Portugal Junkies Podcast

Sharing Our Monthly Expenses In Portugal

Because the finance details matter if you're considering a move!

Hello, Portugal Junkies!

This week we pulled out our bills and spreadsheets and banking apps - and created an episode for you focused on WHAT WE ACTUALLY SPEND EACH MONTH in Portugal.

When we were considering a move, we had a hard time finding content creators that would share their real numbers - so here we do that just for you!

In addition to our episode, a great resource for cost of living is www.numbeo.com - you can compare your current city to a future city and see details of what things cost in the new area. [We should really buy stock in NUMBEO - that’s how much I love that tool.]

Other key resources and vendors mentioned in this episode:

Vodafone - Cell phone carrier

MultiCare - private health insurance (we recommend Ged Heaney at GED Insurance)

EDP - Energy

Rubis - Gas

MEO - TV/Cable

Numbeo - cost of living website

BPI - our Portuguese bank

Tello - our low cost cell phone carrier in the USA

🎙️Tune into this week’s episode where we open up our wallets + share all the details with you about our monthly expenses in Portugal! Next week we will bring you an episode focused on how much it costs to actually MOVE ABROAD in 2026.

Next week, we will do a deep dive into the documentation that is required and how to be prepared for some documents that you may be missing!

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Last week we posted our D7 Renewal Mini Guide article to help those who are approaching this pretty cool milestone in their Portugal experience.

This week, we talked about this process in depth on the podcast too.

🎙️Tune into this week’s episode where we give you an overview of the residency renewal process, tips + tricks, how it all works and what to expect.

Next week, we will do a deep dive into the documentation that is required and how to be prepared for some documents that you may be missing!

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Last week we posted our D7 Renewal Mini Guide article to help those who are approaching this pretty cool milestone in their Portugal experience.

This week, we talked about this process in depth on the podcast too.

🎙️Tune into this week’s episode where we give you an overview of the residency renewal process, tips + tricks, how it all works and what to expect.

Next week, we will do a deep dive into the documentation that is required and how to be prepared for some documents that you may be missing!

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Well. We are officially eating our words, y’all.

We said for years we were not going to buy a car.

That being car-less was pretty cool. (It is.)

That walking everywhere was such a nice change. (It was.)

That Ubers were so affordable. (They are.)

And we didn’t buy one. For 2.5 years in Portugal we used public transportation - the metro, the train system, Ubers, sometimes even a bus!

But after our first year in the Algarve (where the metro doesn’t exist and the trains do exist but are limited), we realized that we had not even done a “drive-by” of all of the southern coast, much less fully explored all the amazing places down here near us.

➡️And when we realized that our travels and adventures were being limited by not having our own car, we changed our minds.

So, we bought a car.

And we love her!

🎙️Tune into this episode where we talk through how we came to the decision to buy a car after 2.5 years without one + how the process worked for us in Portugal.

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Shout out to Ricardo at Motors Group in Faro + Ged Heaney at GED Insurance for helping us with the insurance coverage.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Immigration changes, our reactions + how this changes things for us

As of May 2026, Portugal immigration laws have changed.

[Insert record scratch]

Two of the major changes that have affected us personally are:

1️⃣ - The path to citizenship/passport in Portugal moved from 5 years to 10 years for us. That’s when we can APPLY for, not necessarily receive, our passport.

2️⃣ - The clock starts from the date you get your Temporary Residency Card, rather than the date of your initial application. For us that is about 6 months difference. For others, it can be years due to the AIMA backlog over the past years.

There is no transition plan or grandfathering accommodation at this time for those who had already gotten visas, moved or started the process of moving.

🎙️Tune into this episode where we candidly talk about our reactions to the changes and what this means for us in our Portugal plan!

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

After being in Portugal now for almost 2.5 years, we spent time on this episode reflecting on the things we’d have to give up if we ever moved back to the USA.

(Hint: It’s A LOT.)

And while some things we discuss are funny, small + even, shall we say, a bit ridiculous just so we can entertain you…many of them are no joke, y’all.

Serious stuff like:

✅ Affordable (sometimes even FREE) healthcare, especially as we get older (ahem)

✅ Personal safety - how do you go from the 7th safest country in the world to 132nd?✅ Flying to the UK to visit family in 2.5 hours and less than 100 euros round trip

✅ 99% calm nervous system on most days

And some fun ones like:

💫 Traveling less than 30 minutes to be in Spain for tapas

💫 The amazing bread cutting machine at the grocery store💫 Never looking at our credit score

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Thanks for tuning in! This post + podcast episode is public so feel free to share it with anyone considering a move abroad!

