A family member recently made a comment about how 'it must be nice' to take such nice vacations. Yes, I understand that D and I do go on some awesome trips. Besides Croatia earlier this fall, we went to Chile in November 2005 and China/Thailand in August 2004. Taking trips like that is important to us. We both really enjoy visiting new places and meeting new people, not to mention eating new foods. It's a time to unwind, relax, enjoy each other's company, experience something new together. So what if we spend more money on these trips than other people?
We actually didn't spend that much on our most recent trip. I was surprised to find that we spent just under $5000 for both of us over three weeks. Yes that is a lot, but when you think about how much we experienced during this time it really doesn't seem that much to us. Besides, we make little "sacrifices" (in quotes because they may seem like sacrifices to some people, but to us they are things that don't matter) in order to be able to do what we truly love.
Here's how we can afford it:
We cancelled our cable TV about 6 months ago. That's $540/year in savings.
I take public transportation to work about 3 times a week. That's about $700/year in gas savings.
Our mortgage payment is lower than a typical household of our income level. It's at least $7000 less per year.
We have low home energy costs. Our power bill averages about $72/month. Our gas bill averages about $47/month. The average American household spends about $2100/year on home energy. That means we are saving $670/year.
That is not even considering the fact that since we don't have kids, we have a lot more disposable income. Children are expensive! We also only have one car payment, so while it may not be a savings per se, we have a lower insurance premium and lower car costs in general.
Anyway, adding all that up brings us to almost $9,000/year in savings just by altering our lifestyle a little bit. Small price to pay for such huge rewards.
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people are kinda rude! i told two of my friends about this habitat for humanity trip in China. as the deadline got closer, one of them freaked out about the $150 US dollar price, which she had long known about. Thus, she pulled out. I gave her a bit of a hard time, then apologized and said, "Never mind, if you can't afford it, you shouldn't do it." She asked, "Can you afford it?" I laughed and said it was a forward question. She said, "No, seriously!"
OK well I don't need to explain my income and spending habits to you, missy! I've been in China a long time so I'm pretty rude by now, I'm sure - I'm used to (and engage in) questions about income, how much an apartment costs, etc. I remember once my teacher asked a Chinese girl where I was, and when she told him I was on vacation, he said, "These Americans, they have so much money, they can go all over the place!"
Money is interesting to talk about, sure, but it's PRIVATE! If I feel something is important then I'm gonna do it.
I've actually become much less of a penny pincher than I once was. But this, of course, draws some judgments from people.
UGH! Just leave me alone!
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