Latest Posts

What to do: When you struggle taking the first step.

Published by

I have nothing to sell here. But this is my experience when struggling to take the first step in life and maybe sharing it with you is helpful for you, too.

Bear with me because to start with all I have is this one liner. It might sound a little pathetic and not very profound but here it is:

If you struggle to take the first step then just skip it! Sometimes life simply doesn’t work linear. You probably think this is stupid. Here are a few examples when it worked for me:

Example #1 Reading Greek Tragedy. I started Antigone by Sophocles several times and each time just couldn’t get past the first few pages, my eyes rolling back with boredom. But some people I admired spoke highly of this play (the book is written as a play for the stage). Before giving up on reading I opened the book one last time and skipped the first few pages. I know you aren’t meant to do that, you can’t possibly be a serious reader, this probably means I am not educated and cultured enough… I blew those thoughts away and read. I was gripped. I chanced on an early passage that captivated me. I read the book cover to cover in a weekend. And started it from page one immediately after and re-read the entire play once more. To this day I love Antigone and how timeless it is, how poignant it remains relevant no matter what decade or century we are in. Skipping page 1,2,3 was the right decision.

Example #2 Emigrating. You can’t move to England because you don’t have rich parents. The assumption was I should first go to university or get an apprenticeship, then get a job, then save up and then take a vacation in the UK. Maybe, and just maybe then I could look for a job in the UK and relocate. Maybe. I was 19 and didn’t listen. I moved to the UK with a suitcase, a guitar case and a duvet, taking a long distance bus. I remember arriving in London Victoria with my belongings and waiting for the bus that would take me to Liverpool, the place I moved to. Acting now and skipping steps 1, 2, 3 was the right decision.

Example #3 Doing a Postgraduate Degree in London without enough money. You can’t move to London and accept the offer of a lifetime (a postgraduate degree program at the university of my dreams) because you can’t afford to live in London. Maybe you can apply for scholarships and go next year. But what if next year this opportunity won’t be available or my financial situation the same. You get the idea, I went. It worked out. Was it easy? NO, but it was the right decision. I once again skipped the official first step.

Times I listend to advice of taking life steps in order and how that worked out for me:

Example #4 Writing for a newspaper I love. You can’t write for us because you don’t have a degree in journalism and you are only 19 years old. Get back in touch when you have been to university. Working with Amnesty International: You haven’t been to university, we don’t think you can provide value. In hindsight I now know I could have contributed a lot if only somebody had said: “Well, how about this: Write a series of correspondences about your experience as a 19 year old moving from your home city that you love to live in England, but we can not guarantee that we can pay you but we will take a chance on you because how inspiring and bold of you to leave Germany for the unknown future in England.” or “We at Amnesty International haven’t unfortunately got a big budget right now but why don’t you come in for a work experience to see what we do in the office and perhaps we will find an aspect of our work that you could then stay on and get paid to help with.”

Example #5 Starting a Family. You can’t have a child until you are financially secure. In short: due to an unexpected long-lasting illness I missed my fertility window. I now will never have a child of my own, no matter how ready we are. I am grieving for this life I now will never know.

These are not the very best examples, I am typing them as I am standing at the kitchen counter, trying to persuade myself to take another 1st step and feeling unable to.

The things in my life I regret and mourn are the times I believed that if I can not take step 1 right now then I am not permitted to take step 2 or 3.

Then there are 1st steps that are different. The first step when you are feeling demotivated, perhaps sad, down, flat, out of self belief. What even is the first step and is it enough to take it? Sometimes you might have to jump right into the deep end. No matter if ready or not, no matter if you prepared the first step or just skipped the first 10, no matter if what you do won’t be particularly great. You’ll learn something! Sometimes it turns out a waste of time because it really is too haphazard, but I argue that if it helps you get moving, even if your train rolls off into the wrong direction, correct course as you are in momentum.

It’s worse to just sit and be stuck in the mud of life, fear, doubt…

Is it possible?

Is it crazy?

I better hope it’s crazy.

But will it feed me?

