Spending Money, What do you do?

[jeskat]

Hi all, For our trip in september i have no budget so its a simple case of how much i can save before then!!!

We normally spend cash but then i dont normally look to be carrying large sums or going anywhere like this so looking for some advice or what you do, Cash, Bank card, Travel card?

If we do go for the cash option, how secure are the room safes as i wouldnt want to be carrying a lot on me??

Thanks

 

[torsie24]

What we've found works best for us is to take a small amount of cash in Euros (€100-200) For snacks and little purchases etc and then charge the rest to the hotel room and pay it off in one lump sum at the end.

Saves on card transaction fees and I always find I get a good rate on my card.

 

[HFJohnson]

Last year we had half board vouchers so didn't need so much cash but we're not using them this year so I was also concerned about carrying a lot of cash. I was looking on the money saving expert site for cheap exchange rates and read that it can be better value to take a travel-friendly credit card. We've therefore got a Halifax Clarity credit card as per the recommendation as this doesn't charge for overseas transactions and doesn't add a percentage onto the exchange rate so should be better value than taking loads of cash (although we will still take some for small purchases).

Here's the link

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

 

[tennisfan]

I'm the same as Torsie in that I take a little cash & then charge the rest to my room. I have a credit card that doesn't charge commission & I get business exchange rate

 

[jeskat]

Thanks guys to be honest charging on to the room and paying at the end has never occured to me sounds a lot more simple than some of the ideas i had!

Can you charge from any of the restaurants etc as well as we are not taking out a meal plan?

HFJohnson Thanks for the link i will have to check whats what on my DH credit card!!

 

[torsie24]

I've not been to DLRP for a few years do would like clarification on this too.

Is it the same as WDW where even Earl & Snack Carts are chargeable? Or is it I only the proper Disney restaurants?

Xx

 

[Ms Poppins]

I'm thinking of doing this for the first time too - mainly for our evening meals, which seems to be where we spend the most money.

Out of every other option, I think this sounds the most stress free.

 

[jeskat]

Just sat and read through above link very useful infromation there i think charging and paying in full is the best way to go and carry small cash for the little things.
Thanks for the help

 

[Johnny_boy]

We had a pre-paid travel card, you loaded it up with money in advance, rate was slightly lower than the bank rate but no fees for loading or withdrawing cash. Mytravelcash was the company we used but loads of options.

 

[jothp]

We have always had meal vouchers in the past and just taken cash with us for the rest. We have never had any problems storing money in the safe and I always make sure I store the money in more than one place when we are travelling just in case. This time we will need to spend far more as we have no meal vouchers and I am wondering what to do too. I always worry that there will be a problem with my card and it will be difficult to sort out while we are abroad and we will be left short of money.

 

[angel_nix]

I didn't realise that you could charge back to your room, that's such a good idea, think we'll be doing that this time round!

 

[tennisfan]

We have always had meal vouchers in the past and just taken cash with us for the rest. We have never had any problems storing money in the safe and I always make sure I store the money in more than one place when we are travelling just in case. This time we will need to spend far more as we have no meal vouchers and I am wondering what to do too. I always worry that there will be a problem with my card and it will be difficult to sort out while we are abroad and we will be left short of money.

I always let my credit card company know when i'm away which helps reduce the likelyhood of a problem occurring & I also take a back up card just in case.

 

[Strawberryblush]

We use meal vouchers and carry cash. Dh and I just split the money and carry half each in an across body bag - that way the bag isn't getting put down to lose it.

 

[DLPdaft]

I always let my credit card company know when i'm away which helps reduce the likelyhood of a problem occurring & I also take a back up card just in case.

this is what I do too, always let my card company know what dates I'll be away and which country I'm visiting. I've never had a problem using my card yet.

 

[jothp]

I always let my credit card company know when i'm away which helps reduce the likelyhood of a problem occurring & I also take a back up card just in case.

this is what I do too, always let my card company know what dates I'll be away and which country I'm visiting. I've never had a problem using my card yet.

I know it is probably just my paranoia Having said that though our credit card company does tend to stop our card everytime we spend more than about £80 in one go in the UK, so not sure how they would cope if we used it abroad!

 

[DLPdaft]

you can use your debit card in the same way in France - debit card/credit card means the same thing.

 

[Lollipops]

Hi am thinking the same thing, all my cards would cost me money abroad and my debit card is a card from hell according to the link below
so going to apply for halifax clarity or post office credit card & take a little cash


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money#topcards

Hfjohnson has also posted similar link

 

[jennytablina]

So just to clarify, if I charged my purchases to my room, and paid it all in one lump sum at the end, it counts as one charge rather than multiple purchases yes?

Interesting info, never thought about it that way heh. But rather useful to know for our trip

 

[Hipster Meg]

So just to clarify, if I charged my purchases to my room, and paid it all in one lump sum at the end, it counts as one charge rather than multiple purchases yes?

I was wondering this too. Also would you have to pay at the end with a credit card or could you pay in cash? I would rather take a large amount of euros with us, leave them in the safe and pay it all off at the end with those than take out a credit card.

 

[torsie24]

So just to clarify, if I charged my purchases to my room, and paid it all in one lump sum at the end, it counts as one charge rather than multiple purchases yes?

Yes, because you're only using your card once.