When I work as a consultant, I generally do an hourly plus expenses negotiation but I have a potential contract that wants to do an all-inclusive rate that is about $30 to $40 more than I would usually bill to cover the travel expenses. I’d prefer not to disclose geographic locations but my origination and ending point are both in the US and I need to fly. The destination city has fairly reasonable public transportation from the airport to my hotel and the hotel is walking distance from the client site.
I’ve never done it, but I have some general ideas. I’d like to know which of my ideas are correct and what additional ideas people may have:
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When my expenses are being reimbursed, I max out the daily limit and enjoy myself, but given each dollar of food is 50 cents less money in my pocket (after taxes), I am planning to be frugal in my eating choices, to include packing some of my food with me for the week such as canned salmon, almonds, and possibly a few days worth of salads with some ice packs to keep cool on the plane.
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Rather than itemize my meal expenses at the end of the year against the 1099ed income, I will use the Per Diem rate for food, which if I am eating frugally, would be double or triple what I actually pay for food. Of course, meals are only half deductible off taxes, but I get to deduct the artificially high per diem meals rate, and it’s fully legal and also a heck of a lot simpler.
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The hotel I am selecting is based on geographic location to the client but seems very reasonably priced for the area. I might be able to negotiate a weekly rate that is cheaper than daily, but perhaps suboptimal since I only need to be on-site for 3.5 days a week (40 hours)
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I can work Mon through Thursday at 11am, or Tuesday through Friday (11am) and switch at my discretion. I am considering as a cost-saving measure to do Tues -> Fri, stay in that city over the weekend, Mon -> Thurs, fly home. And then repeat - so I get to be home Thurs night -> Mon afternoon every other week. The calculation here is whether or not round trip airfare is more or less expensive than 2 nights in the hotel. Because doing this stacking technique will save me a round trip flight at the cost of 2 additional hotel nights. It does seem like this is cheaper and also saves me the headache of flying twice, with the benefit of exploring this city. But I’m also home less.
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It appears that I need to use two different airlines to make this work. Airline A has direct outbound flights at suitable times, whereas Airline B has direct reverse flights at the proper times. So I won’t be able to max out reward status with either. Also, most airliners have gone to ticket price-based rewards, and I’m going to get the absolute cheapest ticket since it comes out of my pocket.
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The client has stated remote work should be possible after the first month on-site. It was unclear what percentage that would be, but based on vague comments and also experience working with similar clients in similar roles, It may mean that I only fly out 2 weeks a month, or possibly 3 weeks. It may also mean the weeks I am on-site, I only have to work 2.5 days on site and can go home a day early. For example, Fly out Monday, work Tuesday through Thursday at 11am. Fly home Thursday. Work remote from home on Friday. That saves me one night of a hotel.
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As always, this is an opportunity to get new reward credit card signup bonuses using legitimate, organic spend. I may sign up with one of the premium cards to get airline credits and possibly lounge access, depending on my research of the airports and which lounges they have.
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I might also be able to min/max things a bit by switching loyalties as needed to maximize special promotions. Such as Marriott MegaBonus. May not be the closest hotel, and may require me walking a few more blocks, but may be worth meeting the criteria of saying 2 nights to get free X points or whatever. I’ll have to run the numbers. This benefit is a unique one because generally, the client has a preferred hotel you need to stay at, but since it’s all-expenses, I can choose as desired since the only person that ever sees the receipts is me and the IRS if I get audited.
Curious to hear comments on my ideas and if anyone has any others.