MWH Travel Tips: 7 - Split Your Cash

Picture by Christian Newton

Traveling can be a risky endeavor when you need to carry large amounts of cash, and you often do. When traveling to remote locations that don't have any big banks, you need to carry your capital on you to be safe. So how do you prevent pick pockets from stealing?

There's lots of small things you can do, like keep your money on your body, or hold on tight to your purse. But the best thing you can do is make sure you're okay EVEN if they do get you.

I suggest splitting your money into smaller portions, and keeping it in different spots. Keep a bit in your bag, a bit in your pockets, divide it over the different members of your traveling party.

How much should be in one spot? It depends, on how much you think is okay to lose at once, and how much money you have to keep on you. 
The safest spot to keep money is probably on your body. I put some cash in almost every pocket I have (if I have any). It'll take a lot for me not to notice someone going through ALL my pockets. 
I've found hotel rooms to be quite safe as well, and things like in between your clothes in your backpack. Put it in an inconspicuous spot.

Have you ever lost money to a pickpocket before? How did it happen? I've been fortunate so far. I have however lost large amounts of money because it fell out of my pocket while I was trying on clothes at a shop. Let that be another warning!

Worth Every Minute: Travel Edition

Every Wednesday, you can read the awesomeness of another author on the web through the Worth Every Minute series on MWH. As we are traveling around China while this gets posted, the article of today is also travel related.


Living in China is great, but it won't make you rich. Living in China, luckily, is very cheap, but traveling in China isn't. That means that we have to make do with little money. Also, we love to save wherever we can.


The article for today offers 50 tips on how to do just that: save money when traveling.


Enjoy!

50 Budget Travel Tips and Save Money on Vacations from Moneying.com

Any more advice on how to save money while traveling? I'm always interested to find out new and nifty ways of saving a buck or two.

Pay Right Away

Picture by Darren Kidd

The only thing bills are good for, is making you feel responsible when you pay them. Apart from that, all they do is cause headaches and anxiety. That's not something you want to deal with often, is it? So don't.
In our house, we have no bills coming in because everything is paid on the go. Yes, that includes electricity. But when we were living in Belgium it was different, of course.

What I tried there was to pay each bill as soon as it came in, and then shred it. Usually, they got picked up from the mailbox on the way home. Then it was just a matter of getting my e-banking going and voila.

Some people may try to do all their bills at one time every month, but that can be a bit of a financial surprise too. When you have all the money gone in one big chunk, perhaps it's more difficult in the weeks before that to estimate how much you can really spend.

When you've picked up a stack of bills, just turn on your computer and surf to your e-banking platform right away. Set up the payments and you're done. Now, shred the bills and never think about them again. What's done is done. You can't get the money back, so there's no need worrying about it. 
The one exception is a bill that was way too high and could have been prevented (phone-bill anyone?). In that case, it may serve as a reminder to put it up somewhere noticeable. 

One more bit of advice: if your bank gives you a percentage on how much is in your checking account, you can set up a delayed payment so as to get the most out of that. Just make sure you have enough money in your account when the payment goes through. And keep in mind the first paragraph: if all the money is transfered at the same time, it may be difficult to plan your purchases.

I like money, but I'm not too keen on doing all the financial stuff. Still, in our family, I'm the one who deals with the finances, so I would rather have it over and done with quickly. 
But the main advantage of paying right away, is that there's no risk of forgetting and having to pay the overdue fees.

Recycle Recycle Reuse

Recycling is now pretty much established as a standard practice in Western countries (I use 'Western' a lot since that's the word they use here.) In China, however, it's not really the common way. Most people just put everything in a trash bag. Afterwards they dump it in one of the big boxes outside, and the bags get searched for bottles, cans and boxes by the less fortunate, who can then sell it for a tiny bit of money.
We still recycle however, and pack the stuff separately. Either way, it helps someone.

Separating paper and plastic is common, right, but what about recycling other stuff? I'm talking about other items around the house that maybe you could reuse for another purpose instead of throwing them out right away. My grandmother used to be wonderful at this. A bed sheet went through being a sheet, to being a towel, to being a diaper, finally ending up as a cleaning rag at the end of its life cycle.

You don't have to do any stitching or be very creative to re-use items in your house. How about using a squeeze bottle as an easy oil dispenser? Or an old jam jar as a container for left-over sauces or soups? 
Here you can find great ideas on how to re-use an old yoga mat, and this site has some great ideas for what to do with glass jars.
If you have something that you don't really want to throw away, google 'reuse + your item' and see what pops up. You never know what your possible trash could be used for!

