tWO wHEELS tOO mANY jOURNEYS ~ BTF-2017/005
Inscription Date: Friday, 12/05/2017
Budgets are my childhood dreams. That’s why I guess I became an accountant and spent my thirty years in profession as from being a bookkeeper to controller, from a finance manager to CFO. Budget when I receive a compliment for that is what it is meant for. Compliment any financial plan more often for it not only makes me feel good, it also leaves me feeling good about it. If I can prepare and stick to a spending plan, I’ll know how much I need in total for my planned “Round the Country” bike tour. But without knowing how much I am going to spend, it’s impossible to come up with a reasonable budget.
INCOME V EXPENSES
In the previous posts about costs, I pretty much already tried to demonstrate an idea about how much I would need roughly. But now it’s time to take a pen and paper, and start writing my income and expenses for a living. Every kind of source, every bill, every spending, everything. Some expenses are listed here, but there might be more:
*Housing Costs
*Food & Beverages
*Site Costs
*Repairs & Maintenance
*Utilities
*Electric
*Water
*Gas
*Cell Phone Bills
*Internet Bills
*Obligations
*Public Debts
*Personal Debt
*Support to Education
*Insurance
*Home Owner’s Insurance
*Miscellaneous Costs
*Travel Costs
*Social Costs
*Subscriptions
While some of these costs are basic necessities, others are either obligations, contributions or unnecessary in value, and so the list can be reduced. Once I have the complete list of my income and expenses, I could go ahead changing my mind-set (attitude, outlook, mentality).
FIRST STEP: CHANGING MY MINDSET
Accepting that I am a nomad with a bicycle is the first step. And I don’t need a regular domestic life, or a tamely home life any longer. I don’t have a stream of money anymore, and I can live pretty well without much money.
Somewhere out on the planet, someone lives every day without money, without a home. And so can me. I just need to differentiate between “needs” and “wants”. Traveling by bike without too much money doesn’t mean living under the bridge and trash-diving. It means that I can travel without a treasure trove. I don’t need a huge inheritance or a funding support from others.
Up to now my employment savings have played a guaranteed life and for this reason I do not have any future complexities; but I shall not touch a single penny of that for the sake of this new challenge in my life and that is, I could still have the capability of saving and running travel business through my constant pension income.
My target is to start bicycle tours this summer (2017), but the main journey path of the round the Turkey bike tours will take place after 3 years. Why I plan it so far from today is a subject of another post. The important part today is that when that day comes I will be able to leave home with about $7.000 (40,000-TL). This fund alone can easily last more than 5 years in a country like Turkey. But there will be additions of at least $500 per month. In other words, I could keep my savings as a capital reserve for annual investments and run my costs out of the recurrent pension salaries, still setting aside a good lump sum to my Savings Account each month, as well.
A diet of bread and cheese, dried nuts and fruits, tomatoes and bananas, spaghetti and tuna fish, plus farmers’ complimentary, sleeping rough, and focused, disciplined ascetism mean I can travel most of the country very, very cheaply.
And here is a good, premeditated, and tested hypothesis: Even if I live in a medium-developed country, I can live with 25% of my annual income for a full year if I remove the unnecessary expenses. By unnecessary, I mean house rent, bills, debts, anything except food and basic needs.
Now then, let’s continue and go to the next step.
PAYING OFF OBLIGATIONS
No doubt, one day this encumbrance will end permanently. Debt is a huge burden and an obstacle to my journey. First, I need to get rid of any debt to start saving money. It’s my first priority. The crucial idea is to change my mind-set, and it’s not so hard to pay off my debts.
I have taken over my daughter’s previous company tax debt and social security obligations and settling that on behalf of her over a certain period of time. This will take a little longer to close the debt, by the end of 2020. The other most important obligation I have is my unceasing support (contribution) to my son’s future education & career. As a dedicated father, I cannot give up on that.
Hence, I can include these obligatory payments in my budget and automate it while I am touring. But at least, I can cancel my credit cards (which I actually did in the beginning of this year), subscriptions, and reduce bill count.
GO ON, SAVE MONEY FOR BIKE TOURING!
Once I distribute pay-offs of my obligations over a time and reduce monthly bills equitably, it’s easy to save money. Sometimes, I may feel weak and spend my savings to buy “the new thing” but I should really learn to hold myself. When I put a fixed percentage of my pension salary in my savings account and consider it as an “expense”, I’ll think the money is gone and I won’t think about spending it, because it doesn’t exist.
Uh-hmm... That’s it!
BIKE TOURING ON A LOW BUDGET
It’s not a dream but reality. In my previous posts, I mentioned the bike touring gear can cost from $1,000 (3,500 –TL) to $7,000 (25,000 –TL). An average of $4,000 (14.000 –TL) is enough to buy quality gear, but it’s perfectly possible to buy gear for marginally less than that.
Would I be able to be one of the living examples of that? Time and mind-set will prove that. Who knows, perhaps, all of my equipment could cost less than $3,000 USD, including the bike, but excluding some luxurious electronics.
