How much foreign currency do you have?

[braumeister]

I've always kept some cash, both paper and coins, when returning from another country. The main reason is that I don't want to bother finding a cash machine at the airport when I get off a long flight next time. I much prefer using an ATM inside a bank building downtown, just for safety.

I now have money from eight different countries, stored in ziplock bags in the same folder with our passports. I keep track of it in a spreadsheet that automatically updates every day. In total, it's around $1,500 worth, which is certainly too much. That's OK, because I know I'll spend it all before too long since we love to go back repeatedly to favorite places.

I have the record of what I paid for it all, and over time there has been a small but steady increase in the value of my little stash. Some countries improve over the dollar, and others decline, but mostly the trend has been favorable over the last several years.

Another reason I have so much is that I absolutely refuse to exchange foreign cash at the airport counters simply because of the outrageous fees they charge.

Do others keep a substantial amount of foreign cash or am I an outlier?
And don't tell me I need to plan my spending better on these trips; I'm well aware of that!

 

[audreyh1]

I usually carryover a few hundred euros from the previous trip.

It sure is convenient for the next one.

But that has been the only foreign currency I have used in the last 10 years.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, Euros are my biggest category too. GBP are next. But I also have Swiss, Canadian, Norwegian, Czech, Swedish, and Icelandic money.

I definitely appreciate the Euro zone countries making it easier for us.

 

[corn18]

WE have a jar full of paper and coin currency from all of our travels, including 20 years of me cruising the world on aircraft carriers. I have no idea how much it is all worth. But it is cool to go through it and remember bing in Egypt or Greece or Kuwait and wherever else we have been.

 

[braumeister]

WE have a jar full of paper and coin currency from all of our travels

Thanks for reminding me -- I have a similar jar full of money that is no longer useful. Great when I want a decorative piece for something, and DW has made jewelry out of some of it. Worthless, but lots of fun!

 

[CardsFan]

When working, I always had a few hundred dollars worth of Chinese RMB. Primarily because I refused to pay the ridiculous exchange fees at the airport, even though I could charge it back to the company. And, it was convenient to have a little stash in case the ATMs were down. I traveled there 2-3 times a year, so I knew I would use it.

Other than that, I always tried to dispose of local currency when leaving. Usually by paying part of my hotel bill with whatever I had left.

 

[Nick12]

When I traveled to La Paz Bolivia on our pre paid vacation, I exchanged US dollars to Bolivianos at the hotel for spending money. When I tried to exchange back my leftover spending money back up to to US dollars in our hotel before departing I was told they would not accept the transaction! So I ended up spending my last Bolivianos on some more Alpaca sweaters for my family and bags of sealed local tea packets and brought them back to Florida. No issues with customs when I landed in Miami.

 

[COZICAN]

Probably less than $50 in leftover pesos

 

[CRLLS]

I probably have the equivalent of a couple of hundred USD in RMB and HKD, and a few minor stakes in a few other currencies. I should convert them to USD. But I'm too lazy and I might just travel back to China again.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I've kept a few notes and coins from various travels. I've got about $15 worth of Bahrain Dinar, which keeps its value since they peg the value of their currency to the USD. I really didn't mean to keep so much, but good luck finding anyone in the USA to exchange them, even in major airports.

My late DF traveled extensively and kept various foreign money since he was always a coin collector. Some of it was hard to figure out which country it came from since I didn't recognize writing from Laos, for example.

I don't keep any more than I'm stuck with after trying to spend down as much as possible. Sometimes I pick up some tacky trinket in the departing airport just to get rid of it.

Fun, though.

 

[Bir48die]

$5,000 pesos, $20 euro and $20 Canadian

 

[MichaelB]

Another reason I have so much is that I absolutely refuse to exchange foreign cash at the airport counters simply because of the outrageous fees they charge.

Same here.

Some Euros, but mostly I have lots of coins and small denomination bills from around Latin America which is now worthless. Then it was used for pay phones, taxis, kiosks, etc.

I also have lots of Venezuelan Bs - probably close to $1K at the time. That's a real loss - I would have left them with family there, but who knew.

Back in the day, a co-worker collected low value coins and bills from the hyperinflation countries, saying they were cheaper than poker chips and (he said) and mde betting seem much more realistic.

 

[bingybear]

we have some from many of our trips. I don't tally it or figure what it is worth on a ongoing basis. We keep a little as a remembrance. We will spend the rest the next time in the countries.

 

[Koogie]

A bit here and there. Coins especially as I have always liked them. Some SGD, some MYR, a bit of TBH. Even a few KRW.

