Purchasing holiday money can be a stressful task if you aren't sure where to find the best rates or what, in fact, the best rates are.
Before I dive into the details, just a quick head's up. If you're looking to buy or sell currency, we compare all the exchange rates from the UK's biggest currency suppliers so you can see in an instant who is offering the best rates including any fees and commission.
To buy currency, see our Travel Money Comparison page. To sell currency, see our Currency Buyback comparison page.
Calculating currency amounts from exchange rates
Many people are put off by trying to convert exchange rates on their own, but it's actually a lot easier than you may think.
Once you get your head around it, being able to convert currency will help you find better exchange rates, and save you money along the way!
Let's use Euros as an example. To work out how much the Euro is worth in Pounds, take a calculator and divide 1 by the Euro rate (today) 1.1222 and what you get is = 0.89110675 (89p).
1 / 1.1222 = £0.89
Upon purchasing holiday money, to work out how much currency you should get for the amount you pay, you multiply the amount of money you have with the exchange rate.
So, if you have £750 to spend, you would multiply that by 1.1222, which would give you 841.65 (€841.65).
£750 x 1.1222 = €841.65
To put it simply, a rate of 1.222 means that if you spent £1 on Euros you would get €1 and 22 cents. If you spent £10 then you would get €12 and 22 cents and £100 would get you €122 and 2 cents.
Once you have bought your currency it helps if you look at each bank note and assign it a value. So a €10 note is really £9, a €20 note is worth £18 and a €50 is £45.
Doing this will help you to actually see and understand the value of the money in your purse or wallet.
If you're lucky and haven't splashed all your cash abroad, you can use our first calculation to work out how much money you would get if you converted back to Pounds.
You can do this by dividing the amount of money you have left by the exchange rate.
For example, if you had €50 left over from your holiday, to work our how much you're left with in Pounds, you would take 50 and divide it by 1.1222, leaving you with 44.5553377 (£44.55).
€50 / 1.1222 = £44.55
To put all this into context, when the Pound is strong, the Euro would cost you less than 89p. When the Pound is weak, the Euro gets more expensive.
It's as easy as that! So next time you come to buy or exchange holiday money, don't forget these simple sums to work out the right rates.
If you're looking to buy online, don't forget to check our travel money comparisons for the best rates, and the cheapest and easiest way to buy currency.