MasterCard Prepaid Cards Are Great for Travel @MasterCard #Prepaid #MC

It’s no secret that I love to travel.  Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to have done quite a bit of it this past year.  Just in the past few months, I’ve been to Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, and am headed on a cruise out of Florida at the end of this week.  One thing I have learned about myself is that I need to put myself on a budget when I travel.  It’s just too easy to get caught up in the fun of everything and start buying souvenirs and fancy meals without keeping an eye on how much is being spent.  Luckily, I have figured out a solution using MasterCard prepaid cards.

 

I like to sit down before I leave and figure out how much I am prepared to spend on food and snacks, souvenirs, and then those unexpected last-minute expenses.  Once I have my figures, I have a few choices, right?

1) I could just use my credit or debit card to pay for everything as it comes up. I’ve found that this is not the best option for me.  Yes, I am good at keeping my receipts in one place, but what I am not good at is adding them up every single night to see what I spent that day.  This tends to result in a larger than expected credit card bill at the end of the month or a smaller than expected balance in the bank account after all the debit transactions go through.

2) I could allocate a certain amount of cash to each category and carry all that cash with me.  I really don’t like this option for several reasons.  One, I feel that walking around with a wad of cash is unsafe and makes me a target.  Second, how the heck am I going to keep my piles of cash separate for each category? Or do I put it all into one big pile and count on keeping track again? Um, no.

3) I can get a MasterCard prepaid card (or two, or three) and preload the amount I want to spend.  Bingo!! I think we have a solution here!  With a MasterCard prepaid card, I absolutely cannot go over my budget because once the money is gone, the card doesn’t work anymore.  The card looks like any other credit card, so nothing is going to make me stick out as a potential target AND should my card get lost or stolen, it is protected the same as a regular credit card.  Plus, prepaid MasterCard cards are accepted all over the world, so I have access to my money no matter where my travels take me!

Nothing helps me unwind and enjoy a trip more than knowing that my budget is safe and sound and I won’t be getting any nasty surprises at the end of my trip!  Before your next trip, do you think you might get a prepaid card to protect your budget?