A NIF (Numero de Identificacao Fiscal) is a personal tax ID number. It is sometimes also called a Contribution number. It is NOT a Portuguese social security number. However, it is a unique identifier that is used to open a bank account, buy property (really, buy anything), open accounts with utilities, pay your Portuguese taxes,…
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I was reading a “shit happens post” or as I call them, “post of woe” in one of the expat Facebook groups. This time it was a man complaining about a three-month wait to receive debit cards for a new account, due to the cards being mailed first to the wrong address and then… who…
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I am not a morning person. My day starts ever-so-slowly with coffee, a croissant from the bakery below, and more coffee. I pretend to write, usually doing little more than making a to-do list that I won’t get done. The list is always overly ambitious. I am not. Mostly I spend my first hour or…
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I just love stating the obvious. So, why not sell 10? Or 100? If you’re going to put in the effort to sell one, ask yourself if you can find opportunities to sell in bulk. There are groups and associations for just about everything. They are easier to find than ever before. And there are…
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Early on, when I first moved to Portugal, I wrote a blog post titled, “It’s All Uphill.” Two years in, there are still uphill days and weeks. Quick Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. That means if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to…
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I’m Acclimating! Tuesday marked my second anniversary in Portugal. It has been two years of learning and getting accustomed to not knowing things and being okay with that. Moving to a new country—especially when you don’t speak the language—is humbling to say the least. But it’s also stimulating, fun, surprising, and without a doubt, the…
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Vila Real and Ayamonte, Spain make a great day trip from Tavira. I have had a friend visiting for the past month and the running joke is that she is getting the grand tour of every grocery store in The Algarve. We’re mostly hanging out, doing a lot of walking and hitting restaurants. Not doing…
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Every Friday I send out a newsletter called Friday Happynings. I’m sharing this one from June on finding your #1 thing to (perhaps) help you get focused for 2023. I am heading out to Madrid today (IF I make my connections…) for a writers’ conference and I’m pretty darn excited. Why? Because it will help…
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Or How to Pull the Kicker Out of Your Ass I won’t lie: My articles and blog posts tend to ramble. They are filled with humorous (to me) asides (see what I did there?) and I have no objection to going down a rabbit hole or two if I think they are interesting and add…
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The death of three friends—all younger than I—in the past two months has me wondering what will happen if I die overseas. It’s kind of a morbid thought (kind of, Barbara?) but one that I need to address, probably sooner than later. Normally when someone dies, their family takes care of all the arrangements. My…
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