a penny saved is a penny not spent having fun (and other dumb rules i’ve lived by)
I’ve never been good at saving money. I fully embrace the “live in the moment” mantra… or at least thats the excuse I give myself to spend my hard earned money on fun rather than stash it away for the “future.” Frankly, I’m lazy, and saving money is like, hard.
Last night, while I was watching “Midnight in Paris,” I realized the last time I had a substantial amount of dough in a savings account was right before I moved to Paris. Five months later, I begrudgingly made my way back the States, ten pounds heavier and thousands of dollars down the tube. My savings account became a distant memory.
My boyfriend, on the other hand, is what one might call cheap…frugal…responsible. His savings account is his best friend, and it baffles him when I “throw money away” on things like wine and cupcakes and clothes and FUN. My living with him, coupled with my meager income as a professional babysitter, means that if I want to travel this year, I better start saving.
How will I do this, you ask? How will I reverse the rules of fun I’ve been living by for twenty-six glorious years? Well…I don’t really know. I always read tips online that seem so easy and achievable, and yet, my account balance continually hovers somewhere between $0 to $10. I need tricks that work and that I feel accountable to.
And so, readers and fellow travelers, I ask you to help me. How do you save enough money for the adventures I read about on your sites? Help a girl out, and in return, I promise you that I will transfer money to my savings account every time I post an entry on The Lazy Travelers. (note: this may only be $5 or so, I am poor afterall) Together, we can ensure that I WILL travel this year, and YOU’LL get to read about it. Win/win.
respectfully,
the wino
Lazy Travelers
The Lazy Travelers are two transatlantic best friends who have mastered the art of exploring a new city. Though Ashley is based in London and Carolyn is in Philadelphia, we'll use any excuse to reunite around the world. We’re professional bar hoppers, pub crawlers, and food testers, and you’ll never see us zipping around, checking things off a list of “must-sees.”
8 Comments
melissa
i have the absolute same difficulty. did i really need those $200 shades, or that $15 bottle of sauv? the answer, invariably, is yes, of course. but… but… travel!!! my only mild solutions are to 1) have your chequing account set up so every time you swipe your debit a sum is transferred to your savings 2) factor savings into your budget and keep it totally separate from everything else you spend 3) open a tfsa or something where you are penalized hard core for removing funds more than once or before a certain time 4) (this one is tricky) figure out what you’re good at and can do from home and charge people for it 5) never leave the house ever again until your ready to travel!
the lazy travelers
hahaha oh god, i’m so glad you have 4 other ideas before #5. and #1 is genius!!
Christy @ Technosyncratic
I would ask myself before every purchase “Do I want this more than I want to travel?” Sometimes the answer is yes, but most of the time the answer is no. 🙂 I think it also helps to have a separate savings account just for travel, and try to put a set amount in there every month (even if it’s only a little), and then make extra deposits when you can. And nothing beats finding more ways to increase your income! 🙂
the lazy travelers
thats a really good idea! pretty much anything i buy i want less than i want to travel…except maybe a good pinot noir. xox, the wino