Should I pay in their currency or mine? Should I sell in their currency or mine?

Problems
The shop has an article for twenty something, or 200 something in their currency. How mush is that? When they ask if I want to pay in their currency or mine, what should I do?

Answers
I used to like to have prices converted into sterling from, for example, Swiss francs or Euros.

I wanted to be sure that when they added on the tax they hadn't changed the sum from 20 to 200 without my noticing. (I would be more alert in my own currency). I wanted to be able to check
easily what I had paid when I got my bank statement later.

Sometimes local money has alarmingly high sounding amounts. Or I'm not sure of the rate. It's a good idea to check the exchange rate before going shopping.

type it out.
Write it in the back page of your diary or the inside cover, or make a book cover for your diary from a piece of A4 paper from a printer. Write or print the exchange rates and a sample of prices - especially good deals. Set your own budgets for everyday items and splurges.

For example -
coffee = don't pay more than £2.50 ... euros / ... US dollars.
lunch, two courses including drink, tax and service - don't pay more than ........ their currency ............ Euros .............. my currency.
last night dinner - don't pay more than £40 / ............euros including drink, coffee, tax and service.

Book I am selling - ask for .. US dollars / Singapore dollars / eruos. It cost me ... for printing and postage. Don't let them offer less than .......

Bus from hotel to airport costs ... dollars and takes half an hour
Taxi from hotel to airport ........ dollars and takes fifteeen minutes. If taxi wants more than ... dollars take the bus.

Gold jewellery
gold price is ............
add for workmanship / design ....
don't pay more than ......... for a bracelet ......... necklace ....... ear-rings

Wine costs .......... in supermarket in the US /UK /Europe /Asia  half bottle ...............
My duty free allowance is ..............
Don't pay more than .......... their currency or ......... my currency at the airport.

Silver 925 jewellery at home costs
£... for a ring from ....
£ .... for a bracelet on ebay
...... for a ..... on ebay ........

NOTE TO YOUR TRAVELLING FAMILY OR FRIENDS
Buy for yourself / buy for me as a gift / buy for me and I'll reimburse you
I am willing to buy if it's  less / same price / 10% more / twice the price if I fancy something

Advice to spouse / family member or colleague
Pay what they want / remember to bargain
Please buy me a souvenir if it's less / same / only 10% more / really nice - please send me a photo and price on what's ap and I'll text back 'yes buy' or no don't buy
Don't pay more than ............. Euros

Pay ..... shipping and ........insurance

Carpet or Rug Tansport Story
I didn't trust the factory or the shipping services to send me a small carpet back from a Shanghai factory where I bought an old, slightly dirty and stained carpet. They rolled it up and folded it expertly and tightly with their handy wrapping. It went back with me to my hotel in the car we'd had for the day. (A friend's husband had a car and chauffeur from work all day - best day of my life!).

By the time we got back, my husband was home to help carry it upstairs. So no need to find a porter nor trust a porter to disappear in the porter's lift with my precious purchase.

My husband wanted to unwrap it and see what I'd spent all the money on. "No, no, no! I'll never be able to get it back wrapped up as compactly! I've a photo of it."

"Uh-huh. Very nice."

He reflected. "Are you sure what they gave you is the item you photographed? What's in the package?"

"Yes. It's what I bought. I stood over it the whole time. Three of us carried it downstairs to the car."

"Good. Now we need something to protect it in transit and get it on the plane."

We tried all our suitcases and none of them fitted. We measured up and bought a large suitcase, the right shape. We took my rug home as hand luggage.

Back home, it unfolded fine. A nice design, good colours, reasonable price, a bit stained. After lots of work, three applications of carpet stain remover, drying out, trying again, the stains came out. A frayed corner went under a piece of furniture. Success.

I had paid half cash, and because I didn't have enough with me, the rest on credit card. At least the credit card charge would be halved.

Finally, the bill came for the credit card amount. Only half the total cost of the item, because I had paid part cash.

Currency
Back to the vexed question of currency. You think the price is a bargain, or the same as home but you like the item. Or a bit more, but it's a must have. Ask them to change to your currency?

However, Natwest bank emailed me (in July 2018) that paying in local currency is usually cheaper, because the shop or other business where you buy sometimes does not give a favourable exchange rate.

If you have a note of exhange rates or prices, make sure you note the date on the page, or throw away the old one and print out the latest prices. The price of gold can go up and down. The price of a currency against the US dollar or Euro or Pound Sterling can change.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

French and English Mustard, Museum and Shops in England, France and the USA

Colman's Mustard jar. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
What's the difference between French and English mustard?