Of course, spending a little bit more money on the important gear is always recommended, which I cannot resist!!
IDEAS ON ECONOMICAL BIKE TOURING GEAR
Although I can find second hand but good quality gear from other bicycle tourers, I will not select this methodology yet. I am aware that some people constantly upgrade their equipment and sell the old ones even if they aren’t “old” yet. If I decide to go for this way, I know where to find them on Internet.
Sometimes retailers make great sales campaigns on special days, and AliExpress is always providing cheap gear, with free shipping! Okay, the quality of gear from China may not be good, so my prior intention is to purchase the important gear from quality brands. Actually I wouldn’t trust any bike, rims, chain, rack, and handlebar that comes from China. Tent and other camping gear might be OK, but it should be branded and must have lots of good reviews.
Making My Own Gear?
Oh, NO! I’m useless in such tech. I’ve seen many people making their own gear. For example, panniers and small bags are common, but some people even make their own sleeping bags and tents! I don’t have time and patience for it, sorry. And of course, it’s not wise to go on a bike tour around the country with a handmade tent at first try, but, I could test the second-rate equipment and do my own quality assurance on the way, why not?
Who said: “Less is More”?
I know that philosophy as well, but I think I can’t hold myself. It’s some kind of sickness, I guess. I am still in the belief that I should have every possible gear that I might need at some point on the road; I eventually won’t need them and one day they may be in a box in the attic.
Truly speaking, only basic gear is all I need; the rest is fantasy (luxury).
Then, What I Really Need?
*A bike
*A system to carry gear
*A sleeping system to survive the night
*Basic Clothing
*Basic Cookware
*Hygiene Products
*Safety Products
*Navigating System
Anything else is not essential to journey life, but comfort.
How about Bike Touring without Money?
This is the only trend I could never put myself on a change of mind-set. It’s also not so common in the bike touring community either, but I’ve read some people find it possible to go on a bike tour with no money. That reminds me hipsters of the 70’s travelling around the world without money in their pockets, just for the sake of fun of wanderlust. It’s different nowadays, but the concept is the same. You can eat, sleep and travel in exchange for your help, expertise, or just for being a decent human being.
Sorry, I trust my income and savings volunteering the experience in bike tours across the country. If one day these sources cease, then I may think of being a hipster bike tourer gladly.
This mentality of mine takes a stand the same against on the house sponsorship matter which I decline from the start because I’m a free man, and I cannot depend upon any person, institution, industry. I’d like to do things off my own bat.
A rejection of accountability I call it even though the path for sponsorship is very clear. If I aren’t an influencer in the cycling industry, it’s hard to find a sponsor anyway. So and so, vendors wouldn’t care about my “epic” journey, they would care about if only I could increase their sales. If I’d have an audience, then I could get some free equipment, even money for my expenses. But what does it come to in the end? The reply is guileless. Even then, I would be practically working for the vendor, and it wouldn’t be fun at all.
Nice. I could have comfortably done the whole thing – kit, camping, bike, transports – for 7k. Having sponsors could have given me more cash but would have imposed constraints and tied me into certain itineraries which I would not be happy about.
On the other side, if I had an audience, I wouldn’t need to beg for sponsorship, I could monetize it with affiliate marketing. But, is that really what I want? Do I really need that?
No, I don’t think so!
Making Money while Bike Touring
True. It’s the 21st century, and I don’t have to be in an office to work. I can carry my workstation in my pocket. And the best part is; I don’t have to be tech-savvy.
Fair enough. There is a massive amount of work available on Internet world, and if I wanted I could use my skills, and earn reasonable amounts of money while I was traveling with my bike. I could list a gig for any price that would be a multiple of $10, and when someone bought my service, I’d deliver it and get paid. And instead of doing everything on hourly-based jobs, I could set a fixed price for my work. Fixed price is better because it’s hard to work by hourly basis while traveling.
If I really wanted such job adventure what would I go for? There are many gigs I could do really: *Freelance Writing; *Proofreading & Editing; *Basic Graphic Design; *Website Building; *Social Media Management; I could even provide professional business services online using my entrepreneurship experience and earn money while I travelled: *Bookkeeping services; *Accounting & Tax consultancy *Financial controlling, Financial Reporting & Auditing.. blab.. blab.. blab..
Actually, it’s silly to make a list, I can do any kind of work I want, I can provide any kind of service I want, I can set any price I want, I can work in any time frame I want, and cash out anywhere I want.
Yet; the question is: “Do I really want it?”
Having lived a professional life over thirty years I do not wish to work anymore. I just want to travel and want to do that by a bicycle at first, then maybe by a caravan, maybe both after some years.
Say, I became short of money. Cheeky me! I’d ask my daughter do me a favour in assisting a kind of adventure photography; or I’d ask my son an act of tuneful kindness in assisting me with his world of animation and graphic design services. Or I’d push myself into old days and bring my guitar along with me to play street music. Ha-ha... All these talents are nice but a guitar is a little bit heavy to carry on a bike... Perhaps I could go ahead with my son’s harmonica. Yeah, this is a good option with less weight.
