Leave With Confidence

Getting ready to leave for a trip can feel like a long list of must-dos. Travel prep seems to never end, especially when you're the one planning everything and are stressing out. You may have remembered the important things, like packing underwear, paying your bills, and unplugging appliances/electronics that don't need to be sapping energy when not in use, but maybe you've forgotten equally important things that haven't crossed your mind. 

Well, here are a few things to do before you leave that will give you peace of mind and allow you to relax knowing you're as prepared as you can be:

1. Alert your credit card company(s) and bank - You don't want your purchases to get declined because your credit card company thinks your card has be stolen. Let them know you'll be on vacation, for how long, and where, so all your purchases go through like normal. A lot of bank apps or websites allow you to do this without actually talking to a rep, so that's easy!
2. Leave your info and itinerary with someone at home - You never know what might happen, so make sure you give someone you would contact in the case of an emergency a copy of your plans for vacation. It's nice for people to know if you need help or that you're even gone.
3. Clean out your wallet/purse - You don't need that yogurt punch card or your 900 crumpled up receipts taking up space. Take only the necessities and then use the extra room to keep receipts so you can stay within your travel budget. Often, I'll use an app called Smart Receipts, which lets me take photos of my receipts and it adds everything up for me and keeps a runny tally.
4. Call your cell phone carrier - If you'll be traveling out of the country, you'll want to make sure your mobile works, or else what's the point? Contact your carrier and make sure you don't need to get on a different plan for the duration of your trip and learn about any excess charges for international calling, roaming and text messages. In these cases, I ask everyone to skip texting me and instead use Facebook Messenger or the Voxer app, for free communication. (You might prefer WhatsApp.)
5. Go through your fridge - No one wants to come home to smelly house. Eat anything you can that's a leftover or close to an expiration date. Throw out what you need to, so when you come home, it's not full of rotting foods. If you can't eat everything in there, you can always make meals and freeze them, so then you have easy food for when you return and are trying to ease back into daily life. (While you're at it, take out the trash, too.)