Well sitting here isn’t feeding you either.

But…

Just go, do it. Do anything but allowing this doubt to consume you indefinitely.

How many years has it been now since you first had that idea? plan? wish? ambition?…

Find a way.

If you are hungry either way then you might as well have tried.

Perhaps better to be a failure who tried than one who didn’t.

If you are short of a skill or two then please check these places for learning:

  • Skillshare
  • Udemy
  • Lynda.com
  • Youtube (but don’t get lost in there!)
  • Coursera
  • Masterclass
  • there are more out there

P.s. you may be able to tell, writing this today was a way for me to take a step. If you do want to support me then you could subscribe or press like buttons, use links on my website to sign up for things that interest you… I am also grateful if you would like to shout me a coffee or lunch:

My Referrals / Recommendations

Published by

Helping me help you.

If you use the links on this page to sign up for something I am recommending I will get a peanut in currency, this helps me to pay for the website costs and if anything is left over I will most likely buy groceries.

(I am only recommending what I have used and found helpful/useful/good or am serious about trying myself)

Here are my recommendations / services and websites that I use myself:

Submit your photographs to the stock website Shutterstock and offer your images for sale to be used for a variety of purposes (websites, blogs, magazines and more.) You will be paid different prices depending on the file size you upload, quality and purpose of use. A print publication purchasing the rights to use your image for a full spread page in a magazine will pay you more than a small personal blog only purchasing useage right to a thumbnail. If you use this LINK and upload images, have them approved AND they sell then I will, at no cost to you earn 4 cents per image accepted.

More links coming shortly. Please leave a comment or send me a message if you have any questions.

Questions about big change decision making.. (#2)

Published by

For whom it is a useful mental image, perhaps it helps to channel Tarzan swinging from one vine to another in the jungle. Or less politically problematic: A circus act. Letting go of the swing to be caught by the hands of the next swinging trapeze artist requires a tremendous (educated and rehearsed) leap of faith. Do you dare to let go of the old before you can firmly grasp the new, while hoping that you can reach the new just in time before the uncomfortable fall from the heights into (hopefully) the safety net?

Well enough of the hypothesizing. I am in the process of preparing to climb the circus ladders to begin the act of swinging the one swing I know I already can reach (the current and old) and then summon the courage to swing strong and let go…

and accept either the fall or emerge victorious on the next swing, or caught by the hands of change.

I just said less cryptic and stayed just as cryptic. Well suffice to say: Change is extremely hard and so is choosing between the old, current and as yet undefined new.

When did you last have to confront life changes with the courage of a lion?

How to look at indecision differently – maybe

Published by

Are you also finding yourself nearly paralysed by the stress of big decisions? We have a few existentially monumental decisions ahead of us, and we have known for a long time that we have to make these decisions. And yet, week after week turned to month after month of not being able to decide.

Why aren’t we able to pick which decision to run with? Why are the options paralysing us? I think it is perhaps in part poverty mentality. Being fearful of that there won’t be the option to change the choices we make now, the path we choose now. Being fearful of being stuck with whatever we settle on. (Of course you should ask yourself as we do: “What would be so bad about sticking with the path we choose, won’t it bring new experiences and opportunities of it’s own? Things we can’t even guess yet until we make a choice..”)

For us choice and the fear of once we have chosen having no more choice is tightly wound up with out sense of freedom and simultaneously with, as I said above, poverty mentality.

If you (we) didn’t have poverty mentality choosing should be simple. Just choose now and change later. It’s the fear of having every other option taken off the table that seems to paralyse and make it impossible to decide anything and instead waste months looking at the menu.

Speaking of menu.

How do you go grocery shopping? Do you walk into your favourite supermarket and feel paralysed by the options of ingredients, unable to decide which to buy because if you don’t buy the other ones then you won’t be able to cook the other possible dishes? No, of course you don’t experience the choice of groceries and goods in this way. If you are anything like myself then you allow yourself to be inspired and feel joy at loading your basket. Even if some of the items in your basket are in there purely for inspiration and want, not because they have a very specific purpose. However You go grocery shopping, it probably is not with the fear of never being able to return to select ingredients for a future meal. You know and trust that the supermarket will be here next week and you don’t have to feel the burden of having to make decisions for the rest of history right now. You can take it one grocery shopping trip at a time.