I know there are other ways of making money while travelling such as creating a line in Blogging and YouTube. Blogging is easy one. Since I am a traveller, I can write about my journey! Travel blogs are popular now, although, it’s hard to get traction and earn money from it, but, it’s still a good idea. Well, anyway, I have this website. I could monetize my blog with advertisements, affiliate products, or by selling e-books that I wrote.
The idea looks good but won’t work for me. I feel OK with my blog in the way it is. No advertisements, no affiliate marketing, but my journey contents from the literature world only!!
I wouldn’t publish videos on YouTube just for the sake of earning money, either. But it would be a nice way of achieving a personal archive that could make things alive for years. The only trouble is that it’s more involved than blogging, because I’d need a computer to edit my videos and upload them to YouTube. Sonny, he-elllp!!
If I were young, and poor on money, I’d definitely create a world of working in local businesses wherever I travelled. It would also be fun just for the sake of it being a resourceful adventure. Like in my youth days in London I could work in restaurants, cafeterias and hostels by cleaning dishes, as a waiter, or a bellboy, or sometimes as a receptionist, or as a librarian in a library, or as a sales representative of a bookshop. Since I am huge and a strong man, I could work as a construction worker, too. OK. It’s hard and dangerous but pays well. More imaginations... I could also work in farms as a fruit picker, vegetable harvester, or as a seed planter. I have enough experience of that from my brother’s farmyard. However, I know it doesn’t pay well, but it’s always fun.
Oh, all these ideas... are just fine... But let me carry on in the way I want... No hustle my bustle!
WISE THING IS TO LIMIT MY BUDGET
How about spending money while on the roads Round the Country Bike Tour?
Let’s think for a moment, I have saved enough money for my long-distance bike tour. Good point. This shows I’m ready to take off. But there is the other side of the medallion... If I spend it without keeping any record, I’ll run out of money pretty soon. I should keep receipts and write my expenses daily. This way, I’ll know exactly how much I spent, and reduce my spending to balance my budget.
[As being an accountant whom am I telling this? Silly me! As if I wouldn’t follow that approach.]
My Daily Budget
I have set a daily limit for my spending, it’s $10. Depending on the region/city, I can set a higher or lower limit. This is specifically true when I have to stay in a B&B. If I spend less than the limit, it’s good. But if I exceed the limit, I won’t worry, it’s not bad either. I’ll probably spend less the next day.
My Monthly Budget
Provided that I follow my daily limit, I won’t exceed the monthly limit. But unexpected expenses can eat my wallet and thus my plans will go down the drain hole.
If I don’t reach the limit, it’s great!
Occasionally, I’ll want to taste local food or buy something that I don’t really need. I can use this extra, but the more I save, the more I can travel comfortably.
My Total Budget
It won’t be good if I run out of money before I finish my bike tour. It’s important to follow my daily and monthly limits to avoid returning home early or living only on pasta until I return.
I should also consider the price of the transportation tickets in my budget in cases of emergency situations (hampered accidents in which I might be involved, upsetting or demoralising news from home etc.) triggering excuses for returning home even if I plan to ride back with my bike. In order to look after myself I’m planning to carry extra cash in separate places, just for emergencies.
Keeping the Money Safe
I recognise the statistic that I should keep my money safe, not only from street muggers but also from the banks and their politics.
Keeping the Cash Safe
It’s always best to divide the cash and hide it in the seat post, handlebar, and panniers. I can stitch some hidden pockets on my underwear and socks. I could even use army money-bags and keep it veiled on my chest.
In the event I encounter thieves, I should not hesitate to use my pepper spray, but if I can’t do that at that very moment, I should empty my pockets, give them some cash and bargain for the bike. It’s the last resort of the nightmare and impossible to imagine a situation like that, but I hear some bikers have gone through that awful experience and they have said they couldn’t even move.
Fighting is the bravest thing one could go for, but consequences should be forethought. It may lead to much more undesirable ways.
In any case, I should have a backup plan.
Bank Accounts and ATM Cards
The worst scenario is written out where ATMs can swallow my card, the magnetic strip could be overwritten, or my bank may block my account for unreasonable things, or I may just bloody lose the card.
Because of this, I believe I should carry multiple ATM cards from different banks. Or if I find this idea vague and should really trust the bank, then I have to make sure a branch exists on my itinerary, thus necessary cash must be withdrawn not from any corner ATM but the one which stands in front of the bank branch, particularly within the business hours.
By the way, the bank card is practical everywhere: stores, markets, hotels etc.; as a result I may not carry cash more than I really need to. Though, I ought to hide my ATM card on me in case my equipment gets stolen.
WHAT NEXT?
This budget planning topic is GREAT... In the next FINANCIALS post, I’ll look into Cutting on Spending While on My Bike Tours...
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