For some, living paycheck to paycheck is the unfortunate norm, while others are living comfortably, but have enough disposable income for some play time. In either case, those people tend to look at the U.S. dollar and see George Washington’s stern mug as holding the value of just what it says, $1.

In this expanding global economy, the value of your money is not actually what it says.

What is your income really worth? Have you actually sat back and looked into what you are being paid with and if that form of payment is what you want to keep around?

With shopping comes the preference to make purchases from anywhere with the lowest cost, and those U.S. dollars you spend might not be getting the bang you desire for your buck.

For years now, the U.S. dollar has traded at a value less than the euro, and a number of other countries’ currencies. At the time of this article’s writing, 1 euro is equivalent to US $1.29, according to Bloomberg.

But those values and others are likely to have some interesting fluctuations in days to come, due to some announcements of currency plans from the countries of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa); the challenges of funding from various E.U. members, such as Greece and Cyprus; and, arguably the most interesting of the factors, the Bitcoin.

And the influence doesn’t sit solely with what I’ve listed.

The value of each country’s currency rests on the trade value, inflation, interest rates and projected/proposed investment plans of the whole of activities of each country across the world — some to much greater degrees than others.

This amounts to currency exchange being, arguably, the world’s greatest and largest investment market.

Despite that, when the average Joe looks at his or her paycheck, it is unlikely they take much time to consider whether those hundreds of dollars are buying them the same quantity as someone else buying the same items.

With a growing number of online shoppers, and an increase of businesses offering online sales and delivery — say hello to a likely soon-to-come battle between Amazon and Wal-Mart — the cost of an item has become very relative.

For the more savvy Internet shoppers, anything you want to buy can be purchased for a cost less than what most people pay, simply by buying from sites that are not at the forefront of search engines or well-known in advertisements.

The business behind those sites are often not located in the United States. This makes the value of the U.S. dollar important for those purchases because the cost can dramatically increase or decrease depending on the state of that country’s currency value.

Buying from the international section of Ebay, sellers from China, for example, can get you a lot of electronics for dirt cheap — sometimes cheap as dirt, quality-wise, as well — compared to buying from Dell or Apple or what-have-you.

Now consider if you are a seller instead of a buyer. How do you want to be paid? You don’t actually have to keep all your money as U.S. dollars if you don’t want.

About a year ago, I learned about an interesting Internet currency and decided to follow it and what might be influencing it. Enter the wild and seemingly highly volatile world of Bitcoins.

Bitcoins is a decentralized digital currency. It is maintained by peer-to-peer internet activity. Explaining all the intricate details and functions here would take too long, so look it up.

Once you begin to understand it, consider the value. Bitcoins can be used to buy whatever you want on the Internet, the same as any other currency.

You can even trade whatever currency you have for Bitcoins without needing an outside financial institution; you can do it from home. 

There are approximately 11 million Bitcoins in circulation as of March 2013, according to Blockchain. The value of a Bitcoin was averaged at $78 U.S. as of the time of this writing, according to Bitcoin Watch.

Bitcoins started 2013 at a value of only $13.50. Yes, that is a massive currency value change, but as more markets go global, so too do currencies become more and more tied to world events of small and large magnitudes.

Like anything making tremendous gains, the possibility of the bubble popping is a likelihood. Bitcoins could almost crumble in a matter of a few weeks. 

But Bitcoins serve another important function: They serve to give people a stark example of how influential currencies can be or can be influenced in a modern and interesting way.

The long and short of this all is that though you probably don’t have the funds, or time, to get into currency investment, you can at least try to make your money carry a greater value personally by knowing where and when to make purchases.

You do so by paying attention to events in the world and learning about how those events influence markets and economies.

Good luck with all your investments, be they in a local deli’s sandwich, to an online discount, to Wall Street and beyond.

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Gabriel Stoffa is a graduate student in political science from Ottumwa, Iowa.