Life..

Can’t life be more like buying groceries? The choices that are paralysing us, you, me, them, anybody, should be joyful opportunities, not evidence that we should fear and stress the gravity of life. Maybe age plays a part.

Should we talk about this another time? Age and how it influences the lightness or gravity of our choice making.

I don’t claim to have arrived at a conclusion or prescription. But consider for a moment: could your choices be more like available goods on the supermarket shelf, could you enjoy choosing and imagining what you can do with these ingredients.

What are the ingredients that you have available to select for your future life?

We have Biiig heave life-choice-groceries to choose between. I won’t pretend that I have my fear of choosing under control. But I’ll try and think of what we could do as an adventure and I’ll try and not let age be an excuse for giving up. What would I choose if I was 20, 30 or just turned 40? Should I make a choice based on what I might choose in 20 years from now?

Nobody knows where we will be then, metaphysically, historically speaking and in our personal case also: geographically speaking.

Summary:

Treat life choices more like your favourite grocery store experience. Be excited about what is on the shelves. Don’t be afraid of the possibility of empty shelves tomorrow. It could happen but in all likelihood the shelves will still be stocked when you are done with what you pick today and want some fresh choices.

We can have almost everything but definitively not all at once.

(My absolute beginner – of all ages – series of articles of ‘How not to stay poor and instead make money online & with the gig economy’ will continue soon. Check in soon if this is something that interests you. I have nothing to sell at this point but may in the future.)

Where do dreams live? (journal of an emigrant)

Published by

Having experienced life on different. continents, having become familiar with different life perspectives I think I may have a little bit of an idea of where dreams may still be found alive, even in 2020.

I often find myself questioning my own wisdom of having chosen this peripatetic life abroad, ever more removed from my native language and the culture of the place that I am from. Moving away at first seems like something that is always reversible. After all, all that seems necessary is a ticket home, right? But as that cliche saying goes: You can never step over the same river twice. And as you can’t revisit the same river you will also never be able to return home. Not the home you left because you will have changed and the place you once belonged to, too, will have become another.

The people you leave behind remain on their respective paths, while you have catapulted yourself out into the stratosphere of difference. How do you return from that? From having seen the world, not just seen it but having become a part of it, the wider world, not the localised experience of the world.

Your, or perhaps I should write this in the first perspective, my comprehension of what is and what isn’t, what is possible and what impossible have all changed beyond recognition. If I was to meet myself circa 1994, my mind would be blown, but then again, perhaps it wouldn’t. I think if you have the power of being a dreamer then everything becomes imaginable. If I met my future self back then in the past, I think I would be able to understand this me of this 21st century.

Less pondering about time travel.

Who do you become when you leave the place that your friends stay behind in? Can you go back? I don’t think you can? I think once you become an emigrant you will forever stay foreign no matter where you will go. Even when you ‘return’, you will return as a foreigner to the place that once thought it knew the entirety of you. Maybe all this says is that we each are unknowable.

No, I think once you experience so many different world perspectives you become a little bit suspicious to your old friends. Is it a kind of envy? Or a kind of pity they feel for you, having estranged yourself? Maybe it’s a bit of both.

Maybe another question I should ask myself is this: Do I want to return? What is the price of return? What is the definition of return? Return to the old? I don’t think so. Who could bear to return to their old self, the self that since their time of departure experienced so much?

What does a returnee bring with them?

Questions?

Answers?

And why is it that it seems as if one’s adventures hold so little interest to those we return to? I have noticed this many times, how I would go on a journey, return to my respective home and find nobody really cared all that much to hear what the world outside looked, felt, smelled or tasted like. Why are we so disinterested in other people’s adventures? Is it lack of time?

