Budgets

Yep, still cold here. But, thankfully the temperatures are supposed to get back to normal this week which would be fabulous. We still need to do a ride north after the first disastrous attempt. Plus, the bikes are looking sad and lonely in their room.

One good thing about this weather is that it has provided plenty of time to get things finished up around the house. We may get a house guest in a couple weeks and we will definitely have one in mid-March. Getting a guest room put together in time was our big priority. Between the last two weekends we finally accomplished the goal. It certainly took longer than we thought it would.

One of the biggest adjustments to living here has been budgeting. First of all, obviously, things can be much more expensive than in the United States. For example, a 3x4ft glass topped coffee table for sale in town is €750. That's about $990. Jaw. Dropped. Needless to say, we were looking for more budget friendly items. Nothing fancy. We're not furnishing Versailles here. With some research we were able to find some nice stuff for a much lower cost. But, being allowed to buy it is a whole other challenge.

When you get a bank account here you are given a debit card and a credit card for that account. Each one has a spending limit. The one for the credit card is a monthly limit; the one for the debit is weekly. You are also given a weekly limit for the amount of money you can withdrawal through an ATM. These set amounts have nothing to do with how much money you have in your account. You could have hundreds of thousands, but you are only allowed to access so much per week. The limits are very low. You can request to raise the limit on the credit card (which you must pay off in full every month, no excuses), with bank board approval, but not the debit card. For your average week, these limitations aren't that big of a deal. But, when you are making several large purchases or traveling, it can be tricky. We do not, as a rule, use credit cards. However, with the weekly debit limit being so low, we may have to resort to it to have more access to our funds.

On the plus side, these policies keep you from getting into debt. On the downside, you are limited to what you can pay for in a month's time. For someone used to the American way of doing things, it's admittedly frustrating to be told you can't use your money. But, there's nothing to be done about it except plan ahead and (once again) be patient.

Anyway, that's why putting a guest room together takes so long. But, I'm happy to say we are now prepared to host our friends.

We are certainly looking forward to it.