Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Even if you have a home and mortgage that needs to be paid, you can still set up automatic bill payment.
As Sean Lynch from wanderingwhy.com told me, “There are some programs that allow you to pay your
mortgage using your credit card. We didn't go with this option. Most online banking today includes a 'bill-
pay' service of some sort. We were able to plan our budget for the time we were gone, set the money aside,
and set up automatic payments for the bills each month. Occasionally we would log on from the road and
make sure things were still humming along.”
This is something the James family, who were mentioned in Chapter 2, also dealt with before their
round-the-world trip: “Our mortgage—and our other regular bills—were on autopay. We left deposit
slips for our renter to deposit rent checks directly into our account. Craig's brother helped manage other
bills—our renter would forward any bills to him and he would email us to let us know about them.”
With the prevalence of electronic banking these days, you'd be hard-pressed to find a company that
wouldn't let you set up automatic payments.
As for your mail, well, chances are you won't get much. After you automate all your bills, sign up for
paperless statements. This will send all bills to your email instead of piling up at your parents' house or a
forwarding address. I find now the only time I ever get mail sent to my parents' home (which is my legal
mailing address) is when I sign up for a new credit card, or I am getting junk mail I never asked for. It makes
my life a lot easier and far less complicated. If you do find you are getting mail about important things that
need to be taken care of, ask a trusted friend or family member to help. I've made my parents users on my
credit cards to troubleshoot any problems. If you have a friend or relative you trust, you can make that per-
son an official user on all your important accounts to help.
If you really do need your mail, you can sign up for the service Earth Class Mail (earthclassmail.com).
Earth Class Mail scans your mail and lets you decide what you want to do with it. In the email they have a
scanned image of the envelope and a link to your account. From there, you can decide what you want to do
with the mail: scan (they open and scan all pages), ship (they send it to wherever you want), recycle (they
put it in the recycling bin, unopened), or shred. The basic service starts at just $9.95 USD per month.
Bills and mail should be the least of your problems when planning your trip. In our modern electronic
era, it is very easy to automate your bills and get rid of your mail.
