The almighty dollar

I'm really concerned about the exchange rate, the dollar has fallen dramatically over the last month, whereas before you could almost say for arguments sake that $2=£1 now its lost 25c in the last month alone, really hope this stabilises before the new year, I want as much buck for my buck as I can!

 

Tell me about it! I should have changed my money over last month... only I didn't have it then, and now, well, I have the pounds but am going to lose out on about $250 because of the falling rate. Am not impressed!

 

I am very tempted to slap a shitload on my credit card before it gets really crap!

 

Hm, that is strange. The € was at over 1.50 $ a few months ago, but since the dollar has gotten stronger it is around 1.45 $ now. Maybe the Pound is just more instable since the economy is going down on the island... But just my guess.

I mean nobody expects to become rich, payed in $, at round about minimum wage... is anybody? ;-)

 

I don't expect to come home rich, but I want to go out there rich! I'm 24 and have lived independantly for quite a while, I haven't done the student slumming thing since I was 17! I'm accustomed to the finer things in life now, lol, so I want my savings to go a bit further, which at the moment they're not. I don't want to change all my stirling for dollars now though because I don't want to be wandering around Florida with too much cash until I can get a bank account sorted.

 

Yeah, I'm saving like a loon, coz there is so much I wanna be doing out there, but now I'm having to save like a mad loon due to the exchange situation. Gonna take $1000 in travellers cheques and the rest on my card (nationwide - no charge!) but I really need it to last or plans may need ot be slimmed down somewhat.

 

I took $1000 dollers out with me and lasted me fine. I even brought a little of it home with me as well.

 

I think I may be getting slightly carried away, I was planning on taking as close to $5000 as possible!

 

That is AT LEAST the amount I want to be taking too for lots of reasons a) to fund our little 'kick back' at the start b) to ensure I can go to all the places on my ever growing list c) to help fund a west cost tour at the end of the programme d) just to be comfortable at all times. My weekly earnings will be for general good times a having.

 

The last thing I would want is to ever think 'i can't afford that' This opportunity will probably never come up again so I want to ensure I can always fund any adventure that takes my fancy. Good man Scotty, glad we're singing from the same hymn sheet!

 

TESTIFY!

 

I would say it depends how much stuff you want to buy out there. I should have taken a lot more with me but then thats coz I spent too much. Abercrombie & Fitch was way too cheap to not buy loads of stuff (it is pretty nice to laugh at people in the UK who paid £100 for a jacket which I paid £30 for haha). And then when I arrived in Orlando the 40% discount at Disney was still going on so I bought loads of Disney stuff before it went back to 20%. And I got so fed up with working so much I could never be bothered to cook food... so I was always buying out.

To be honest I didn't really know what to expect and the clothes I brought with me didn't really suit the climate. I didn't own nice shorts... t shirts... flip flops when I was in the UK coz it's too cold to wear that kind of thing. I was all about hoodies and jeans. I didn't even do things like swimming in the UK so I didn't own a bathing suit haha. So I obviously bought a lot of clothes for those reasons. I suspect a lot of people end up doing that. We all get as americanised as possiblehaha.

I don't know how some people survived because there were people I knew who did all that AND were going out drinking a lot. It's the drinking that rapes your money I reckon but then where will there be to go when they close down PI? Downtown Orlando is too much of a trek to go there too often.

Ben

 

;D this is what im worried about, "slumming" it

 

I was thinking about $5000 too... that way I'll never be short. Plus I imagine every little trip to New York or Washington or whatever will cost me a fair few hundred.
My dad's already said he'll put a couple of hundred in my bank every month or so too... I'm probably going a bit OTT with the money side of it but the thought of living off $120 a week terrifies me! Especially when I quite happily spend £50 on dinner in one sitting...

The one thing I am worried about is the months travelling at the end. I'm not sure how much that is gonna cost, I'd think at least $2000, probably more after paying for flights and hotels... I don't want to take that out of my initial $5000 though so I hope that I can get on the tipped position for my last six months so I can save for it whilst out there.

 

Elle... the quicker you can decide on exact dates and places you want to go the better... coz flights just go up all the time. I went to a northern state in america (Maine) and I was going to fly direct home from there to the UK. I checked the price and it was like $800 which was ok at the time... I waited just a week extra and the flight went up $1500 to $2300. Safe to say I didn't fly from there in the end...

Ben

 

Woo-hoo, it went up 2 cents over the last couple of days! Keep going pound, I wanna see $1.90 before I go!

 

It it stays around this level I will be satisfied, will be an absolute mare if it drops below $1.50 though. The state of the economy doesn't seem to be having much effect though so touch wood it will hold. Of course it needs to hold all year really because my savings will be in my Nationwide account and will magically turn into dollars at whatever the current rate is when I withdraw.

 

You're a lot more sensible than I Scotty, I'm changing all mine into travelers cheques before we go. Just in case my apartment doesn't have a TV or I feel like investing in a 360! I'm gonna take the hard-drive from mine so if I do decide to, I'll just buy the cheap version without one.

 

I guess it works pretty good if you are going TO the states... and even more if im coming from norway... or spain for that matter..

 

Hi, it's probably been asked loads of times before but how much is a reasonable amount of money to take with you to begin with? I was thinking about £500 ($1000) to start me off. I'll be opening a Nationwide account soon and taking travellers cheques/cash too. Hopefully my family will put dollars into my account for Christmas and my birthday instead of buying presents so this will help. I really hope the exchange rate goes up a bit, damn credit crunch!!