The picture shows some of the simple items I've reused in our home. A bamboo cup that split became a chopstick holder (essential if you live in the East and use them every day). A glass jar became the perfect home for my sourdough starter. I cover it with a piece cut from an old shirt of the hubby, it's held on their by the use of an old scrunchy that wouldn't scrunch no more. At the bottom is a spice container in which I put some chopped lemon zest and cooking oil. Makes a great massage oil!

Making all of these work was a matter of minutes!

I have three pairs of jeans that are worn,  but only in one spot. Any idea on what I could do with them without a sewing machine? I don't mind doing some hand-stitching, as long as it's not too much!

Read 'The Science of Getting Rich'

There's a book that I read every single month. It's the book on which 'The Secret' was based, and it's called: The Science of Getting Rich. It's not my life's ambition to get rich, but it is my ambition to lead the life I want to live, and that's what the book helps me focus on. It offers great ideas on how to bring success into every area of your life.

I read it once a month, and every month I focus on a new part. I rediscover something I forgot, or I suddenly find myself interpreting the old words in a new way. The book is a bit dated, so the language is a bit old, but you adjust quickly.

So how is this a 5 minute activity? Well, the chapters are really really really short! It takes me about 5 minutes (or less) to read one chapter. Alright, admittedly, I'm somewhat of a fast reader, and by now I just have to skim to be reminded of the content, but still... I couldn't resist sharing this with you.

I've summarized the main lessons I learned from the book below (there's plenty more than these 5 though):

1. You cannot get what you desire by thinking about the opposite. No one ever got rich thinking about poverty, no one ever became healthy by thinking about disease. So we should focus on what's good in our lives. (Positive thinking motto)
   
2. Feel grateful. This brings you in alignment with the forces of the universe. Or, if you're not impressed by this occult stuff, it makes you happy to focus on the good things you have. It also makes you seem kind. That's always a boon!
   
3. Make every act a success. If everything you do - no matter how small! - is a little success, you can't fail to lead a successful life. Everything you do is either a success or a failure. It's either efficient, or a waste of time. These little successful acts can lead to great wealth.
   
4. Impress the thought of increase on every interaction. When you deal with people, try to make your actions beneficial to them. You're going for a win-win situation. People will be drawn to you, when they get this feeling of increase from you. Of course, don't let them take advantage of you, that's something else altogether.
   
5. Prepare to receive what you want. It's not enough to wish for something in your life, your job is to make sure that you're ready to receive it when it comes along. There's no point wishing for a Mr. Right when you're still with a man you don't love, right? If your Prince Charming came along, you wouldn't be able to be with him anyways.

I've learned a lot from this book, and I hope you will too. You can download it for free (it's so old, there's no more copyright on it!) here.

Let me know what you think, or if you've read it before, or if you've read 'The Secret', or seen the movie, or heard about it and think it's rubbish...

5 Minute Savings

Picture by RAWKU5

I like money. I'm not afraid to say it. I love being able to feel secure and knowing that if I really want something, I could buy it. I love looking at a saving's account, and seeing the amount increase. I love getting paid in big wads of cash when we do private teaching in China. In short, I like the green stuff (although the red ones are the ones to get here!).

Having said that, I don't often think about money. I have no need to, since I don't have to worry about it. That is because we've been both lucky (finding jobs) and careful (don't buy too much we don't need). What I do think about, is how to save up little bits for future plans or emergencies.

While thinking about what next to write for this blog (as I do most days), I thought of how 5 minutes could be all you need to set up a fund of savings for the future.

You could do this two ways: you save 5 minutes per day, or 5 minutes per hour.

Both are based on the same calculation. Think of how much money you make per hour (on average, or exactly) and divide that by 12. That way you'll know exactly how much you make in 5 minutes. You could set this amount aside, or multiply it with the amount of hours you work in a day, and set that aside every day. 

Saving a certain amount of money every hour, day, week or month, is a great way to save. You have a guarantee that your savings will keep growing, and it doesn't feel like you're taking big sums all at once. 

Some ideas of what you could save for? A trip you'd like to take, a new computer you don't really need, a trip to an expensive restaurant, a special gift, ...

5 minutes of an hour is about 8%, if that's easier to calculate. You could up it to 10% if that's easier, and say you work 6 minutes out of each hour for your savings.
Keeping in mind you're working for yourself, and paying yourself (and not your grocery store or bank) for the time you work, can be a great motivational force.

What would you save for? Do you have a piggy bank or something similar?