Leaving Home: Saving Money

Moving abroad is not a decision you can take lightly; whether you leave temporarily and decide to extend your stay or go the whole hog and pack up for good, it requires significant financial foresight and planning to avoid struggling.

A lot of it depends on your city of choice and what your financial situation is to start with, but suffice it to say that most people move when they’re students or newly employed and still partially reliant on others (even if you take out loans) for financial support. In other words, for many people, it can be tough. That’s the downside, but the upside is that there is a lot of potential for growth, development, and learning. What’s more, the experiences gained from the challenges can be invaluable in the long run.

Although relocating to a different place can present both upsides and downsides, you can address most of the downsides with a good plan. For instance, if the size of your new place is inadequate, you can easily get around this issue by renting a storage unit for your surplus belongings. Furthermore, if you are having financial difficulties due to the cost of the move, you can look for different ways to cut back on expenses, such as packing items yourself or searching for a cost-efficient moving firm.

If you are planning to move to another place in the near future, you can further consider the following suggestion to make your move hassle-free.
Get conservative

Move in with your parents or move to a one-bedroom apartment with damp patches in the ceiling if you have to – just don’t leave home without cash in the bank. Trust me, when you’re far away from home, you’ll need it.

Hurry up and wait

Realise that you may struggle to find a job in your chosen career path, and it’s probably got nothing to do with your skills or experience. Landing a job often has as much to do with who you know as what you know, and your visa situation may also count against you. It’s a tough market but don’t give up. Look into finding temporary employment, keeps sending out CVs and networking with people in your industry; you could even get in touch with somewhere like this Recruitment agency Telford to get a helping hand with finding yourself a job.

Resist a spending spree

While you’re waiting to secure a decent income, cut down on luxuries like meals in restaurants, mobile contracts and takeaway coffees. Resist purchasing that high-end laptop, designer t-shirt, gym membership or fancy cocktail – even when it’s raining, take the bus instead of flagging down a taxi cab; remember that you might end up counting pennies for meals at the end of the month.

Be aware of hidden costs

One of the best ways to avoid attracting unwelcome bank fees is to find out which banks in your adoptive country have relationships with your home bank. Many banks have branches in countries all over the world, from London to Qatar, making it easier to apply for things like credit cards and personal loans (depending on your residency status).

Don’t ignore necessities

I’ve advocated living conservatively but there are things that you really can’t live without, like health insurance. Get inventive when it comes to entertainment and put a small amount aside for this; it’s important to spend time with friends and relieve stress without depleting your budget completely. We all have things that we do to give us a boost of serotonin, so it is important to find out what those are and do them when you need to. Don’t do them all at once as you could find yourself spending way too much, so pacing them out is key. For instance, if you use a product like Blessed CBD Öl to relieve stress, see if they have any discount deals you can go for, or only buy near the holidays so you can stock up without constantly having to buy. If you like to go clothes shopping, try and limit it to once a month or on special occasions, you can still do it but be mindful of when you are doing it so you don’t spend during times when more money is going out for essential things like rent and bills.

Take a holiday

A big cost saving is spending holidays back home, where your accommodation and transport costs are often picked up by family and friends. But don’t spend too much time focusing on going home – make plans to explore your adoptive country and get to know the local people as well. Good luck and remember to research, plan and save well in advance of your trip!