Saving Money for the Journey

Last post, I wrote about my experience booking international flights. I mentioned that I originally felt that 2017 was the time for The Journey, a trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland, but I ended up planning a trip for fall of 2016. The one reason I wanted to wait was to save more money for the trip. So, how was I able to pay for the trip? The trip cost less than I thought, I found savings, and I dusted off the budget that put me through college!

The Journey cost less than anticipated:

First the cost of the Journey was less expensive than I originally thought. I know that going to Europe is expensive, but I sometimes think that milk is expensive. As in, I think it will be $4 or $5, but when I go to the store it is always around $2. Which, I think stems from a few times growing up, I would try to buy a candy or toy, and wouldn’t have enough money. Though, I don’t think anyone looked twice, it felt so mortifying, that I would rather have unrealistic ideas on the price of milk than to be out of money. So, when I thought about going to Europe I was of course thinking the price was two or three times the actual price! Since, the initial decision to plan the trip, I have worked and reworked a budget of expensive, I also add “crazy just-in case” scenarios into it. Guess what! It was at least half as much as I thought it would be.

Found ways to save:

Of course, the price is greatly affected by the time of year, room accommodations and meal plans. Which, I did my best to find deals. The main expense is the flights. If you take your time, however, you can find affordable flights. Sometimes the flights didn’t seem much more than flying to the East Coast. Keep in mind that booking international flights is done earlier than national flights. So that could account for the price comparison.

The second biggest expense could be the hotels, but we decided to look at alternatives like hostel international and airbnb. I originally planned the trip around hostels; mainly because hostel international has good tools and the hostels are centrally located. Also, European vacations often evoked the hostel image into the imagination. Overall the hostels probably were the most affordable, but we decided that an important part of the accommodations was the bathrooms. Since the airbnb rooms were still affordable and in our price range we determined to book rooms that way. In Cardiff, there weren’t very many airbnb rooms. So, we ended up finding a room at the Royal Hotel. I came across it when I was looking at for castles, and the hotel looks adorable. It was also in our price range. So that is the only place we are staying in a hotel.

The next biggest expense, will be food and alcohol. Although, the United Kingdom is no Italy or France when it comes to food, there are still many dishes that I would like to try. So, I don’t want to be too frugal when it comes to dining. However, there is still many ways to save on this expense too. First, some of our airbnb hosts provide breakfast, which if they do I will be eternally grateful for. Second, having a small lunch or snack will allow us to save on that meal. Now, for alcohol, I must admit I love beer. I hard alcohol and wine have a time and a place, but I like to drink beer as an experience in and of itself. I like both micro, and home brews and large brews as well. They each have their own feels and tastes. So I will be drinking on our trip, however, I have no plans to overindulge. I allocated a certain amount which I can spend every day and not spend more. The amount can be rolled into the next day however. I will see how this works. I have heard that in Europe beer is served warm, so perhaps I will save money because I wouldn't like it. I think I will be okay though. Having a beer served warm doesn’t sound as bad as having a beer go warm. I can't wait to find out!

We also have some tentative day trips, sights and tours that we planned. However, these aren’t nearly as expensive as I would have thought. Many of the museums are free to get into first of all. Many of the sights will have self guided tours, which can save some money. Like with food, I don't want to limit experiences because of money, so I have allocated a certain about for activities, but there wouldn't be any experiences that I will refuse because of money. Though if I am debating about whether to do something or not, then the cost might be the deciding factor.

Budgeting and saving for the Journey:

After realizing the true cost, and finding ways to save on the expenses, I had to set up a plan to save for the Journey. This wasn’t too difficult. It was only three years ago that I finished my bachelors. I was able to go to my first four years of school via my parents, however, I was woefully unprepared for college and after two years, I left it. I worked as a waitress for a while until a friend started going to school for an Associates in Paralegal Studies. I quickly followed, and that was the last of the four years.

Then, I started working and I went back to school for my bachelors. I had about $10,000 in savings at the time from a job I had in high school. So I used that to slowly work my way through school. I would pay for a semester and then try to replenish the savings during the semester and the summer. I did pretty well at this, but slowly it drained away and the last four semesters (I wasn’t going full time so I had many semesters) I would use a Visa card and pay that down as much as I could before the next payment. Perhaps, it would have saved me money if I got student loans, however, I didn’t know enough about student loans at the time so I didn’t feel comfortable with them. Also, having to pay 18% or more in interest is painful for me, so I knew that I would pay off my credit card as soon as possible. Anyway, the last payment of my last semester had me at $8,700 in debt which I paid off 13 months later. Because of this lifestyle of putting every extra dollar to pay for school I was able to reapply that to saving for my trip. Though perhaps, I am not as frugal as before.

The goal of saving for the Journey has made me tightened up some of the loose ends that I’ve developed. I use the 50/20/30 rule. That is 50% to needs, 20% to financial goals, and 30% for fun. Now that I am done paying for school my fun money has been used at coffee shops and shopping on Amazon. These are not bad things. However, I would much rather spend my money on experiences like trips or events than fancy coffees or graphic tees. So, cutting them out wasn’t too difficult. I use Mint.com to track spending and to remind me if I go off my budget, though I tend to use Excel to create the actual budget. I added the Journey in my goals last fall, and I love seeing the bar fill up. I really like the goals section of Mint. You can estimate trips this way. It will ask you how much for flights, hotels, cars, food and activities. When I paid for the flights I simply removed the flight from the estimate.

Even though I am saving money for the Journey, I am planning to use my credit cards to pay for the trip while I am there. This is mostly because of safety; I do not want to carry too much money in cash. I will pay off the balance after the trip. After paying for this trip, I have to start saving for a trip for fall of 2017. It will probably be about a week in Colorado. So I will probably continue to use these money habits for a while, though hopefully, I will not need to be as aggressive.