I am , again, participating in the Indie Challenge hosted by Bootsnall. Just like last year, I’d be posting an article a day, based on the question / challenge of that day.

>>you can join the challenge by clicking here

Nov 10
Managing your Finances

QUESTION 1:
How do you manage your money when traveling? What tips & tricks have you used for paying bills, keeping on top of your budget, and making sure you don’t overextend yourself? What do you find to be the best banks and credit cards for international and long-term travelers?
QUESTION 2:
If you haven’t traveled, how do you manage your money now? What do you need to get better at? What are some ways you can prepare yourself for dealing with money when you can’t go to your local bank? What bills could you get rid of before you travel, but also, think about what new bills or expenses you will need to plan for. What questions do you have about managing your finances on a RTW trip?

See the pie chart above? Ignore the Romanian (I’ve used it on my other blog in a post about…managing finances).

The “biggest pie” (35.2%) says “House”. Which means in Sept 2015, we’ve spend most of the money on home improvement . Part of that is also the “fixed expenses” (landline, internet, IPTV, mobile, water, electrical power). “Food” is the next biggest and this speaks to the fact that, when you try to eat healthy, you are going to pay quite a bit on that habit!

Many times I had to pay bills while I have traveled. If I stayed with family I was confident enough to use their computers to log onto my bank and pay the bills; if that wasn’t an option, the laptop would go with me, as I would never in my life use a public computer for this purpose.

Luckily I can pay most of my bills online (the only expense I cannot is the one related to the apartment utilities, but I can pay these ahead of time). And I always make sure to have money for my monthly expenses.

I do not live with debt, so I don’t have a credit card. We have debit cards with two different banks and I still find it cheaper to exchange money at home. That’s for short trips. For anything more than 2 weeks I prefer to use my card and take out money from the ATMs in the local currency. Luckily, my bank is pretty known in Europe so I can find where to withdraw paying less commission. And it also has some good connections with other major banks, which means I can withdraw anywhere in Europe.

I do prefer to cook at home, so even when I travel I hit the farmers markets and the stores. We do go out, but not for every meal.

I did some research and found out that I can suspend my mobile subscription for 1-3 months. Which is fine, unless I need it. Should I replace it with a pre-paid sim for the time I travel, I’d gladly suspend the subscription.

There isn’t anything I can get rid of , I am afraid. My net, landline and IPTV are bundled and if I am to close the IPTV, for example, I’d pay a lot more for internet alone. I do keep the heating OFF during the winter months when we are not at home. That saves quite a bit in cost (my cacti, however, don’t like me for that)

Having a constant stream of income is very important when I travel. That’s why I love my location-free job.So far , since I’ve been with Bootsnall, I’ve worked from: several cities in Romania, Athens, Vienna, several cities in Italy, as well as from the train, hotel room and hotel lobby.