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For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Hello traveling dancers,
I wonder if anybody has suggestions on where to keep yout money when you travel for work. I don't like putting it in the hotel room; there is no safe. There is a $10 a day charge for a safe box - don't feel like paying an extra $70 a week for my room.
Till now I have been hiding it in various places, none too imaginative, in my room. Then one time I came back to the motel because I forgot something and lo and behold therei is my manager from the club wondering around the hallway where the girls all had rooms., Well all girls were at work so he wasn't 'with' anyone. Now I'm scared that the club goes into our rooms. Even if they don't the maids certianly do.
Also, any suggestions on how I could buy a money order or draft from a bank when I'm away from home? I know I can do the post office, but next week I have to pay a $2700 bill, and I think the post office money orders only go up to $500 right? So then I would have to send 5 of them, which would be really weird right?
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Back in the days when I traveled, I kept my money in a small lock box under the spare tire in the car trunk of a car. Yeah, it is cumbersome, but that is the whole idea. To make it time consuming. Besides, out of sight, out of mind.
You may not like it but it has always worked for me.
On the question of paying bills, I now pay all my bills through BILL PAY on the
internet. As of now, all banks have one on-line. It is safe, secure, and gets
the job done.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
see if your bank has a local branch, or open up a checking account with a well known bank like chase or citibank (that is nationwide if you travel all over). they have branches everywhere
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Since I stay in backpacker dorms they usually have a few lockers in the room (one for every bed).... and this is where I store my money with a secure lock (I keep the key with me). Otherwise, I store it in my luggage bag which has a combination lock.
As for paying bills, I also use BillPay. Then again, I declare (almost all of) my earnings so if I had such a bill it is easy to use BillPay (aka BPay in Australia).
If you don't want the money tracked, then (if possible) acquire the bank account details and do a direct deposit (if a branch is located near you) instead of a money order.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Here's one of my favorite ways to stash large amounts of cash while on road trips ...
... but you don't want to be seen messing with a phony fix-a-flat can in your car trunk every single day, so ...
I've also had pretty good luck with one of these for daily use, because you can take it with you in your dance bag, into your car, or into your hotel room without attracting any undue attention ...
... I don't recommend actually taking a water bottle safe out in a club or other public place though, because somebody may be tempted to grab it simply for the water !
As to purchasing money orders on the road, this is easy to do at any US post office, WalMart customer service counter, etc. However, be aware that big money order purchases have drawn extra attention these days ... and if you attempt to purchase more than $1,000 in money orders in the same place on the same day a 'cash transaction report' will probably be sent to the IRS. When working in the same town/city I always avoided buying money orders in the same place for more than one day in a row.
Also, deliberately planning on paying bills while on the road is an ideal way to cut down on the amount of cash you have to carry around ... simply take your bill stubs with you ... go to a US post office and buy say a maximum of $800-$900 in TOTAL dollar value of money orders on any one day, with the amounts of each money order corresponding to the amount you owe on your utility bill, cell phone bill, car payment etc. Then simply make out the money orders to the utility, the cell phone company, the car loan company etc., stick them in envelopes with the bill stub, buy stamps, and mail them out right from that post office !!!
Again if you're having a killer week on the road earnings wise, be sure to pick a different place to buy your money orders every day (otherwise you run the risk of establishing a pattern hmmm this girl has walked in here three days in a row with $1000 in cash ... maybe we should stake out the parking lot tomorrow in case she comes back again with another $1000 !). Besides buying money orders, you also have the option of hitting on banks for cashier's checks made out in your own name, but keep in mind that the same IRS cash transaction reporting rules apply.
Also, don't worry about being 'weird' for sending multiple small (in the hundreds) money orders to pay a large (thousands) bill. To creditors, money is money. They're perfectly happy to receive an envelope containing five money orders which add up to the total amount due.
~
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Money orders go up to $1000 and I would definitely suggest buying them. Be sure to separate the stub and receipt from your money order immediatley and write your name and address on the money order Or the person you want to pay. I usually write them out to myself and then deposit them in the bank or mail them to myself at home.
and keep the stubs and receipts somewhere because if you lose the money orders they can be replaced or refunded.
I also have a security like container which looks like an every day product and I hide my loot in it. I have had it for years and never had a problem. I leave it sitting on the dresser sometimes and no one ever knows.
Believe me I have lost $5k before and it hurt like hell and since then I have learned my lesson about securing my money!!
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
If overseas send money home using Weestern Union - there are branches and WU agents all over the world. There is a fee, but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind!
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Spank ya ladies so much for the ideas. Honestly, I was also hiding the $$ in my car under a floor mat. Worked ok too, I thought, I just wondered if there was a better option out there.
Ok Mel, I think I will have one local post office, one local walmart... so there's two money orders.
Besides wallmart and post office, is there any other non-bank places for buying money orders that I don't know about?
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
242 Fair,
Grocery stores, convenience stores and banks sell money orders. The number of places selling money orders is in reverse relationship with average income. Poor areas have tons, rich areas have few.