After being in Portugal now for almost 2.5 years, we spent time on this episode reflecting on the things we’d have to give up if we ever moved back to the USA.

(Hint: It’s A LOT. So we did a part 1 + 2, so stay tuned for next week!)

And while some things we discuss are funny, small + even, shall we say, a bit ridiculous just so we can entertain you…many of them are no joke, y’all.

Serious stuff like:

✅ Affordable (sometimes even FREE) healthcare, especially as we get older (ahem)

✅ Personal safety - how do you go from the 7th safest country in the world to 132nd?✅ Flying to the UK to visit family in 2.5 hours and less than 100 euros round trip

✅ 99% calm nervous system on most days

And some fun ones like:

💫 Traveling less than 30 minutes to be in Spain for tapas

💫 The amazing bread cutting machine at the grocery store💫 Never looking at our credit score

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help You Travel or Move Abroad 💫💫💫

➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

Thanks for tuning in! This post + podcast episode is public so feel free to share it with anyone considering a move abroad!

Happy June, Portugal Junkies -

After a bit of an unplanned hiatus, Mark + I are back with new podcast episodes starting this Friday!

We give you an update on what’s new for us since January, like:

* We finally gave in a bought a car

* We’ve done lots of traveling - USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Prague, just to name a few

* We successfully renewed our temporary residency here in Portugal - good for another 3 years!

* What we have planned for the upcoming episodes of the pod

* And more perspectives about reaching 2.5 years in Portugal

We hope you’ll listen in and subscribe (wherever you listen or watch) so you don’t miss out on our weekly episodes going forward! You can find us here on Substack, Apple and YouTube.

Cheers, y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Other Ways We Can Help 💫💫💫➡️If you have want to move abroad in the next 9-12 months and want to talk to Meredith about the She Thrives Abroad program, email her at [email protected]➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal Trip Itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, book a FREE consult call here

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here

We continue our chat with Nancy about their home renovation process in Portugal…

Enjoy Part 2 of Nancy + Denise’s Move Abroad Story!

Connect with Nancy⬇️

💫Expat in Portugal Substack:

💫Nancy’s Home Renovation Process Blogs ⬇️

https://expatinportugal.substack.com/p/our-little-project

THE GOOD STUFF…⬇️

➡️If you have questions for us about moving abroad and want to schedule a 1:1 call with us, book a time on our calendar here:

https://stan.store/portugaljunkies/p/book-a-11-call-with-us-o146p

➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, for just $249, book a FREE consult call here:

https://stan.store/portugaljunkies/p/lets-start-planning-your-portugal-adventure

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here:

https://stan.store/portugaljunkies

➡️For other key resources + 💫FREEBIES💫 about Portugal and moving abroad, visit our website:

https://stan.store/portugaljunkies

Cheers y’all!

Meredith + Mark

Meet our friend Nancy, fellow Substacker and now our immigrant friend!

She and her wife, Denise, moved to Portugal about 5 years ago and live near us in the Algarve.

After flipping multiple homes in the US over the course of their lives, they both wanted to do the same here in Portugal - so they did.

Was it a breeze? Nope. (Did you really think it would be?)

So we talk through all of it - how they found the right place, the right people and what challenges they faced along the way!

Connect with Nancy⬇️

💫Expat in Portugal Substack:

💫Nancy’s Home Renovation Process Blogs ⬇️

https://expatinportugal.substack.com/p/our-little-project

THE GOOD STUFF…⬇️➡️If you have questions for us about moving abroad and want to schedule a 1:1 call with us, book a time on our calendar here:https://stan.store/portugaljunkies/p/book-a-11-call-with-us-o146p➡️If you’d like help designing the perfect Portugal itinerary from the world famous Mark “The Brit” Burns, for just $249, book a FREE consult call here:https://stan.store/portugaljunkies/p/lets-start-planning-your-portugal-adventure

➡️If you need help with visas or tax information, check out our partners Joao Pinto + Rui Borges (who are the experts) here:https://stan.store/portugaljunkies➡️For other key resources + 💫FREEBIES💫 about Portugal and moving abroad, visit our website: https://stan.store/portugaljunkies

Cheers y’all!

Meredith + Mark

[amazing to realize we live so close to both ocean and mountains in Tavira]