The best piece of travel advice I’ve ever heard is to pack half the amount of things that you think you need and twice the amount of money.
Whether you’re traveling for business, pleasure, or something in between, there’s no shortage of packing advice on the internet.
But what about finances? If you’re anything like me, nothing sours the idea of traveling quite like coming home to financial chaos. Unpaid bills from every day life and then whatever spending you might have done while traveling. Talk about crashing back into reality. Thankfully, I’ve found some ways to soften the blow.
Whether we are going away for a handful of days or weeks at a time, here’s my money checklist for traveling.
Schedule or Automate Fixed Expenses
Just like I was the last millennial in the universe to continue to balance a checkbook and to stop using fabric softener, I am also the last millennial in the world to automate all of my fixed expenses. A handful of our expenses are automated, especially if the balance is the same from month to month, but most aren’t. It’s like a mini come-to-Jesus moment every time I click the email notification from the water company.
That’s why it’s so important to always check statement dates and due dates and to get everything scheduled before taking a break. There’s nothing quite like waking up at two AM when you’re out of town wondering if you paid your bills. The added bonus is that there isn’t any digital paperwork waiting for you when you return.
Steps to take:
- Check that whatever you want automated is.
- Schedule anything that isn’t automatic.
- Prepay pending amounts if you don’t want to come home to new big balance.
Check-in with Credit Cards
If I must confess, I don’t do the best job keeping tabs on my credit cards. The ones I use, yes. The ones I collect, not so much. Gulp. Before you get your financial undies all bunched up, I’m working on it.
But what I do know to do is to make sure that balances are paid—or at least known—and to let your credit card company know if you will be making any usual transactions or swiping your card in an exotic locale. And if your locale truly is exotic, you also want to check in on any foreign transaction fees. Because let’s be serious. Paying to use your own money? Pass.
Steps to take:
- Figure out what credit card(s) you’re taking with you.
- Let your bank know your travel plans.
- Verify what the fees are, if any.
Plan Your Payments
When we travel to all-inclusive resorts, we are pretty big proponents of bringing cash. It is a really simple way to keep yourself and your spending honest, and it bypasses the whole need-an-ATM situation when you are looking for a few dollars to tip the bartender. But if that makes you uncomfortable, figure out what will work best for your situation.
Whether it is a debit card or a credit card, you will want to make sure that it is accepted at the specific places you intend to visit. Visa might be everywhere you want to be, but other cards like American Express and Discover sometimes aren’t.
Steps to take:
- Research your destination to see how people pay (you also want to look up tipping etiquette!).
- Determine how you’ll access money regularly on your trip.
- Consider how you might access more money in an emergency.
Suspend Service
If you’re going to be gone for longer stints of time, you can work with everyone from your cable company to your water company to talk about the benefits of suspending your service. While that doesn’t apply to utilities in the case of shorter travels, if you’re an online seller, you might want to consider putting up a hiatus notification. There’s nothing quite like having your plane touch down in Vegas only to receive a notification that one of your Poshmark listings sold.
Steps to take:
- Contact utilities, other providers, and even subscription services if you’re traveling for a long period of time.
- Decide if you want the post office to hold your mail.
- Put up vacation settings for side hustles like Poshmark.
Remember Other Extras
I admit it. Once in my life, I had to pay a late fine at the library. I suppose I could have gotten one ding in thirty-one years expunged from my record without having to pay, but I knew I was late, and I love my library. Plus, it was a whopping twenty cents. Now that we binge watch most of our TV shows via the library’s DVD collection, late fees add up fast at a dollar a day. So, I always make sure to either renew my items and make a note of the date, or I just take them back if there’s any doubt in my mind. I can wait another month to get caught up on House of Cards. Actually, I can wait forever, since I still can’t get into that show. What? I already said I’m a terrible millennial.
Steps to take:
- Check your library account (and grab some reading/listening material too!).
- Research if/how you need to exchange currency.
Final Thoughts on Setting Up a Money Travel Checklist
Beach or mountain, hotel or hostel, business or pleasure, the last thing you want to have to stress about while traveling is money. This money checklist for traveling puts my mind at ease and lets me focus on the really important parts of time away. Like food, culture, and whether or not I’m going to come home with any of those teeny tiny shampoo bottles and soaps.
So Tell Me…How do you keep your finances in order when you know you’re headed out of town for a few days or weeks or more?
Great tips! We also keep extra cash in our checking account while traveling in case of emergency.
