Daily spending Habits vs Your Dream Vacation
I read the most interesting post this week. It said if you blow just $27 a day you could have saved $10,000 that year. I couldn’t believe it.
I opened up my phone calculator and did the math. It’s $27.39 to be exact.
How easy is it to blow through $27 a day? My hair stylist and I had a long conversation about it during my recent cut/color.
If you grab breakfast at a drive through on the run to work it’s about $6. Starbucks? $5. What about lunch with co-workers, nearly $10? A trip to the office vending machines? $3. Stop for a soft drink or slushy on the way home, another $3. Do you smoke or dip? There’s a whopping $7 a day at least. Exhausted from a long day at work? $15 for dinner in a decent restaurant, per person.
It’s easy to see how spending $20-$30 a day can be very easily accomplished with absolutely nothing to show for it except elevated cholesterol.
What if we took our lunch to work 4 days a week? That’s a $40 per week savings, that’s $2080 in a year. That would buy you a very nice vacation to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean or Mexico for 4-5 nights, with round trip air, transfers, great food, drinks, and travel insurance. Personally, I’m happy to have a sandwich or leftovers from home Monday-Thursday at work and use the savings to go to Punta Cana every year.
Doug and I had gotten into the very bad habit of eating out 4-5 nights a week after we moved to OKC. We went a little wild with all the dining choices the big city had to offer. Needless to say, the weight went up, the checking account went down. We made the decision to eat at home 6 nights a week. Weight is headed back down, money in our account is headed back up.
My son dips snuff, one can a day. He recently realized how much money he was wasting per year on that stuff, and immediately made the commitment to cut it out. He’s down to one can every three days and determined to quit completely. I am so relieved about that decision.
Throughout the year I hear people lamenting about their inability to afford a vacation. But those same people tell me they spend every weekend at their local casino. A friend of mine told me she and her husband added up their casino spending and could have purchased a nice Cadillac for the money they had spent over the last 12 months at our local casino in Eufaula.
I certainly don’t want anyone living so frugally that they don’t enjoy their day-to-day life. But if you want to have an amazing vacation, you truly don’t have to make extreme lifestyle changes to be able to afford it. Just a few smart daily choices and the money will be there.
Benjamin Franklin said “Watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves”. Truer words were never spoken.
Wishing you a bright and shiny New Year full of meaningful decisions and thoughtful spending habits.