Stocking your Starter Kitchen on a Budget

September 24, 2017January 19, 2018Melissa

Last week, when I posted about how to budget when you don’t know your expenses, a reader asked me how I get my grocery costs so low. I was able to maintain a 65 euro a month grocery budget for a year in Vitoria-Gasteiz of the Spanish Basque Country. Part of this was due to cost sharing with my partner. However, even when I shopped on my own in Huelva, Andalusia, I still averaged a budget of about 80 euros a month. How? The key here is in having a well stocked kitchen. Let’s build your starter kitchen.

What is a Starter Kitchen?

Cooking at home is one of the best ways to save money when you’re on a tight budget. But what do you do when you’re starting from scratch? Let’s say you’ve just moved to a new city. Your starter kitchen is all of the food products you will need to buy to have a functioning kitchen. Before we dive deeper into building your starter kitchen, let’s take a look at what some of my frequent purchases are and what they cost.

Creating a Budget When You Don’t Know Your Expenses

September 14, 2017January 19, 2018Melissa

Creating a Budget

Creating a budget can be very overwhelming – especially when you’ve just moved and you don’t know what your expenses will be. I’ve definitely been there. When I arrived in Spain in 2015, I came with $2000 as my starter budget, but without a plan in place, I blew through over half of it before receiving my first paycheck. If I could do it again, what would I do differently? This is what I recommend for incoming auxiliares de conversacion.

I would begin by creating a budget using the 50/20/30 Rule. Here’s how it breaks down:

50% of your income goes to cover your NEEDS – Things like rent, food, electricity, transportation, internet, etc. These are the absolute basics you will pay for every month.
20% of your income goes to SAVINGS – You may need to buy a plane ticket at the end of the year. Or, if you’re staying in Spain over the summer, you’ll need a summer fund for when other opportunities dry up.
30% of your income can go to WANTS – things that you could do without in a pinch, but make life more enjoyable: eating out, drinks, travel, new clothes, etc. These things are likely the reason you are here.

Creating a Budget with the Auxiliar Income

So how would it look for an auxiliar creating a budget based on this plan?

Travel Road Trip Map Direction Exploration Planning Concept

Planning a Road Trip

July 26, 2017January 19, 2018Melissa

There’s just something romantic about the idea of a road trip. From watching American classics like Thelma and Louise, to reading books like On the Road by Jack Kerouac, the inspiration is everywhere.

But, believe it or not, I have never actually been on a road trip in America. Although I would love to step back in time on Route 66, road trips in America are often very long and very expensive.

Traveling in Spain

In Spain, on the other hand, you’ve got a variety of cities and landscapes all within a relatively small country. The entire country is slightly smaller than Texas, after all.

What to do when you're too bored to bother

Surviving the Summer Slump

July 19, 2017September 5, 2017Melissa

Diagnosing the Summer Slump

Ever since I was old enough to be in school, I’ve looked forward to that glorious time of year when the last bell rings and I’m finally free. Now, as a teacher, I feel the same yearly excitement. The freedom to kick back and do absolutely nothing has arrived.

But then something inevitably happens partway through the summer. That something is called the Summer Slump. According to Urban Dictionary, the Summer Slump is “A period during summer in which a person performs inefficiently due to the excessive amount of free time on there hands.”

The truth is, an abundance of free time can become overwhelming. Maybe there’s nothing you specifically have to do, so you don’t feel bad bingeing on your favorite television programs. That’s fine. I feed my addiction through ORORO TV (Note: if you subscribe through my link, you and I will both receive a discount). But when you come up for air, you often find yourself feeling disoriented, and maybe even a little unmotivated to do anything about it.

When you find yourself slipping into the Slump, and you’re so bored that you can’t even bother to do anything about it, it’s good to have a plan in place to pull you back out. Here’s my plan:

From Whole Chicken to 12 Meals – Budget Cooking

July 12, 2017September 5, 2017Melissa

One of the best ways to save money on food is to cook at home. I have already written about how I keep grocery prices lower with cost comparisons from various stores. Today I’m going to focus on how to prepare 12 or more low-cost meals–and all from just one whole chicken!

