I learned a few years ago about Chris Guillebeau’s $10 Rule, and realized that I had already been using a similar approach myself.
It only took me about 100 countries—I’m a slow learner—but I finally created a $10 rule for myself that has been rocking my world. The $10 rule is that when I’m traveling, I deliberately avoid worrying about most things that cost $10 or less. As I said, this makes a big difference. I actually eat three meals a day now. If I can’t find free WiFi, I’ll walk into a hotel and pay for the connection. SO MUCH LESS STRESS.
It makes perfect sense and much like a brief nap, buying a small bite to eat can have outsized results. Except I take it further, and my recent trip to Singapore reminded me of that.
The Back Story
My wife and I have traveled a lot even before we got married. But the thing that inevitably happened was that we would be hungry, or need to get from point a to point b, and I was to cheap to eat the cost of a slightly more expensive snack or a cab.
Cut to our first trip around the world, back in 2010, I was able to find a round the world economy ticket on Singapore Airlines for about $1,750 per person. It was the most I’d ever spent on a plane ticket, and I wasn’t as big into travel hacking to figure out a better way. I was, however, able to bake in a 5 day stop in Hong Kong, another 5 day stop in Phuket, a 3 day stop in Singapore and an overnight in London.
The trip went particularly well until we found ourselves dragging out carry-one through the Singapore MRT (subway). There was that awkward silence as we stood on a packed train trying to maneuver our bags to make room. I flashed back to that time we took the Picadilly line from London-Heathrow to our downtown London hotel a few years earlier. There has got to be a better way, right?
We came to find out, there was! For roughly 20 Singapore Dollars we could take a cab to the airport. Yes, it was like 3-4x the cost of the MRT, but well worth it.
And so the $20 rule was born!
It’s not just about grabbing a bite to eat if you’re hungry, or a beverage, it’s also about hassle-free airport transfers, and grabbing a cab if you’ve walked yourself out exploring, or would otherwise spend 20-30 minutes waiting for cheaper transportation.
Ever since, travel has been happier, and less stressful. In fact, my wife hasn’t given me any of those awkward looks, or worse, those periods of awkward silence. I’ve built the rule out further when we travel with parents, we pay a little more for someone to meet us at the airport, like we did on our trip around the world with my mother in law.
Conclusion
In the miles and points world, we often focus on reducing out of pocket costs to extremes, sometimes flying circuitous routes to get one more premium cabin leg (thus extracting maximum value from our points), or staying at a less convenient hotel because it’s available on points and has a lounge (aka free breakfast or evening drinks), but sometimes you can get more true value by going for efficiency, the faster and easier option rather than the cheapest.
Do you have your own version of the $20 rule?
Yup, I don’t leave the house unless I have 2 reasons/stops to make – Rule of 2 Reasons.
I like that rule! Until this moment I never realized I do that too. I actually try to get 3 reasons but in a pinch, 2 will do.
I think your 2 reasons rule makes a lot of sense. Its seldom that I ever leaving the house for less than 2, usually far more.
HA – I like Vinh’s rule ! But actually – this is an under-reported topic here in the game. There are so many penny-wise/pound-foolish people it’s ridiculous. All the MS work some people do for a negligible return is borderline stupid – yet that is the NORM, not the exception. Cheapness (not being “savvy” – big difference) is a symptom of underlying psych issues. I wish more writers would emphasize this …
Thanks Shane! Completely agree with the penny-wise/pound-foolish… I know it took me a long time to realize it!
I need to work on that rule myself as I tend to be penny wise and pound foolish. I’ve been stuck shoulder to shoulder getting crushed in a teeming sea of humanity in the dubai metro after walking half a mile in 100 degree heat dragging my luggage just because I was too cheap to pay the extra $15 or so for an uber to switch hotels and in the end by the time I get to my new hotel I am so hot and wore out all I want to do is take a shower and a nap instead of being able to just drop my stuff and go out straight away.
@James – I can only imagine walking a half a mile in 100 degree heat!
Even higher thresholds ($200?) should be ok, if you can afford them.