Answer
English mustard is stronger. That's a surprise isn't it? You would expect the French mustard to be stronger, the English mustard to be a poor watered down imitation. But no, that is not the case.

Who Hates Mustard?
If you hate mustard, think again. Don't only provide it for other people, members of your family, parents or grandparents, neighbours, friends, visitors, customers. You are missing out on the flavour enhancing properties of mustard.

If you are lucky, and visit England or an English restaurant, or even a hot dog stand, you may find that you are given a hot dog with a mean, small amount of mustard. This is good because it means you gradually learn you can tolerate a tiny amount of mustard and actually grow to like it.

Learning To Like Mustard
If you don't like mustard, you will be glad to know that the French mustard is less of a shock to your tongue and tastebuds. It enhances your perception of the flavour of your meat or food.

As a child I hated mustard. Growing up in England, we always had English mustard. As a child I was attracted by the colour. I took a large blob. I sucked it into my mouth. What a shock!

Years later I learned that French mustard was milder. I discovered from an aficionado that you don't use mustard liberally like a s a u c e. You can spread it thinly on the bread over hot dogs and sausage sandwiches and meats. Then it does not overwhelm. Like salt, a little is good, enough to add a piquant bite and enhance the flavour.

What a discovery. What a delight!

You would think that English mustard would be made in England and French mustard would be made in France. One day I looked at a mustard pot label and found that my assumption was wrong. I could only assume that a large mustard company had bought up in another country and expanded its big and successful business.

Mustard in England comes in little pots with yellow caps. It seems a shame to throw them away.

The Mustard Moral
The moral of the story is, too much mustard can be too much of a good thing. Many people take too much mustard and end up leaving lots not he plate. It is often said, quoting a mustard manufacturers, that th mustard makers make their money from the amount of mustard left on the plate!

To save money, and shopping trips, and persuade somebody new to mustard to like it, be sparing in the serving. It's not being mean, it's being sensible. You can add more later.

How long should you keep mustard? The back label of my English mustard pot tells me after opening to keep it in the fridge for up to 3 months. The label also reveals that what I think of as a family firm has been bought up by one of the big boys, Unilever.

Other mustards are made by own labels such as Marks and Spencer. Mustard and Dill sauce.

Saving Mustard Bottles
Americans are great at recycling. I subscribe to several recycling and craft sites. Every now and then I discover or re-discover a post showing what you can do with plastic caps from pots.

You can make traffic light signals for the house - showing that people are in or out. You can make a decorative patenred board for the wall of a restaurant or bathroom or kitchen or children's room or conservatory. You can used the tops embedded in a wipe clean table top for a conservatory or garden or sell it at a craft show as a novelty for sisters or pubs.

Bottle Vase
I use a small mustard bottle for a miniature vase when I have cut a rose stem short so that the rose is too small for a large vase. A small mustard bottle makes a container for a huge rose flower head in the centre of a table when you don't have space for a large vase.

You would want to keep the label if you imagined that your pot would eventually be in a museum of items from this century.

If not, you can move the label.






Recycling Caps
You can put plastic caps into a recycling bin but it seems such a shame not to use those perfectly formed circles. What can they make? Table tops. Magnets. String and cap curtains.

Home Made Mustard
I used to be shy about taking too much mustard in a restaurant. I did not want to waste it. I thought that a mustard pot is quite expensive if every customer takes a spoonful. Than I was in a gourmet restaurant and asked about the mustard. The waiter called the manger who told me that the restaurant made their own mustard.

Afterwards we diners discussed it. I asked, How to they do that? Do they grow their own mustard and cross in a window box and dry the mustard seeds and grind them up? Surely not!

My companion replied, "No. They probably buy mustard powder in bulk and mix it up themselves. That was it is fresh and doesn't dry up and go off and get congealed and contaminated by the customers' cutlery."

When you are in a gourmet restaurant you may be told that they make their own mustard.

Mustard Factory Tours
You can visit mustard factories and mustard factory shops in England and France.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186342-d318638-Reviews-Colman_s_Mustard_Shop_Museum-Norwich_Norfolk_East_Anglia_England.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187109-d3376808-r233211898-
https://www.colmans.co.uk/our-history
La_Moutarderie_Fallot-Beaune_Cote_d_Or_Bourgogne_Franche_Comte.html
https://uk.pinterest.com/explore/plastic-bottle-caps/

Mustard Pots
You can buy mustard pots at the mustard museum shop in Norwich. Many department stores have sets of condiment contains, paper, slat and matching mustard pot in ceramic or silver. See and bid for a new or vintage sterling silver mustard pot with a hole in the side of the lid and a matching little silver spoon on ebay.