In terms of folding money, about €200 which is enough to get me moving on the ground on arrival in Yurop*

You have to be careful though. A couple years ago I found an old stack of GBP in a moving box. About £150 However, they were so old that shops wouldn't take them anymore. I had to go to a bank to exchange them. Luckily, I had newer notes on me at the time.

I also have a few 100K of your funny, green dead president money. Mostly invested in Vanguard products...


*last time in AMS, they had drop boxes in the airport departures area that you could deposit your loose change into. I forget which charity it was in support of. Nice idea though.

 

[braumeister]

A couple years ago I found an old stack of GBP in a moving box. About £150 However, they were so old that shops wouldn't take them anymore. I had to go to a bank to exchange them.

I ran into that a few years ago when I found some really old pound notes. Looked it up and saw that they were still legal tender, so I took them to a bank. Funniest 20 minutes of the trip, as two young bank employees tried to figure out what to do with them. They made at least three phone calls to superiors, but were still unsure. Finally, one of them just reached into his pocket and handed me the equivalent in pound coins. What a hoot!

last time in AMS, they had drop boxes in the airport departures area that you could deposit your loose change into. I forget which charity it was in support of. Nice idea though.

Iceland does the same thing. Great idea.

 

[Gumby]

I usually carryover a few hundred euros from the previous trip.

It sure is convenient for the next one.

But that has been the only foreign currency I have used in the last 10 years.

Same here. I keep it tucked in my passport. That way, I don't have to immediately find a Bancomat (ATM) when I arrive.

 

[pb4uski]

Living only a hour from the Canadian border and going to Canada to golf frequently, I usually have C$50-200 in a drawer that I grab when I head off on a trip. Other than that I probably have some euros and some GBP from previous travels... but I suspect less than US$100.

 

[marko]

We go back and forth to Europe a lot so we usually keep around 200 in Euros for cab fare upon arrival. Once there we get there we use the ATM to get more.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have never been out of the US, but I collect foreign coins I happen to get mistakenly as change. Most are Canadian coins but some are from other countries including in South America and Europe.


I happened to meet up locally with a man from Canada about 10 years ago but forgot to take advantage of that opportunity to cash in my Canadian coins for American currency. From what I have read, banks will exchange only bills, not coins.


Speaking of Canadian coins, some of the 10-cent coins are of different sizes. Older ones are much smaller than newer ones. Did Canada change the size of those coins back in the 1970s or 1980s?

 

[tmm99]

About $600 USD worth of yen from my last trip.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We have a bunch of foreign currency hidden in somewhere the house by the missus.

We end up repeating a lot of countries multiple times re-visiting favourites and/or adding other area of the country in subsequent trips. So, we'll bring home unused hard currency to be used for a subsequent trip.
It's nice having some local currency as a backup when you land without having to rely on your cc or search for an ATM. Sometimes it's just easier to use cash to first head into town and use a currency exchange shop.

For places we're not sure if or how soon we'll be back, we'll convert it.

We had the same issue finding some old GBP's. I have an old HSBC account so when were last in London, we headed to an HSBC branch and was able to explain our found GBP story, flash my HSBC client card, and get the bills exchanged. It seems to come in handy having an account with financial institutions that have a fairly broad footprint around the world.

 

[Nemo2]

Have about $700 US...(in with our passports, like everyone else)....since we often take repositioning cruises, either east or westbound, we regularly 'unload' our other currencies by way of gratuities for the cabin steward, people in the buffet.

 

[Sunset]

We have about $300 in Euros, and I specifically withdrew 100 British pounds, when we stopped in Gibraltar (not the Gibraltar pounds) , as we hope/plan to go to the UK sometime soon.

I like having some currency when we land in case the ATM is out of service or too hard to find or has a dozen people in line.

I did buy some Honduran money as a souvenier because it's so worthless, I got a bunch for $1.00
Wish I had thought of the poker idea, as they have pretty coins and a few dollars would buy a lot of them.

 

[W2R]

None, that I can think of.

 

[Alan]

I have a couple of ziplock bags and keep about 50 euros and $100 although when we came to do this last trip to the USA I discovered I only had $3. However I still have a US debit card so was easy to get money on arrival.

For those folks who are keeping £s, if you don’t have the latest plastic £5 and £10 notes with holograms etc then they won’t work to buy stuff. You will need to go to a bank and exchange them for new notes.

Also the pound coins have recently been replaced with smaller, 2-metal coins also with a hologram so the old pound coins won’t be accepted by stores or work in machines.

The £20 notes are scheduled to be replaced next year.