I always felt sorry for the memories that I gained but that found no eager ears and eyes upon my return. Imagine all those memories, sitting in the crevices of my synaptic folds and wondering why they only matter to me, who experienced them. Why is it of so little interest how I watched the water buffalo get a wash with a sponge and a bucket of water, by the side of the street in Mysore, Southern India?

Maybe it was my choice of presentation? Maybe I never tried enough to share these small memories that felt so wonderful. Maybe my list of adjectives wasn’t evocative enough. Quite possibly.

Maybe the memories got stuck in transit not for lack of interest but because I didn’t realise that the medium I chose to convey them wasn’t quite the right one.

Dreams. Don’t you find, too, that it’s been a while since they felt possible? Why is that? When did we all stop even having time to remember our dreams? What are your dreams? What do you dream about? Do our dreams dwindle simply by the reality that the amount of future ahead of us depletes as we age? Is that a thing? The older we get the less entitled we are to foster dreams?

Dreams definitely relate to time. When most of our daily time is taken up by the countless tasks that are required for our daily survival, how can we dream. But if we don’t dream about anything nor for anything then what kind of life is that.

Dreams live where there is time and time is where we make it, take it, insist on it. Having time has a lot to do with choice and that’s a hard sell if you were to tell me this while I am merely surviving. If somebody was to tell me these are your choices I would have to hit them. Nobody purposely chooses a dreamless life. And I don’t believe that everybody has choice. But a lot of people do but don’t acknowledge it.

Excuse me for all this pondering, but I declare dreams to be alive EVEN and especially in 2020, because we need them. Many dreams may be in ICU and hanging by a thread but it IS time to continue dreaming and living some dreams once again.

The neurotic ticking off destinations travelled to is probably not that good a dream to pursue, but what is wrong with some dreams being quiet and small? Why do we all of a sudden feel that we can not have what we dream of?

So if I wanted to live between 2 continents, why can’t that be possible? Because it’s not the done thing? Because I have no wealth? Watch me, maybe it is possible and maybe even without burning myself out in the process.

Do you want to buy a house but have little money, maybe none? Tell me, because I think many of us can still manifest this dream. We just can’t have everything, not all at once. But if you had to pick 3 dreams, what would they be? Tell me any random ones coming to mind. I am curious.

One of my current dreams is to find something purposeful that I could do while living in Asia. I might never live this dream, but I can dream and desire it with all my heart. It’s my dream and it is a possible one. Even in my mid 40’s, why should I as a woman not be able to live such a dream if I choose to?

Another dream I currently have is to buy a house somewhere on the East side of America, maybe the Berkshires, maybe upstate New York, maybe Vermont or something up that way. Somewhere with snow in the winter and gorgeous colourful autumns (fall seasons for you American folks – remember I still am so confused between British English and American English). Why shouldn’t I be able to still manage to buy a house in America, even if I have nothing to show for my life as yet?

Another dream I have is to complete a second postgraduate degree, publish essays and photography in magazines and books and work with clients on narrative tableau vivant type photo shoots. Teach a semester or 3 at a university and make a healthy living with the photography work, with some video and Art direction thrown into the mix. Why shouldn’t a woman in her 40’s be able to do this? Society moulds us to expect our lives to be so limited. As if opportunities only existed for the younger ones among us. Is it true? Maybe but maybe even this truth has limitations, and not everybody subscribes to these.

Another dream I have is to buy a spacious place in Germany. It actually can be a small place and I would rent a separate studio for my working life, in that case a small place would feel spacious enough, as all my work materials could reside in the studio / office space (and the studio/office would be tax deductive, how practical is this section of my dream, and ultimately how simple are these dreams?)

I also have dreams that I know I can not have, and to think of them causes my heart to feel sore. And finally I have dreams that I am keeping as little secrets for myself, for now.

So where do dreams live in 2020?

In spaces where there is silence. You can not dream if you are perpetually stimulated and perpetually consuming. Dreaming is an act of creation and creation needs silence, and a part of silence is time. Create time, create silence. There dreams live.

