money money money MONEY!

So i was thinking about how much money to take out to Florida with me. I know they said to take about $500 but is that enough to properly start off with. I plan to buy bedding and whatnot out there so that will add to the costs and such. I just want to make sure that i have enough to really enjoy myself the first few weeks.

 

Last time I took about $600 because the exchange rate was amazing, so that was only £300!! This time though seen as I am poorer I will probably take more like $400-500... The money needs to last you the first two weeks but you don't pay rent in those 2 weeks (2 weeks worth is taken off your first paycheck which is a double one because you weren't paid in the first week, does that make sense?!) so it's just for your initial shopping stuff (walmart is CHEAP!) and eating out, merchandise etc etc

 

Yeah the exchange rate is pretty horrific at the moment.

 

hey we should post best exchange rates in here, do u think its likely to go up? cos i dont know whether to keep buying $$$s or buy it all nearer the time, but it could drop :s its less that £1=$1.50 atm =[

Also it says take $300 but u have the $100 accommodation fee to pay on arrival right? so i was gunna save about £400 to take x

 

No you need to pay that fee before you go... the housing assessment fee.

 

like when, nowish? i thought we paid that when we arrived and checked in

oh i see like 30 days before so hmm thatl be about end of april for me x

 

what i have been checking with the exchange rate. Its about 1.45 to the pound although i think it might be slowly going back up. I will check one of the compare websites and get back to you.

 

right... i am quite literally as poor as students can possibly get!! haha i am wellllll in to my overdraft (im too scared to check currently!) and need to survive another month at uni,paying rent/bills etc etc...im kiiiinda guessing im around the -£1000 mark, but it could be more, im hoping not... but is anyone else in this situation!?! because im scared i wont actually be able to live and such over there!!!

so i kiiiinda just paniced a litttle bit, but im thinking 1-2 days work would pay for rent for the week right??? and the rest is for food etc! kindaaa bricking it a little bit haha im utterly shit with money!!

 

Yup.... I have about £100 left in my £1500 overdraft.... poor poor student. I am hoping that I will get money back from the tax man sooner rather than later (they charged me too much tax this year)...

 

1) Go on Walmart's website and work out how much all of the bedding-type stuff will cost you.
2) Work out how many £s you spend on food in the UK that number will be roughly the number of dollars you'd expect to spend, roughly. (DO NOT convert the number from £ into $) (In practice I find the number is actually lower in the US than the UK but it's a rough estimation).
3) Allow for incidentals such as transport from the airport to Vista Way, some fun trips out etc.

As for the exchange rate. Unless something major happens with the economy I doubt it'll change that much before we go. If you're not good at saving money then buying a few dollars a week or whatever between now and the departure date might be a good plan. Personally, I'm just gonna put some of my £s to one side then convert it right before I go.

 

I'd strongly advise against doing that. The way things are looking with our General Election and the strong feelings that we're going to have a hung Parliament, the economy frequently changes for the worse. The £:$ is currently on the way up (marginally), but if you look historically, whenever either the UK or the US has any major shift in politics, currency is always one of the biggest things to get hit.

 

well i understood halve of that, but you seem to know what your talking about. When is this election which you speak of so i know roughly when to purchase my Dollars! ;D

 

The date is going to be announced this week, but the strong feeling is that when we wake up on Friday 7th May, we might have a new Government.
If you've got a big Tesco Extra near you, they usually have a currency booth and guarantee to beat both M&S and Post Office's rates (which are generally the best on the High St anyway).

 

wow lol i dont think u need to get that worried, im £1250 down which is my max on my overdraft but im not even thinking about money over there and u dont really need to! ur practically working full time and u get payed weekly so even if u have £10 a week for everything which is unlikely, u still have more than if u were in england living student life. My loan covers my rent exactly so i currently live on £25 a week which is my wage, i feel like im actually gunna be richer in america. especially with walmart over there.

 

I never even thought about this... if you have a local post office they usually give quite good exchange rates I find

 

i have been going on Martin Lewis' website. Hes the money guy from GMTV. It has a list of all the exchange rates and where you can get the best one at the moment and how much money you will get from each one. very helpful! ;D

 

Yes. You won't find better than either M&S or Tesco. Sometimes the Post Office try, but generally the other 2 trump them.
Avoid exchanging cash at the airport at all costs.

 

when doing euros ive always found even thomas cook or thompson have topped them x

 

well at the moment it seems that Tesco offers the best out of the chain store. If you live in London there are some independent ones that do amazing rates but they are only in one place.

 

Also, although it sounds random... Marks & Spencer can be quite good for exchange rate... I got my dollars from there the last time I went to the US! :