Preparing Your Finances

Cash and Cheques – What to Bring?

There’s no way that you can bring all the cash you’re going to need for an indefinitely long journey with you! For that reason then, you’ll need to bring cards, cheques and more. At any given point, you should have enough money to last you about a week. This will ensure that you won’t get into trouble if you should lose your card and you’ll still be able to get home or at least stay a few nights in a hostel.

Another tip is to keep a little cash separate and safe. For example, try keeping some in your shoe and that way, even if your things get stolen, you’ll have some cash to get by! You can also try using travellers’ cheques. These can be cashed in abroad but require ID, which means they’re useless to anyone who steels them from you. If you have life savings, then make sure it is very difficult for anyone who gets hold of your things to access them. Security is a big issue when you travel.

Bank

You’ll need to let your bank know that you’re no longer at your current address and you’ll probably want to use a parent or friend’s address instead. You also need to speak with your bank about withdrawing cash. Make sure you’re with a bank that makes it easy for you to get money out abroad and consider switching if yours carries a hefty fee.
Better yet is to get a credit card.Not only do these work abroad but they also protect you against having your cash stolen.

Because the money isn’t yours, it will be on the credit card company to chase it up! Another tip is to consider getting a PayPal card. This again gives you an extra layer of security by allowing you to shop without handing over bank details. And better yet, you’re likely to get paid by many clients online through PayPal. Thus the money never needs to even visit your bank account!

Financing

The hope of course is that you’re going to earn money online in order to finance your trip but it can also be useful to have other income streams. One, as mentioned, is to rent out your home, in which case you’ll probably want to use a property management company to handle the day-to-day administration and you’ll need a storage unit to keep your things.

You’ll likewise need to find storage if you are renting and you’re not going to have anywhere to come back to!
Another option is to take out a loan. This might seem reckless but again, the way to look at it is as spending money on what is likely to be one of the most amazing and transformative experiences of your life. It’s far from reckless or a waste. And a good option here is to get a PayPal loan!

This works very well with the PayPal card option (because you’ll be able to fill your PayPal account without worrying about withdrawing), it has zero impact on your credit rating and you will be able to pay it back out of payments you receive from clients and customers! In other words, you’ll only need to pay it back as your online earnings are working out.

You don’t need to have a big lump sum of money to go travelling like this but if you can get some from PayPal or another source, then it will free you to explore more openly and worry less about cash!

Budgeting

Finally, it is always a good idea to plan your trip and to pay careful attention to your budgeting as you do. Plot a route through the countries you wish to visit while ensuring that you’re going to be able to afford to visit them on the salary you’re likely to be earning!

Again, try looking for ways to cut cost – such as using SkyScanner to find the cheapest flights, AirBnB and Couchsurfing. There is a resource sheet that comes with this ebook and if you check that, you’ll find plenty of excellent tools to help you plot your trip and save money on the road!

Saving Money – Simple Finance
Sometimes we spend outrageous amounts of money simply because we are used to using a service or product and haven’t taken a small amount of time to stop, think and regroup our actions.

Sort out those hefty APR cards If you’re sitting on a large credit card balance it’s time you switched to a 0% interest card for a fixed period. Many cards will give an interest free period for up to 2 years. But do shop around as some cards have bigger transfer fees than others, charges are typically around 2 – 3% but can be much more so do your homework.

Cut out the overdraft fees If your accounts in the red, try a current account that charges fair fees, some will give an interest free overdraft for a period of time, as long as its kept under a certain amount i.e. 200, maybe this will give enough time to get back into the black.

Also note there is a difference between being paid bi-weekly or twice a month. When you are paid bi-weekly, you get a check every other week, on a Friday for example. Two months out of the year you will get an ‘extra’ check which means in those two months you are going to get three checks. If you plan it right, you can use that extra money towards savings or paying off debt. If you are paid twice a month, on the first and fifteenth for example, you will usually not be paid on the same day every month and you will always get two pay checks per month.

Save on your weekly shop Check out your weekly shopping needs, try looking for the special offers, 2 for 1 or buy one get one free, it sometimes feels like your spending more money but you will save in the long run. You could also try supermarket own ranges rather than the brands, sometime at much as 50% can be saved off one item. And don’t forget the money-saving voucher codes for reducing your bills online.

So, taking the same flexible attitudes lets look at something we can do to stay current with the best deals and best prices.

Compare the utility companies It’s easy to compare your gas, electricity, phone, broadband and TV on typical sites such as USwitch, or MoneySupermarket.com. Just paying by direct debit can reduce you bill, a typical saving on dual fuel for an average user can be 200 per year. Going for a combined phone, broadband and TV package could save you up to 50% or more.

Having a good handle on these three elements will help you when creating your budget. Successful budgets that work for people work best when the person is honest. Don’t set yourself up for failure by neglecting to add expenses. It will just cause you stress and problems later on.

Saving Money for Future
Nowadays life has become so fast and everything is changing so quickly that no one has enough time to respond these changes aptly. Recession is on its higher side, and in this scenario, saving a penny or two each month will definitely be a great way to have some extra cash which you can spend on something you desperately need.

In true sense, the ultimate goal of saving money is to save it for hard times or emergency. Often it happens that people make wrong use of saved money and end up in an even worse situation than their current situations. Once you decide to save money, make it clear in your mind what is the actual purpose. Only in this way you can get maximum advantage from the saved money.

Look for different ways to save money. One such way is to cut out budget fat of your day. Normally, people on their way to job or on their way to home stop for a quick doughnut or cup of coffee. Spending too much on unnecessary foods and snacks put extra burden on you. You can bring these things with you from home. You can save hundreds of dollars a year by cutting out this budget fat.

Another way to save money is through buying in-store brand of anything you can find in a grocery store. Generally there is no difference between the store s brand and the popular brands like Kellogg” or Post.” Other than that, coupons should also be of great help. Many online stores offer discount coupons on almost every non-perishables. You can save a lot by buying online than stores.

You can save a lot from electricity utility bills. The right use of electric appliances on can reduce the electricity bills significantly. For instance, by turning a light on and off as you enter and leave the room will cost you more money than leaving the light on permanently. If you leave your 75W bulb on, it will cost you only a dollar or two a month.

Computers, dryers or washers and an electric stove are considered as big electricity wasters. Don t leave your computer on when you are away or not using it. Similarly, keep the lint filters of your dryer clean to make sure that it will not consume too much of electricity. For instance, you can hang clothes in the balcony or garden to dry instead of using a dryer.

It is almost impossible to cover each and every point here. However, the above points can be taken as a guideline and you can use your common sense to look for things through which you can increase your savings than spending.