Friday, August 7, 2009

An update on saving

I'm sure it's gotten old that I've been talking about saving money, but I'd like to take a minute to recap the journey since today I was proud of myself for what I've done in almost no time.

It all started when back in March, Danielle and I were watching Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantamo Bay. Towards the end of the movie, they finally make it to Amsterdam.

Seeing all those sites, I turned to Danielle and said "We should go to Amsterdam."

Quickly, the conversation spiraled out of control. Next we decided we'd just have to see all of Europe, then finally the whole world if possible.

The problem with attaining that was several fold. The first was that I was about $1000 in general consumer debt, and Danielle had some problems of her own, namely having a relatively new $40,000 car she was still paying off.

Once we made the decision we put it on the backburner of our minds, finding inspiration in the dancing of Where the Hell is Matt, the runimations of Karl Grobl, the advice of Dave at GoBackpacking and the more "real-life" experiences of people like my cousin Alan at praxis pictures.

At one point, driving home from Edmonton (I don't remember why we were there), we came to the conclusion that the magic number for the adventure was $10,000 saved.

Well, Danielle already had that much money because she's a super saver, but I was far from it.

However, I've done everything I can to get there. I've quit smoking and drinking. I wasn't addicted to drinking and I haven't really quit, I just haven't gone out to get drunk in so long that I honestly don't remember. I've got a second job and I've moved to all no-fee things so I can save every penny I can.

And now here we are today. I've saved a whopping $4000 for the trip alone. But I've also saved $2000 before that as an emergency/come back home money for like when my car was smashed or when Danielle and I come home and we need some rent and food money.

So that' means I've saved $6000 since March! That's awesome! And the thing was, it wasn't that hard!

I just switched my priorities. You'd be surprised how easy it is to save money when you're not spending it. Before I was just blowing money, and you know, I've got almost nothing to show for it! I wish I had that money now...

But oh well, two things you carry with you for life are LESSONS and REGRETS. You decide what is what, but remember, lessons weigh less than regrets.

Anyway, there's still alot for us to do. We still need to finalize what we're going to do and when. We've come up with basic ideas, but we still need to figure it out for sure and when that day comes. I'll let you know.

Until then, save up for your dreams!

Drew

1 comment:

Lara Michelle Dias said...

If I win the lottery I'll pay for your trip and then you can keep your savings :)