How Do I Do my banking?

With banking there are only a couple things we need to worry about.
How do I put my money into my account? And how do I get my money out of my account?

To put your money in, you should have your travel company use direct deposit to get your pay straight into your account. They prefer it and you get your money faster as well.

If on the other hand you like to deposit your own checks you will need to have an account at a bank with branches close to you. Or you can mail the check to your bank, but this is a hassle and not recommended.

Some of the largest banks have branches in many areas of the country. Like Washington Mutual for example. They are coast to coast. Getting an account here will make life much easier.

Getting money out can be automatic as well.

Make sure to keep your credit cards and debit card with you for expenses and cash.

I recommend you use your credit cards for all expenses and then pay it off with a check at the end of the month. This will keep your budgeting easy and make it easier to deduct travel expenses when you do your taxes.

Paying you bills can be done by check or online. I regularly pay my American Express, and Mastercard online. As well as my water and gas bill for our home in Houston. I pay the mortgage via check but could have that automatically taken from my bank account if I wanted.

Other bills like your cell phone bill can be charged automatically to your credit card.

To simplify things, you should use only one credit card - preferably one that gives you some form of benefit - like airline miles or cash back. Then get all your bills to be charged to this card as well.

Whther you use checks or credit cards or automatic withdrawals from your checking account, make sure you get all your mail on time. You can do this by setting up a mail forwarding address.