Is there an age limit to the capacity for dreaming? I don’t think so, but I am only in my 40s. This is a question worth exploring. Are you ever too old to dream or do you (we) just think you (we) are?

p.s. As I just wrote some keywords for this journal entry I realised I didn’t even address the elephant in the room: The American Dream. Can the American dream even still exist in this time? This deserves it’s own journal entry. I think this is a huge quandary to ponder another time as it is so tied in with the politics of our times.

For my birthday I would like you to save money

Published by

Instead of receiving gifts and cards I would like you to use my referral link to sign up to Transferwise

so that at any time in the near or distant future you will save a generous amount of fees compared to using traditional banks to send money within the US or between countries from wherever in the world you are. Using Transferwise saves a lot compared to using Paypal. You can use it to send money or open a borderless bank account and receive payment to it.

It’s as simple as it sounds, or even more simple. As a birthday gift to me but also to you I would like you to sign up to Transferwise with my link https://bit.ly/2BYvvYv, especially if you get paid in USD but live in another country and are currently losing money on exchanging your USD into your own currency.

I recently came across a post of a Digital Nomad Facebook group member asking how a person based in South America can get paid in USD. The group members offered a lot of different answers but the simplest and most money saving one of them all was Transferwise. You can open a USD currency account with Transferwise even if you are not based in America. It’s worth exploring.

  • You can register with your home address.
  • For example if you are based in the EU, then this is your primary location and you first open your Transferwise borderless account with your EU address.
  • Then once this is all set up you can add a UK and US account, able to receive and hold £ and $.
  • Each account will have its own account numbers that are fully functioning and you can receive payment into your Transferwise account just like as if it was a traditional bank.
  • Please let me know in the comments if you are having troubles setting this up and I’ll try to help you out..

45 for 45 project

Published by

This is my proposal: I hope you are going to enjoy helping me celebrate my 45th birthday by being one of my 45 strangers who’ll take a joyful leap to celebrate this next big chapter in my life.

I am challenging myself to approach 45 people I don’t know to ask them to be participants in a whimsical photo project. I am hoping that a little bonus gift to myself will be that I will grow more confident in approaching strangers.

I will share the photos, possibly unedited, on my instagram page @BirgitDeubner (please leave a friendly comment there & share your photo)

If you (stranger participant) would like a free digital copy of your photo then the best way is this:

  • Leave a comment on my instagram page under your photo &
  • THEN send me your contact details in a direct message on instagram so that I know how to get the photo to you
  • (OR if you don’t have instagram you can reach out to me via the contact form here on my website.)

(Ways to receive your photo: email, WhatsApp, FB messenger and apple messages are the best options. I do NOT send sms text messages I don’t have a data plan on my phone. I only make calls using wifi. This also saves me in the region of $400-$1000 per year on cellphone fees. I recommend it.)

I commissioned an artist on Fiverr to make an illustration of Jason and Fig

Published by

I just got this little illustration made of Jason & our favourite Chihuahua. The illustrator also creates works in more pastel & girl colours. I absolutely recommend commissioning an illustration if you want to surprise somebody. The turnaround time on my order was less than a day. I am so amazed.

  • You can use my link to get 20% off your first order. I didn’t have a discount code when I placed my first order and 100% think it was worth paying full price.: https://bit.ly/2AhLcZf
Illustration, line drawing of Jason holding Fig the Chihuahua
Jason with Fig the Chihuahua

I paid $12/£10 and think that’s such a bargain. You could print your own greeting cards from your illustration, send virtual greetings to family you can’t see right now or use it for your website/social media etc. Why didn’t I do this sooner?

  • AFTER using my 20% discount link above: You can come back to click on this link to find the illustrator who created this first illustration: https://bit.ly/36B7i55

(prices vary depending on how many figures are in the image, how many colours, etc. For 1 figure it is actually JUST $7 total – at time of sharing.)

It’s so easy to place an order. I was nervous and put it off for ages, but then all it took was just 1 good photo + basic instructions. 

(I included a 2nd photo but made sure that I renamed the files to DRAW THIS ONE & REFERENCE ONLY. I don’t think he needed the second photo.)

