Money-Spending Strategies

there is a paywall

@jules - yeah, the Post does have a paywall (you forget when you're automatically logged in).

The gist was a lot of try banks, exchange companies, currency dealers, etc., but I liked the donation suggestions and especially liked her last ones which could work well:

You can also try contacting local schools or libraries about donating your currencies, which educators can use for lessons, art projects or exhibits.
Finally, if friends or family members have an upcoming overseas trip, give them the gift of your unused currency.

We save the bills for our next trip to Europe and put the coins in a charity collection box.

I save the paper bills for future trips, and the coins get used for bathrooms or laundry.

@jules - yeah, the Post does have a paywall (you forget when you're automatically logged in).

Tom, if you have a subscription to the Washington Post, you can use the Share link on the page to gift it to this post and it will bypass the paywall.

I just was in our passport folder and looked over the paper currency we have waiting for a later use.

Besides the usual stash of Euros - which make sense to keep on hand for our normal trips - I noted an assortment of bills that may or may not be used in the future. Some bills from New Zealand (likely to use), Peru (possibly), Costa Rica (possibly), Argentina (possibly, but almost valueless), Canada (definitely will use), and Bermuda (planning to use). No Swiss or UK bills, so probably have burned those at airports. I wonder what's in the coin jar, and I will be digging through there for some Euro coins for next month's trip.

What's in your "save to spend later" stash?

I recently returned from China and gave my remaining Chinese money to a friend who teaches high school Chinese and who will be taking a group of students to China in 2025.

Really no reason to have leftover money, excepting maybe some coins. Plan your ATM withdrawals. Run out of money before the last two days and then take only want you need from ATM. No problem if you have a card that pays back any fees. An ATM does not care if you take out small amounts. A few leftover bills can be used in a grocery or at the airport, where they will often take part currency and then use your credit card to fill out the price.

I don't recall which YouTube vlogger came up with this solution, buy gift cards from an international company. Starbucks is the perfect example. Their gift cards can be bought anywhere and spent anywhere.

Here’s a gift link to that article. There are some useful suggestions which I hadn’t heard about before.

https://wapo.st/3zmHgFu