Costa Rica is a beautiful place to live and visit, especially if you’re not operating on a shoestring budget. If you are limited on funds, however, you’re obviously going to want to take some money management steps to make sure you’re getting the most out of your trip without breaking the bank.
Of course, once you get used to living in Costa Rica and have become accustomed to the local prices, managing your money won’t be so difficult ā it’s going to be that initial phase during the actual move where you might run into some accounting problems.
With that said, here are several ways you can manage your trip expenses more effectively when moving to Costa Rica:
Consider a Short-Term Loan
If you’re moving to Costa Rica on a limited budget and you don’t exactly have the best credit in the world, you might want to consider bad credit payday loans as a means of getting the boost you need to make your trip happen.
Of course, this would only be ideal if you already have a job and your last paycheck is set to arrive in the near future. By borrowing against that last paycheck, you can go ahead and embark on your move instead of having to wait around until payday.
Set a Predefined Trip Budget
If you haven’t yet taken the time to draw out a comprehensive budget that accounts for all of your planned expenditure, doing so before the move would be a wise decision.
Try to think about every step of the move and set aside a generous but reasonable limit for each individual task.
Mainly, you’ll want to account for five main categories: transportation, food, hospitality, leisure & entertainment, and emergency funding.
Create a Trip Itinerary Ahead of Time
What are you going to do when you arrive at your new residence in Costa Rica? If you’ve been leaning towards the spontaneous approach and haven’t really given it much thought, it might be better to create a detailed, template-based itinerary that will guide you on your path to meeting new people, getting a job, and setting your roots down in your new home country.
Book in Advance for Savings
In terms of saving money on travel and hotel stay, your best bet is to book everything at least 2 weeks to 1 month in advance. As a general rule of thumb ā the further ahead in advance you book, the lower your price will usually be.
This rule is particularly true for flight tickets, although in rare cases you may find an even better deal by purchasing last-minute seats that other passengers never checked in for.
Look for Hospitality and Dining Promotions Online
Finally, one more step you can take to make sure you have a great initial experience in Costa Rica without overspending is lining up special deals and discounts at restaurants and hotels before you leave. You can often find deals like this on sites like Groupon. Plus, by doing this, you’ll find it easier to discover the best dining establishments in your new Costa Rican hometown.
Do you have any more money saving tips to share?
Let us know in the comments.