I've always found it hard to save money. Ever since I was a child I can remember dropping coins in to a savings tin only to break it open the next day so I could buy some pokemon cards instead of the really cool bike I wanted. Saving always seemed somehow impossible to me.
As impressive it is for 2 people to save ten thousand pounds, it somehow seems even more impressive for Kerry and I. And I have no doubt as to the reason. Desire.
There is a real wanting for vagabonding. It isn't a hair brained scheme, merely a dream that stays in a dream world. Vagabonding is now very tangible. We talk about it every day and there is always something to organise, sort out or worry about.
Its possible that I didn't want that bike enough, or didn't deserve that TV enough. In both these instances I circumnavigated saving, resulting in me either not getting it, or paying through the nose for 4 years for it!
However I feel we really do want and deserve to go travelling. We've made saving work for us. And its been quite easy!
Yes we've sacrificed things, yes we've said no to things, and yes we've both worked very hard to earn more money. But on the flip side we've also rewarded ourselves. Our lives haven't had the depressing, boring, insular image I always had of frugality as a child.
Things are only looking up from now on as well! Kerry has just taken a new shift pattern at work. One that compensates limited notice period and extremely unsociable hours for an extra £900 a month! That coupled with a £1200 a month saving when our flat starts paying for itself next month will mean we can bolster our saving efforts quite considerably.
Our goal is to have £25,000 when the ski season starts and our adventure begins in November. Anything more is a bonus, but we always keep that target in our heads. Especially when looking at new gadgets and clothes!
Well done on the savings Adam and Kerry,it's hard but so worth it in the end.I've saved to date £11,600 that was first through a ISA investment account over about a year and a half,but now I just put in whatever I can afford every month.A couple of weeks ago I found out I have a tax rebate of £1,500 which hasn't been paid to me yet,gives me some sort of cushion.In July when I do stop working completely,I hope to have about £15,000 if I'm careful,fingers and toes are crossed.It's quite scary seeing that amount of money because of how much cool shit I could buy with it.Have you had dates for leaving work and have you told them yet?
ReplyDeleteI used to put £10 into my ISA every week but I had to cancel it as I kept running out of money and just transferring the money back into my account!
ReplyDeleteI'm a rubbish saver! I'm too materialistic.
OR... as you say... I haven't found the right thing to save for yet. At the moment I'm not saving for anything so what's the point?
But about a year ago I thought I was going to travel the United States and all of a sudden I stopped spending. I said to myself 'do I want this [item] more than I want to go to America?' and if not I didn't buy it!
But as soon as that plan fell through, I carried on spending! :-(