by Beks
My company is sending me out of town for training after the 1st of the year. I have to successfully complete one month in accelerated courses to pass my probationary period.
Funny. They still haven’t ‘officially’ given me the job, but they are organizing my training.
As we sorted out hotel accommodations, they reviewed my per diem rates for food, gas, etc. The budget manager tapped on my plastic company card, ‘OK Rebekah, we both know you don’t eat much and you’ll never get anywhere near spending all of your allowance. Don’t be tempted to drink the difference. Alcoholic beverages are not covered’ he said with a wink.
They take away all the fun.
It’s been a while since I’ve flown on tickets purchased by my employer.
Traveling on someone else’s dime is always a lot more fun.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Congrats! I hope they make it official soon. Also, good job on handling the hater in the last post.
http://40daysof.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/fur-rocious/
My husband gets to keep any of his food per diem that he doesn’t use. We always use that chunk to pay down debt. He will buy a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and eat that for supper and only go out for lunch. He’s such a trooper!
Oooh, fun! I hope you have a productive trip!
Same here, I hardly use any of my per diem, I would say about 70% of it goes to paying down debt. Ramen noodles, Beef Stew, Mushroom soup are just fine with me when I stay at a hotel.
Great! Have a safe and productive trip
I love a flat per diem. Even if you splurge and eat out a nice-ish, local place to try the cuisine, you can still bank a whole lotta extra. Who can eat $70 of food per day without really really trying?
@KLM asked: “Who can eat $70 of food per day without really really trying?”
Apparently, government contractors can!
To be fair, anyone who is put up in a Sheraton or Hilton could easily spend that much. Breakfast is normally $15 – 20 (that’s for a continental with cereal and coffee, perhaps juice) and lunch at $15 and dinner at $30 would be at mid-range restaurants. Add in taxes and tip and it is easily over $70 without adding in dessert or alcohol. And no snacks through the day.
But, if you stay at a Residence Inn or Homewood Suites, you get a full breakfast and a manager’s reception that often can double as dinner. That leaves you only having to buy lunch. Snacks are included in that these places have a bowl of fruit plus coffee and tea out all the time and cookies are often made late afternoon.
These suite hotels also have kitchens so I buy lunch fixings and eat from the hotel. My food is almost completely covered by the hotel and my husband doesn’t eat lunch. So our clients love us since few pay for a per diem, they just pay for my husband’s meals (I’m not part of the contract but work behind the scenes assisting my husband.)
But is easy to blow a per diem in some countries (in Oslo, we spent $40 on a Big Mac, chicken nuggets, salad, fries and one drink) and eating in some cities (or sections of cities) can be really expensive. We found prices in NYC about 20% more when we were staying closer to Times Square than when we were in Murray Hill (one is a tourist area, the other is a residential neighbourhood.) The Upper East Side was even cheaper for food (but the commute time doesn’t work for us.)
Fun! Have a great (and productive, of course) time.
I wish we got paid out for non-used funds but we don’t. I simply have to be happy saving taxpayer money.
But you are still saving a bit of money because you don’t have to buy food at home for you… Will you get to come home one or two weekends or are you stuck there for the entire month? I used to travel a lot in the 1980ies, but haven’t had to go out of town overnight for about 10 years. I’m just fine with that.
Beks,
Why not use the per diem money to have an indulgence you can’t normally have? Maybe go out for ice cream, or have a fancier than normal lunch or dinner?
I find it, um, strange (funny? odd?) that your eating habits are known throughout the organization…
I guess he was saying you’re pretty thin? Or at least in good shape?
In return, this benifits the company.