Saving ⮚ Blog 13

    Money is a big issue when it comes to traveling. Most people don’t travel because they don’t have the money. Yet, here is a high school senior whose been to 34/50 states, Boston MA 2x, India and soon to be Ukraine. Three of these trips I pay in full by myself with little to no fundraising. 

    One of the reasons is my job. I have a well-paying and flexible job that allows me to get an education and travel, whether I travel with family, or strangers that later become friends. A job brings in money, which I can put aside and save, but it helps to know what you’re saving for. When you know what you’re saving for, you know how much it’ll cost you, which then allows you to set a plan. Back in 2019, when I went to India on a humanitarian trip for two weeks, I also had the opportunity to fly back to Boston again for a week for my sister and cousin. These two trips probably cost me about 5k total, but it was totally worth it. That might not seem like a huge chunk of money, but as a 16 yrs old teenager, that was a lot. Even looking back now, I can’t believe that I made those two trips happen! 

    Since those trips are in the past, I’ll give you an example of what a saving plan looks like to me with my Ukraine trip coming up in August. The cost for the semester alone (flight, housing, visa, housing), was about $2,500. The cost varies depending on the country. Keep in mind, this DOES NOT cover any souvenirs and trips I choose to take while in the country. Which means that I’ll be responsible for bringing $1500-3K. 

    I received my country assignment November 3rd of last year. I had my $2500 paid for by the end of February because I had a plan and I knew that this was something that I wanted to do.  I knew that I only had 10 months to get the $2500 paid for, plus get the $3000 that I planned on taking with me for 4 months. Below is a “plan” to help you save.

First Step: how much will it cost?

Second Step: how long until you leave?

Third Step: how will you pay for it?

• Work

• Fundraising

• Asking for donations

Fourth Step: how will you make the deposits?

• At meetings

• Through the companies website

I have done both of these two options. If you are going to make deposits through a website, DON’T PAY WITH CARD! Depending on the organization you go with, you may get charged a fee for paying with your card, which will add up. I suggest you make deposits online using your bank routing number. You will still have money taken out of your checking account, but it won’t cost you any extra.

Now that you know the answers to the steps stated above, it’s time for step five!

Fifth Step: set goals!

• When I set goals, I look at how much I'm working during a pay period to help wage how much I’ll be getting paid after all taxes are taken out. 

EX: 6 days/pay period

• With every paycheck, there are a few things that I automatically take out. For example: insurance, Spotify, Netflix, etc. 

• But after I make those payments, I put the rest into savings/make a deposit for the trip I’m going on. 

• As time passes, you’ll get into your own groove and this bump in the road will smooth out. It can take time to set those goals, but if you have an average paycheck number, it’ll help you set goals..\

Step six: celebrate your accomplishments (even the small ones!)

Every goal you meet, gets you one step closer to the end. After I paid my $2,500 I went to Jamba Juice to celebrate, because my hard work hard finally paid off. 

    These are the steps I use, so you obviously don’t have to follow them, especially if you already have your own plan, and it works just the way you like it. 

On social media, I asked you guys what saving tips you had and waited to share and here are those responses. Every person who responded will stay anonymous.

1. Get a bank account and put a good majority of it in there. Save like 20-30% on spending.

2. Have a jar for your extra coins and $1 dollar bills, add to it all year.

These two trips are great ideas! A savings account is definitely a life saver!! You wouldn’t know how often I use my savings a whole bunch, I don’t know where I’d be without it! If you don’t have a savings account, I would highly suggest getting one. I personally keep all my coins in one spot, so when it starts to get heavy, I’ll take it to the bank and get my coins turned into dollar bills.

    Thanks for reading! I hope this was insightful. It’ll always be here to refer back to if you need it in the future. As always feel free to send me an email, DM or message, I’d love to hear from you! 

    FYI, blog 11 is out, but it’s super short that’s why I didn’t say anything. So if you want to read it, here is the link Travel playlist (adventureswithliberty.blogspot.com) Blog 11 is where I put together a collaborative travel playlist on Spotify, so feel free to add to it. The link for the playlist is provided in the link above. 

@adventures.with.liberty