- i’d buy beer!
I guess depends where you are – you saw how it was in Sweden, $10 barely gets you a shot!
We keep a large plastic container in the bedroom closet and throw our change in there at the end of every evening. When we take a family vacation, my husband brings the container to a change machine at a local grocers. The machine does charge a small fee, but last year we amassed almost $500US in change! That sure did go a long way when we traveled.
That’s a lot of change! I wish I had the discipline to do this for a year, I bet there’s more money than I would expect.