The Value of a Whole Chicken

When I first started doing my price comparisons, I was looking for the lowest price per kilo on chicken breasts. If you remember from my notes, the best price was 5.19 euros per kilo at Mercadona. As I got more comfortable cooking, I started to look at other cuts of chicken, and was really impressed by the price per kilo of a whole chicken: 2.18 euros per kilo!

The only problem was that I didn’t know how to cook a whole chicken. But for a savings of 3.01 euros per kilo, I was sure willing to learn!

Debt Management For Moving Abroad

July 5, 2017June 22, 2018Melissa

Raise your hand if you have debt. Yup, me too. According to Market Watch, Americans have $12.73 trillion worth of household debt as of March 2017, topping the 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion! About $1 trillion of that is in credit cards alone. How much of that is YOUR share?

the shame of debt — You, me, and about 80% of Americans.

We all know that debt holds us back, but what can we actually do about it? The first thing you should do is acknowledge it. Add it up and get a total. I like to use Unbury Me to visualize how different steps will affect my payoff date. Then, when I need to make a payment, I use TransferWise to send money back to my US account.

Debt Management Abroad

Moving abroad with no debt is ideal, but for many of us it isn’t realistic. If you can pay off all of your debts before moving, you will have less required monthly expenses. However, you should not use up all of your savings in order to achieve this, as you will need a starter budget to help yourself get set up in your new location.

When moving abroad, you can’t just focus on your total debt. You need to break it down into individual loans and monthly payments. Many personal finance experts, such as Dave Ramsey and Suzy Orman will recommend that you eliminate debt by lowest debt first (Dave) or highest interest debt first (Suzy). I respect both of their opinions.

However, for people moving abroad, the most important thing is minimizing monthly expenses. When I moved to Spain, I had $262.27 in minimum monthly payments. That’s a lot when your steady income is 700 euros a month. Now I’m down to about $42 a month in required debt repayment. How did I do that? Let’s take a look:

Planning Your First Class: Teaching English Abroad

June 28, 2017September 6, 2017Melissa

First Class Anxiety

The first class. A lot of people, when moving abroad to teach English, get really excited about their new location. You might dream of all of the day trips and weekend travel that you’ll be able to do. But what makes a lot of new teachers nervous is thinking about that first class. What will the school be like? What will they expect from me? And the kids? Rest assured, these feelings are normal.

first class esl — Your brain on anxiety.

There is no one answer to all of these questions. Each school, administration, and group of students will be different. When you get there, you will be able to start answering these questions as you figure out your role in the classroom. But until then, what do you do?

Start planning your first class. You can do this without knowing much about your school, because the first class will be about you. What you will need to know about your school, is the age range. From there, you can create something adaptable to each level.

Finding an Apartment in Spain after arrival

Apartments in Spain: After Arrival

June 26, 2017September 7, 2018Melissa

Finding an Apartment in Spain

This is Part 2 of Finding an Apartment in Spain. See Part 1 – Apartments in Spain: Before Arrival.

When You Arrive

Hopefully by the time you arrive to Spain, you will have already eliminated the places that either aren’t right for you, or are misleading. This will save you a lot of time. If you will be living in a large city like Madrid, you will need to have quite a few options on your list, because finding an apartment in the fall can be difficult. If you are in a smaller city, a smaller list will suffice. The quicker you can find an apartment, the less money you will have to spend on hostels or Airbnb.

By one week before I moved to Spain, I had narrowed down my search to just a handful of apartments. I made appointments with the girls who were currently living in them via WhatsApp. Talking to your potential roommates in advance is a good way to know if you’ll be a good fit, and save you from having to move out later. I ended up renting the first apartment I saw in Huelva, and I canceled my other appointments. The only reason I did this is because I was sure. I knew I would be happy living in that apartment, with those roommates, and at that price. Here are a few things you should look for to make sure the apartment is right for you.

Teach Travel Budget

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