These were my instructions: 

  • “I would like a line art drawing of Jason & the Chihuahua. You can EXCLUDE the mask if that is possible. (I am including a second photo of the Chihuahua in case it is helpful for drawing her.) Let me know if you have any questions. “

For some reason I didn’t but I could have specified colours as well. The next time I might do it like this: 

  • “If you are using colours for the illustration, please use happy pastel colours.”

That’s it. 


Dog emotion and Cognition course

Published by

Today I found out about a 7 week course that starts today, on April 14th 2020, on the evolution of dog emotions and cognition and I think you may be able to take it for free, as long as the course material is released all at once, rather than spaced out over weeks, which they often do.)

I copied the course’s syllabus below for you:

“Dog Emotion and Cognition will introduce you to the exciting new study of dog psychology, what the latest discoveries tell us about how dogs think and feel about us, and how we can use this new knowledge to further strengthen our relationship with our best friends.”

https://www.coursera.org/learn/dog-emotion-and-cognition?

Syllabus

  1. Course information: “Dog Emotion and Cognition is a course designed to introduce the exciting new science of dog psychology to any level of dog enthusiast. In learning about dogs you will be introduced to evolutionary and cognitive theory, learn about experimental methodology, see how dogs compare to other species, and even have the chance to try some of the cognitive games you learn about with your own dog. The course is a great introduction to the field of animal cognition and animal behavior but is also relevant to anyone interested in human evolution or even dog training. When you finish you will think about your dog in a new way, will be ready to apply your new knowledge, and will be prepared to take higher level classes in the evolutionary or cognitive sciences. “

2. The Paradox of a Best Friend That Evolved From Our Worst Enemy: This module will provide an introduction to cognitive psychology and evolution, while having direct application to your dog. At the beginning of each lecture, Dr. Hare will suggest an optional reading from his book The Genius of Dogs, as well as free Dognition games to play at http://www.dognition.com/mooc. Dr. Hare discusses how our evolutionary relationship with dogs is a puzzle. He describes the meaning of cognition and what it looks like with modern research on animals. Last, he discusses what Dognition is and how can be used like a laboratory for the class. 

3. How Biology Studies Cognitive Evolution: In this module, Dr. Hare describes how the internal processes of the mind are studied through experiments. He explains how animal problem solving is best explained as scientists work toward better understanding the topic. Next, he describes the ecological approach to cognition through an evolutionary lens, which involves Tinbergen’s four levels of analysis. 

4. Dogs Are Cognitively Remarkable: In this module, Dr. Hare describes how dogs are cognitively remarkable. He begins by explaining theory of mind, which, when viewed through the ecological approach, suggests that social problem solving drove primate and human cognitive evolution. Next, he describes how good dogs are at understanding communicative intentions, especially compared to apes. Dr. Hare has three hypotheses to explain the remarkable communication found in domestic dogs. 

5. Evolutionary Accidents and Survival of the Friendliest: In this module, Dr. Hare explores three of his research studies he’s done with foxes, New Guinea Singing Dogs, as well as research on wolves. He describes how early dog-wolves may actually be a product of natural selection rather than artificial selection, contrary to popular belief. He introduces a hypothesis called Survival of the Friendliest, which may explain how dogs, bonobos, and modern species evolved in contrast to close relatives, such as wolves and chimpanzees. Last, he relates the high level of social tolerance of these species to human by looking at human self-domestication. 

6. Problems That Dogs Can and Cannot Solve: In this module, you will learn about the genius of dogs. Brilliant examples of the canine mind will be explored. Dogs seem to be capable of inferential reasoning using the “principle of exclusion” as well as learning new words by imitating humans. Next, Dr. Hare discusses dog’s abilities to understand physical problem solving compared to other species (hint, this isn’t most dog’s strong suit). Last, he will discuss how dogs are not cooperative breeders, do have a relaxed social system, and are excellent hunting companions for humans. 