American Mustard Museum in Wisconsin
You can see many mustard pots and buy them on line from the Mustard Museum in Wisconsin, USA. If you are in the USA, the museum is free. Something different.
https://store.mustardmuseum.com/category/mustard-pots?display=list
Mustard day is August 5th, 2017!

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to posts.

Travel expenses log - how to record miles and kilometres on trips

I just spoke to a book keeper who told me how to log travel expenses.

Log Book
You buy a travel log book from a stationers, which will be available on line if it's pouring with rain and you want it delivered overnight, though possibly cheaper if you have a loyalty card. (Does Rymans in the UK have one ? I thought they were more expensive but I think my colleague has a loyalty card which gives about 10 per cent off. You might also try W H Smith.) You might get free delivery from Viking or Staples or Amazon if you make up an order of a minimum amount and/or belong to a premium scheme).

Mileage Record
Each time you take a journey, for example, to buy stuff for your business office or rental property, note down the mileage at the start and end of the outward journey. Remember to note the return journey.

Setting Trip counter
This means knowing how to set your trip mileage - not doctoring the total mileage or your car! The first time you do this, or when collecting the car from the garage salesman, ask to be shown how it's done. Or sit down with the car handbook and stick a post-it on the page. Or photograph it in your phone.

Oops - I forgot
It's tempting to forget at the destination. You rush into the shop before it closes. You don't want to run up higher parking charges by delaying. You forget.

So you would think that afterwards you could just mark your setting out point. Note your reach home point and halve it.

Then copy that number any time you forget, or do a one way trip. When you get home (to your home, home office, or office) run out and check the final mileage.

Phone Records
If you are in a great hurry, and remember to do it but don't have time, it might be quicker just to photograph the mileage with your handphone. Then note the miles or kilometers in the logbook later. The picture has the date as well as the photo of the mileage.

Outward and Return Journeys May Differ
You would think each half of the round trip would be the same. So if you forget to note the return the first time you could simply take the number of the end of the outward journey and add the same number of miles. Just find the mileage from the AA route.

You might also note the numbers and find they differ and wonder if you have made a mistake. (Or if you are paranoid, you night wonder how to explain that to the boss and tax man.

However, with one way systems in and out of the car park and around the city it might be different. The same goes for long journeys with all those slip roads to enter motorways.

It saves time and thought if you ensure you log every time. So on your first, second / next journey to the same destination make sure you keep a log!

Where is the log book? You need to have a place for everything and everything in its place. The log book could be kept in the car.

What if the car is stolen or in an accident? You might wish to take a photo with your mobile of every log or every page.

You probably want to list on the columns:
Date ; start mileage; end mileage' total; cost at 35p per mile (or the current allowance for petrol and war and tear to your car according to the date of the tax return and the country); reason for journey (generic information for tax office but maybe in bracket another detail to be sure you have not forgotten any journey) such as

Buying stationery (for office)
Buying furniture for property (note which number house or flat if you have several, eg flat 1 New York/London; House 216 Spain/Mexico)
Meeting agent/tenant/plumber
Delivering keys/duplicate keys to
Delivering furniture to rental property
Delivering furniture/desk to office
Attending training course to learn
Teaching training course to staff
Teaching training course for income
Visit factory/warehouse (Homebase, City Branch) to source/research bathroom fittings (small white out of stock)

Accounting For Multiple Similar Journeys
The first time I did this I could not work out six months later why I had visited the same place twice to make one purchase of taps or matching lamp shades. When I saw the item was out of stock (even though I had phoned in advance, but could not have the item reserved) I could see why I had made two trips.

Logging is extra work, time, but saves you time at the end of the year. If the tax office ever queries your figures, you have the evidence and can answer quickly and confidently.

Yearly, Monthly or Weekly Records
The book keeper says if you keep all your records in mostly sections, that is easier. I know people who have to make claims on a weekly basis from their employer. This also means you have less work to do and are less likely to forget.

Xero
You might want to load up your records to an inbox on Xero (a record keeping system online), then later move the records into the relevant category / column needed by the tax office.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.