When I got my first “big girl job” out of college there was a feeling of self accomplishment being able to support myself on my own income. If I wanted a to go shopping, I went shopping. If I wanted to take a trip, I saved and then took a trip. The world was my oyster. Today, I would still say that the world is my oyster, but I also have to think about and plan for more than myself. After we said “I do”, my husband and I merged our bank accounts and decided to share all of our assets equally.
Throughout our first year of marriage, I had to learn how to share my paychecks with another person (of course it meant even more after we had our first baby, and then even more when number two came along). Sharing money and being a Mrs. has meant a couple things, especially in relation to my love for travel :
1. I have to think about another person in all that I do
2. I can’t just pick up and leave whenever I want
3. I have to think about expenses in a whole new way
My husband and I have some of the same interests, and some different. Although my husband also likes to travel, his passions are soccer and woodworking. We have learned to balance our interests and make sure that we spend enough time together, but that we also both get to do what makes us happy as individuals.
To make sure that we get to experience what is important to us, we live a pretty simple life. We pay our basic bills, buy groceries & gas, and only occasionally indulge in extras (We don’t often go out to eat or buy new clothes). We keep a spreadsheet to track our spending, and also outline our saving plans for upcoming adventures.
The way we save is a mathematical equation. For example, I want to take a trip in 8 months that will cost $2,200; Dan wants to do a trial in 5 months that will cost $1,300.
$2,200/8=$275
$1,300/5=$260
Together that is $535 per month for 5 months and $275 per month for an additional 3 months.
Once we know what we need to save, we start allocating money each month for the trip. (Of course this is assuming that we have the money in the first place. If you don’t already keep a budget and know if you have money to save read this article to get started). On the months where we may not have $535 to spare, we save what we can, and put more money to the trip that is coming sooner, and plan to catch up in a subsequent month.
To achieve our saving goals, there are some months that we really have to cut back. This isn’t always easy, and it requires a bit of sacrifice, but it isn’t too hard for us because we know that we are saving to be able to do what we are most passionate about.
And sometimes, there isn’t a way that we can possibly save enough to meet our timeline. In these cases we have to adjust and take a couple of extra months to take our trip or do our activity. As a couple, we have decided that we don’t want to be in debt, so this is what we have to do.