Last week, while tidying up a drawer, I found a small tin box. Inside were the leftover coins and notes from my last trip abroad: a few coins and two low-denomination banknotes, worth only about twenty or thirty yuan in total at the exchange rate.
When I exchanged money back then, I thought, “Better safe than sorry.” But I barely used any of it the whole trip—paid for meals by card, scanned a code for taxis, and even the roadside stalls accepted tap-to-pay. I only took out cash once to buy a bottle of water. The coins I got in change stayed in my pocket until I got home and tossed them into the tin box.
I used to feel uneasy going out without cash. Now it’s the other way around: carrying cash and not being able to spend it is the norm. Coins are the most awkward. Their denominations are so small that exchange counters at the airport won’t take them. When I got home and tried to exchange them back into yuan, the bank said it wouldn’t accept small change—especially coins. So now they’ve become a box of “souvenirs”: no use keeping them, but it feels wasteful to throw them away.
Thinking about it, my payment habits have changed a lot over the past couple of years. Before a trip, I check whether my card will work there and which day’s exchange rate applies, rather than heading out to exchange a wad of cash. Cash has gone from a “necessity” to a “just in case,” and that “case” comes up less and less often.
Still, I feel a little uneasy with no cash at all, so these days I only exchange a small amount for emergencies. I pay for everything else by card or phone, and if I don’t end up needing the cash, no big deal.
When you get back from a trip abroad, do you also have a box of leftover cash sitting in a drawer? What do you end up doing with it?
#出国旅行 #Payment habits
When I exchanged money back then, I thought, “Better safe than sorry.” But I barely used any of it the whole trip—paid for meals by card, scanned a code for taxis, and even the roadside stalls accepted tap-to-pay. I only took out cash once to buy a bottle of water. The coins I got in change stayed in my pocket until I got home and tossed them into the tin box.
I used to feel uneasy going out without cash. Now it’s the other way around: carrying cash and not being able to spend it is the norm. Coins are the most awkward. Their denominations are so small that exchange counters at the airport won’t take them. When I got home and tried to exchange them back into yuan, the bank said it wouldn’t accept small change—especially coins. So now they’ve become a box of “souvenirs”: no use keeping them, but it feels wasteful to throw them away.
Thinking about it, my payment habits have changed a lot over the past couple of years. Before a trip, I check whether my card will work there and which day’s exchange rate applies, rather than heading out to exchange a wad of cash. Cash has gone from a “necessity” to a “just in case,” and that “case” comes up less and less often.
Still, I feel a little uneasy with no cash at all, so these days I only exchange a small amount for emergencies. I pay for everything else by card or phone, and if I don’t end up needing the cash, no big deal.
When you get back from a trip abroad, do you also have a box of leftover cash sitting in a drawer? What do you end up doing with it?
#出国旅行 #Payment habits