7. Finding Your Dog’s Genius: In this module, Dr. Hare will discuss the common myths of breed differences and what research (including citizen science Dognition data) has actually been done to understand potential differences between breeds. You will also listen to Dr. Hare debunk “aggressive dog breed” stereotypes by learning about the literature and studies that have been done on dog aggression. He poses an interesting question about the actual culprit for the dog aggression problem, which is not even a dog! Next, he will explain how important understanding dog cognition is to training strategies. Dr. Hare will discuss how, unfortunately, not all cultures love dogs, and some see them as food and pests. He suggests ways that humans can live with dogs for mutual benefit. Taking all that you’ve learned into account, Dr. Hare then discusses how Dognition is revolutionizing what we know about dogs and how beneficial it could be to your relationship with your dog as well as for science! 

8. Final Exam: The final exam covering topics from all modules.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/dog-emotion-and-cognition?#syllabus


Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

Approx. 12 hours to complete

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Croatian

How I accept payment around the world – as a self-employed freelancer.

Published by

Save money on sending or receiving money internationally (USA, UK, Europe, Japan and more).

I think almost everybody will nowadays have a Paypal account (if you don’t have one I still recommend that you get one as it opens so many side income possibilities that otherwise either remain closed or take longer to get paid for, and in some cases it can cost more money to get paid outside of Paypal.)

But moving on from Paypal for now I wonder who here reading this has opened a Transferwise, borderless account? Transferwise is a really great alternative to Paypal, depending of course what you use Paypal for. The company started in the UK, founded by two friends who wanted to create a cheaper way to send money back to Eastern Europe. At first I was quite sceptical if it is safe and spent hours googling the company and verifying that I wouldn’t be falling for an expensive hoax or scam.

The first time that I saw how much using Transferwise can save somebody was when my Spanish friend was about to return to Spain. She was in the process of closing her UK bank account and had just started a standard bank transfer between her two accounts. She must not have paid close attention to the fees before going ahead with the bank transfer and as she hit send she realised just how much money she lost in the transaction. Luckily she was able to cancel the process and reverse the charges. Next she tried Transferwise and it saved her hundreds.

I since compared Transferwise rates with the cost of sending and receiving money via Paypal and as much as I am a longtime lover of Paypal for convenience, Transferwise wins hands down and saves significant money compared to any other service that I know of.

This picture is a clickable link to Transferwise whom I recommend.

I am currently waiting to interview for a job with an Advertising company in Vienna, Austria and if I end up taking the job I will request payments through Transferwise. An additional appeal of Transferwise is that I can just hold my money in the account in the currency of origin without exchanging it for the currency of where I currently am (in my case that is America) and instead I am planning on leaving the money sitting in my Transferwise borderless account until I visit my friends and family in Germany when I’ll draw the money at a cash machine using my Transferwise debit card.

Even if I won’t draw the money out of the account in person I can choose to not exchange the Euro until I see a favourable exchange rate. I haven’t checked but I am quite sure with Coronavirus the rates are fluctuating a lot, having this borderless account will allow me to bide my time and wait for a good moment to exchange and transfer to my account in the USA or my account in the UK.

I still live between both countries but that is a story for another time.

If you think you might like to explore Transferwise’s borderless account or just use it to send money from one country to another then please use my link. I sincerely recommend them and personally have found the team at Transferwise responsive and helpful when I first opened my borderless account.

By using my link you will get your first money transfer fee free (up to £500, it may be a different number in USD, EURO, Japanese Yen etc.) I will receive a small financial perk ONLY after you have used your account to transfer and save money. The perk that I will receive comes at NO cost to you in any way but will aid me in living my life and writing future helpful recommendations.

I only recommend services and companies whom I genuinely feel strongly that they serve a positive purpose or function and if in doing so I can benefit by gaining a commission then I think that is a wonderful bonus and reward for taking the time to tell you what helped me in no small measure.

Do you have any questions?
Please use my link to sign up, ideally right away and when you first use Transferwise to send / receive money please get back to me and let me know how much it saved you. I would love to hear.

this image is here because I am probably going to use it to link this article to Pinterest, and a simple graphic might be better than just a photo of myself with a Chihuahua. I don’t know. What do you think?