So First You Have To Save Money
Rich and I understand that we are incredibly fortunate and privileged to be in a position to chase this dream. Full stop.
When Rich first brought the idea of world travel up in late December, I knew I was in, and I knew we would need a solid plan to be able to stop working for a year without going into debt. We are happy to go into greater detail in later posts about what all of this looked like, but I would like to first present an overview of things we decided to stop, start, and continue doing in order to save the money we will need.
The Stops:
- We stopped paying for parking and cable. We were paying $175/month for parking in our apartment building in DC and ~ $135/month for cable. While looking for street parking in the rain isn’t my favorite, it is a lot more bearable when I imagine soaking in the blue lagoon in Iceland or hiking in Chiang Mai. In terms of cable, we switched to Fios for internet and got Sling TV which brought our bill down to ~$73 a month.
- We went down to one car in January. We no longer have a car payment, and Rich walks to and from work, which he loves. The walk builds in exercise and stress relief too. On days Rich needs a car to run errands, he drops me at work first. Having one car does require a bit more communication about our schedules as well as advance planning. However, having one car gives us more time together while reducing a lot of costs (a car payment, gas, insurance, parking, etc.).
- We stopped buying clothes that won’t go in our backpack in June. We love clothes. And we have enough of them already. Why buy something you are going to store for a year?
The Starts:
- Travel credit cards. This is most definitely a whole other post. Wait for it.
- Exercise. This hasn’t saved us money, but it has been an investment in making sure we are healthy and strong for our trip. After a hiatus from being serious about working out, we have used the last few months to get back in shape, building endurance and muscle.
The Continues:
- Digital Banking Tools.
- Digit. Quick caveat: when I signed up for Digit in February 2016, it was free. There is now a $2.99/month subscription fee, but in my opinion, it is worth that ten times over. Here’s how digit works: You sign up and connect Digit to your main checking account, and Digit monitors your spending to see how much you can save without really noticing you are saving. For example, it might take $3.27 out of your checking account one day and $31.19 out of your checking account three days later. It puts the money in a separate savings account until you want to take it back out again. Digit texts you your checking balance every day, and you can always text back “savings” to see how much you have in your Digit account. They also guarantee that they will never overdraft your account. If you don’t save money because you are too lazy to come up with a plan to save or to actually do it, get Digit. It first got me hooked on saving and has helped us save thousands of dollars in the last two years.
- Aspiration. About two years ago, I heard about an online bank with zero ATM fees and amazing interest. To save for this trip, we knew we needed to put the money we were saving into an account separate from our checking account where we wouldn’t see it and wouldn’t be tempted to touch it. Aspiration has been perfect for this.
- Cooking At Home.
- We don’t buy a cup of coffee out (unless we are in Fishtown at La Colombe). We make coffee at home and take it to work every day. Those savings add up.
- I meal prep every Sunday so we can pack lunches and eat dinner at home during the week. I am a pretty decent cook, and I also own a really fantastic Philadelphia Eagles crockpot (maybe my favorite wedding gift). I will make two recipes in the crock pot on Sunday that will feed us Monday through Thursday of the next week. We work a lot so knowing all we have to do is heat dinner up keeps us from ordering in or going out. Talking about my love for the crock pot makes me feel so old, but really, it’s amazing, and I can’t help it.
Calling any of these changes “sacrifices” really doesn’t work because they all work so well for us. It feels good to have a smaller footprint and to only have things that we want and need, especially while anticipating all of the exciting journeys ahead.