When traveling internationally a few years ago, there was a natural disaster that interrupted power. When power came back on, the first thing we did was pull a few hundred dollars out of the ATM to have for food/lodging/transportation if needed. Credit card machines were misbehaving and we had no idea if power would go out again.
That’s a fantastic idea, Sarah! An extra cash buffer like that really would come in handy!
Good points all. I admit, I had to look up “Poshmark”. Had no idea what that was, but then again, I’m an Oldster.
To the extent possible, I’ve agreed to be paperless for all of my regular bills. This makes paying them convenient no matter where I am, and I’m rarely anywhere without internet availability (my definition of roughing it is a hotel without room service – not very FI, I know, but I deal with it.)
Completely agree on the cash thing. Especially true if you are uncertain of ATM availability or if your bank does not refund the fees. I’ve never had anyone refuse my $10 bill. My Amex, well that’s another, and longer, list.
That’s a terrific definition of roughing it, Oldster, at least in my book!
We still take a look at our budget once we’re on vacation. I think too often people throw out a sense of discipline because they’re traveling, but you don’t want traveler’s remorse!
So important! I’m so glad you added this! We always try to come up with a specific budget or spending amount for our trips. The cash thing really helps us pace ourselves. It’s too easy for me to justify swipe, swipe, swiping away on all the “once in a lifetime opportunities”. When I spend cash, I have to be a little more choosy.
So agree about calling your credit card company ahead of time if you’re going to be making unusual charges. When Jon and I were on our honeymoon, his credit card company kept canceling charges, like our plane tickets home, even though they were well below his credit limit, because why would someone be using that NC good ole boy’s credit card in Hawaii?
If you’re going to be traveling a lot, picking up a more secure money/ID holder like a money belt can be a good idea. It’s a lot harder for someone to steal money on your person than in your purse or out of your pocket.
OH NO! They canceled your plane tickets home?! That might be the worst cancellation story I’ve heard so far. A money belt is a good tip. Glad you added it!
The ‘suspend service’ is a great tip! I’ve gotten an eBay question or Etsy order while on vacation before and it’s always sucks to not be able to take care of it immediately.
Another tip: I only take 2 credit cards to mitigate any risk. I make sure the one I use doesn’t have transaction fees. The other cards I leave at home, just in case I get robbed, etc. Maybe this is super risky, too, but on an international trip I’ve photocopied my cards and given to a close friend just in case anything happened.
I think taking only what you plan to use is fantastic advice!
I’ve never thought about cancelling services when we’re away, perhaps that’s because we never really go on long trips…boo! Now you’re making me want to travel 😉 The last time we went away I called my credit card company as usual but they actually said I didn’t have to do that anymore if the flights were booked on the same card. I guess that makes sense with all the hidden algorithms they use but I’d never thought about it.
Hope you’re doing well Penny!
That’s amazing that you don’t have to call anymore. I thought my credit card company was getting fancy because now you can just click a button through your online account to notify them.
K, 100% printing this off and going through before my next big trip. I feel like we have the same travelling philosophy. Ready to go on a European adventure with you any day now hahaha.
Yes! I’m ready! Where’s our first stop? Thanks to you, Portugal has been moved to the top of our bucket list!
Automate, automate, that’s how I deal with money while traveling. I travel full-time so had to make sure everything is accessible from my phone and set to automatically process as much as possible. I also find it extremely helpful to have someone go through my mail. Sometimes unexpected bills need to be addressed and it is great to have someone trusted back home.
My biggie is that I forget to warn the credit card companies that I’ll be out of town. It’s never caused a problem, but when I went to FinCon in Orlando I did have to call my bank from the hotel room because I realized that a $1,000 (youch!) bill on a business card that barely gets used — and only in Phoenix — would probably look suspicious. I’m hoping I’ll remember to call before going to D.C. but only time will tell.
Great tips!
I think it is important to have both cash and card available when traveling. I once was abroad with only my debit card (I was young and inexperienced) then had a fraudulent charge appear that meant my card had to be cancelled. I had enough cash on me for my trip but I knew that I was going to need a credit/debit card to buy the train ticket I needed at my next destination. I was able to use the cash to get a local prepaid card at the airport and that saved me multiple times on that trip when just having cash wouldn’t have worked. Of course, I also learned not to travel without a credit card, too.
Oh, wow! Talk about something you never imagine happening. I can’t imagine the stress, Leigh!