the dollar is messing up my budget!

[normmo]

Okay - I've budgeted for our April Disney trip and went on the assumption that the dollar would be at $1.05 or $1.10 (because that's what the experts predicted). Now the dollar is falling and my question is - does anyone know what the dollar is expected to do? I know it's impossible to know for sure but if the dollar is below par it will mean putting aside some more money.
Mo

 

[sammi]

Yeah I know, we're feeling the pinch too......I heard on the news that experts predict the dollar to hit .90 by the end of the year...I bet it will be much sooner than that though.....

 

[satman1962]

Well if you can't count on the experts than who can you count on.

 

[son3disfan]

I hear you!
We have a $6000 cruise/land vacation planned in April too, and that dropping dollar is alot of money we are losing!

I knew it wasn't going to last , but I thought for just a little bit longer!! Like until the US election in the fall!

 

[neverrest]

I do not rely on experts. Mostly because experts can not seem to agree on what is going to happen

I am just going to wait and see

But I think you need to go with what you feel most comfortable with.

Do you chance that is will go down again, do you jump on it now, do you get some now and some later.

 

[minnie56]

I hear you!
We have a $6000 cruise/land vacation planned in April too, and that dropping dollar is alot of money we are losing!

I knew it wasn't going to last , but I thought for just a little bit longer!! Like until the US election in the fall!

You can pay your final payment now, or some of it...while the dollar suits?

 

[petunia]

I'm stressed too, we leave in a month, and I don't know if I should grab some more USD today, before it plummits or hope it will come back up

 

[briarberry]

We are leaving on Thursday for WDW. I am so glad that I opened up an US bank account last year. Whenever the rate was particularly good I moved $ into in. My mom always had an US account because she had relatives in the states and visited often.
I just opened the account at the credit union I bank at. I have everything set up online, so it is simple to switch $ from one account to another.
I know this doesn't help right now, but I just thought I'd post this idea in case someone else might find it helpful.
I am packing up the suitcases today and can hardly wait to hit the road on Thursday!!!!

 

[son3disfan]

You can pay your final payment now, or some of it...while the dollar suits?

Would love to pay now....except, we haven't saved enough yet! I have an american account that I put money in when ever I can,( and an american credit card to pay the trip with) but thought I'd have alot more time to save with a really good dollar. Guess I 'll just have to add more to the budget!!

 

[minnie56]

Gotcha, but think of this

First cruise we ever did was back in 2003 with Royal Caribbean. RC had a promo on for Canadians..they let you lock in a conversion rate, can't recall exactly what it would have been but I want to say $1.55? We were thrilled. Now, doesn't todays rate make you happier?

 

[son3disfan]

Gotcha, but think of this

First cruise we ever did was back in 2003 with Royal Caribbean. RC had a promo on for Canadians..they let you lock in a conversion rate, can't recall exactly what it would have been but I want to say $1.55? We were thrilled. Now, doesn't todays rate make you happier?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Yes I do remember one of our first family vacations to Disney..
I want to say 2001??? and I exchanged $1000.00 for spending $$$ and recieved $635!!!
Now that hurt!

So yes, 90 cents on the Dollar is still ok with me!
Thanks for the reminder!!

 

[F4disneyfan]

I have been hearing the 85 cents number by X mas time but who really knows honestly.

 

[Reese]

I have been hearing the 85 cents number by X mas time but who really knows honestly.

Now the 0.93 I can handle but 0.85 would really through a wrench into my plans.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Oops double post. See below.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Now the 0.93 I can handle but 0.85 would really through a wrench into my plans.

LOL not for us this is just one more reason DVC makes soo much sence to us. No worrying about the budget for hotels etc while we are away. DVC takes that headache out of the equation. Not to mention we only usually take about 500 spending money with us for a week so 1000 for our 2 week stays not to mention with DVC we get to buy groceries and make all our meals ourselves which cuts way way down on food costs without having to eat out all the time.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I feel everyone's pain....I'm in the same predicament too!!! I'm trying to save some USD for our trip to DL in Feb/09. I was able to get $1100.00USD when the dollar wasn't too bad last month, and was able to put it in the USD account that I opened last month. With the falling dollar, it's making it more difficult to save for our trip, as I try to convert some CDN into USD every month. Better buy the USD while our CDN dollar is still strong against the USD. What it means is less money to spend while we are down there.

 

[SaskDisNut]

I purchased some USD today at CIBC as we are going to Montana tomorrow and $1 USD = $1.0876 CDN.

I'm glad some of our Dec. trip is paid for but the falling dollar isn't helping matters any. I hadn't been paying attention to it to much over the last couple of weeks and was surprised at how quickly it fell.

 

[laura001]

I purchased some USD today at CIBC as we are going to Montana tomorrow and $1 USD = $1.0876 CDN.

I'm glad some of our Dec. trip is paid for but the falling dollar isn't helping matters any. I hadn't been paying attention to it to much over the last couple of weeks and was surprised at how quickly it fell.

I don't have a problem paying 1.08 for the dollar....still a great deal compared to 1.40. As long as it stays around this I don't have much of a problem not paying off our trip early. If we pay it off early, we would have to put it on our credit card and would end up paying fees anyway because we couldn't pay it off til Feb. Hopefully it doesn't go past 1.15.....that will keep me happy.

Right now I buy American money at par from a store that gets it in a little at a time, so I put that into our American account. We always use the money from that account for our spending, but how would I go about using that account to pay for our trip, if we moved the money from the account to our credit card, you loose money again on the transfer back to Canadian??

 

[bunnyfoo]

Right now I buy American money at par from a store that gets it in a little at a time, so I put that into our American account. We always use the money from that account for our spending, but how would I go about using that account to pay for our trip, if we moved the money from the account to our credit card, you loose money again on the transfer back to Canadian??

I have a US$ credit card so I have no choice but to pay it off in US If you've booked a room only reservation, maybe you can buy traveller's cheques and then pay off the room when you get there. I think you can also send in a money order or cheque but I've never done that myself so I'm not sure how it works.

 

[mom2faith]

Two weeks ago I told DH we should go get our USD. He said, no it is going up to $1.10, just watch (it was at par or close at the time). I said I do not feel comfortable, I really want to do it now.

But, alas, he is the gambler of the family, and we decided what is another week or so.

On Friday he called. He shamefuly said he is on the way to the bank ASAP to avoid any more fall out. What was going to cost us about $16 for exchange 2 weeks ago cost us $137!! Now, I know that is not a lot, but that is a great souvenier or a great meal while we are gone!!

My gut says when the US Election is over it is going to drastically change one way or another.

We knew it couldn't last forever!!

Good luck with your savings.