When my spouse and I first traveled to San Diego we didn’t have too much money so I decided to save money by not renting a car from the airport. Instead, we took a cab to a relatively modest hotel and we were to find a car rental around that hotel. Bad idea:
– the cab cost about $60
– the hotel was really lousy and our room smelled of tobacco
– using public transportation to get from our hotel to a place where we could rent a car required more than one hour
Never again 🙂
@Laurie – I could see the threshold being higher… Obviously, if you’re paying for airport transfer, it may exceed $20, but the idea is really, that if its a negligible cost, vs. the outsized value you will get from it, then go for it! It sounds like your visit to San Diego was a learning moment, too!
I follow Vinh’s rule, too.
But analogous to the $20 rule, while doing trip planning, is the time rule. After our first international trip, to Ireland and England, and having spent an unconscionable number of hours comparing literally hundreds of B&Bs, I decided that the time spent planning a trip must never exceed the length of the trip. And it’s a hard rule to keep, for me, anyway.
A couple weekends ago, I was looking for two places to stay on the north coast of Jamaica–because rooms there sell fast, for late January. I could have kept looking all weekend long, and into the next week, easily. But I stopped myself, picked my top three for each of two towns, and showed them to Husband. We decided, I booked (hotel.com through a portal, of course, paid with Arrival+ so they can be free) and was done.
Now to wait three months to wear the snorkeling gear I bought!
My wife and I have a saying when we travel. “Save when you can….Spend when you want.” We often will take be frugal with accomodations, or transportation, or even our flights. But when we finish a brunch in the Grand Cayman that costs $150.00 (totally worth it by the way) we feel it all evens out in the end. Good article.
@Brian – awesome!
all i read was: blahblahblah $150 BRUNCH! omg. that kills me. there has got to be some status where your brunch is, instead, at the late end of breakfast and… FREE! $40k spend on the Amex Hilton Surpass= Diamond. heck, gold gets breakfast too. make it a $150 dinner on the one night you don’t eat in the club lounge but geesh, brunch, hurts to even read@*
*and, yes, i don’t, i’m probably in too deep.
i agree with the $10 rule and sometimes piss myself off torturing myself (usually with transport) to save a few bucks.
my leave the house rule is 3+ reasons. this is completely a product of MS- MS on the way, liquidate the MS on the way back- if i can’t, the MS better be substantial enough to justify an ’empty’ trip back.
The brunch was AMAZING!!! I’d go back in a heartbeat. Great views, wonderful atmosphere, and mouth watering views.
http://www.luca.ky/menus/brunch-at-luca/
I have one credit card that does not earn rewards that is only used for charges of less than $10. No receipt needed. If a charge over $10 shows up on the statement, I get suspicious.
That makes a lot of sense… easy to keep track of a card if you don’t expect any charges over $10, although you are losing a minimal value by not using a no fee cashback card.
While I try to avoid invoking the rule, my rule is that if a problem can be solved for less that $200, it isn’t a problem.
I think there’s a better way to articulate this principle.
Basically, in all decisions you make while traveling (and in life, for that matter), you should be assessing the tradeoff involved. The author didn’t realize it, but in the past he was essentially paying for his “cheaper” snack or transportation by increasing inconvenience. You can always make this tradeoff, but it’s generally a bad one to make while traveling because you are costing yourself other things that are valuable as well (time, stress, energy, etc).
That’s the crux of what’s said in this article. But there’s no “$10 rule” or “$20 rule” you should follow. Instead, you should look at every situation, assess what the cost/benefit is, and ask yourself if that’s valid. Don’t let your irrational hangups get in the way, and you’ll be a better decision maker.
In the case of needing food, but having only a slightly more expensive option at your disposal? You shouldn’t look at that food and say “that’s too expensive! I’d never pay that.” You should instead simply find the mark-up they are charging for the convenience of being well located (let’s say $3 more than at a place further away). Now ask yourself, would you pay $3 to avoid having to travel to that other location right now? Remember, you get the benefit of the time gained, the energy saved, and the food right now.
So it’s not a $10 rule or a $20 rule that did this; it was merely understanding the choice that was presented to you. These choices are everywhere while you travel, and learning to make them at all levels of cost will benefit you enormously.
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