An option is to open a money market account with a major brokerage firm and mail them money orders and cashiers checks. Or open a checking account with a big regional/national bank and just deposit the cash. This will not let you hide income. but this is not a tax fraud forum.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
Originally Posted by montythegeek
This will not let you hide income. but this is not a tax fraud forum.
Oh ok thanks for clearing that up for me :-X
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
Originally Posted by 242_fair
Oh ok thanks for clearing that up for me :-X
242,
I am very sorry if that came out kind of snippy, but it is my busy time at work and I was tired. I was not being accusatory but trying to keep in the vein of not getting Pryce in trouble of any kind. No one here recommends anything which could be illegal. We are trying to keep folks out of trouble and inside the law.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
I do what Mel said with the money orders. I think it's okay to go to the same place more than once if you go at different times and different people are working. I always try to give the impression that I'm some kind of administrative assistant handling money for my boss or something. Then use the money orders to pay your bills and mail money to your bank or yourself at home.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
I do what Mel said with the money orders. I think it's okay to go to the same place more than once if you go at different times and different people are working
Yes this can work, but as I said in a 'strange' city it does not pay to do anything which will draw attention to yourself or to establish a pattern which non-well-wishers might try to take advantage of. Even if you're dealing with a small town, there has still got to be one post office, one bank, and one supermarket. This allows you to hit each of them once for daily money orders, and then hit each of them again three days later. As Lena said, it's better yet to try and make the second round during a different time of day - to cut down on the odds that the same people will be present as when you first went in earlier in the week.
What you absolutely DON'T want to do is to walk into the same post office or WalMart at about the same time every single day of the week and buy another $500-$1000 worth of money orders every single day. Not only could doing so attract the attention of 'management' (which could potentially lead to a Q&A session and a 'cash transaction report' being sent to the IRS), but more dangerously it could attract the attention of would-be robbers.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
I don't think I've ever seen this one mentioned anywhere, kind of my little secret, you can make payments on a Discover Card in cash at any Sears. Don't know if that tidbit is any good outside the USA.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melonie
What you absolutely DON'T want to do is to walk into the same post office or WalMart at about the same time every single day of the week and buy another $500-$1000 worth of money orders every single day. Not only could doing so attract the attention of 'management' (which could potentially lead to a Q&A session and a 'cash transaction report' being sent to the IRS), but more dangerously it could attract the attention of would-be robbers.
I was unable to write a check to make a $3500 payment. I bought 4 money orders from the US Post Office. Because the amount was so large, I had to fill out a form, present my driver's license, verify my SS#, show a few utility bills, give them my parents' home address, and submit a DNA sample. The clerk said that it is the procedure I must follow under The Patriot Act and some anti-money laundering laws.
I bet anything that I will be audited this year.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
LIzette, are you joking???!!
As for buying Money Orders, go to a CUrrency Exchange. They all have big gaudy black and yellow signs, very easy to find. TO do a google or yahoo searh for one in a paerticular location, type in the words currency exchange and then the name of the state or city you are in.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
I was unable to write a check to make a $3500 payment. I bought 4 money orders from the US Post Office. Because the amount was so large, I had to fill out a form, present my driver's license, verify my SS#, show a few utility bills, give them my parents' home address, and submit a DNA sample. The clerk said that it is the procedure I must follow under The Patriot Act and some anti-money laundering laws.
I bet anything that I will be audited this year.
This was EXACTLY what I was talking about (although your description is admittedly a bit over the top). If you had purchased four $875 money orders on four different days from at least two different places, the automatic cash transaction report to the IRS could have been avoided.
As it is now, IRS computers will be fishing through your past tax returns to see if a $3,500 'discretionary' cash expenditure falls within the realm of plausibility compared to your declared income. The IRS will also probably pull the money order copies after they're cashed/deposited by whoever you sent them to, to see how/where you spent the money. Since you were paying off a single bill for $3,500, this is indeed likely to raise a few IRS eyebrows.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
For $3500 in money orders I would have just gone to 4 different stores to get them. Wal mart sells them for .46 apiece up to $1000 I believe. Just go to several Wal Marts or check cashing places.
I never keep all my money in the bank either. I just put in enough for bills and maybe several hundred more. You never know what could happen.
You have to be secretive about money when working as we do. Only show what you are able/willing to document.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Well luckily I walked out on that booking and came home early so it doesn't matter, I can just go to my regular bank.
But in the future I'll know not to do what the other poster did, with buying 4 at once from the same location. I hope you don't have any troubles with the report they filled on you, but sounds risky.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Quote:
Wal mart sells them for .46 apiece up to $1000 I believe. Just go to several Wal Marts or check cashing places.
WalMart, other supermarkets etc. are also bound by the anti-terrorist money laundering laws, such that they will also file a 'cash transaction report' with the IRS if you buy enough money orders to exceed a $1000 total on the same day.
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
Fuck the Patriot Act. It's convenient how these LAW AND ORDER types use 9/11 as an excuse to push through a wish list of things they've always wanted. Three cheers for Russ Feingold,the only Senator that voted against it initially. Signed, Harlow
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Re: For traveling dancers: handling $$ while you travel for work
ahaha! You are really cursing the Patriot Act because now you have to worry about geting caught for tax evasion. Damn those LAW AND ORDER people. They ruined your whole scam.