Tips and motivations for money savings: Travel with loved one

The first half of the year is over. The other half is just starting. One of my resolutions for this year is to save more money. I recognize that in order for me to save more, I must have a steady income stream. I may get it from my regular job, stipend from scholarship, online earnings, research and writing works, and tutorial jobs. Once I have this steady income stream, only then I can save money from my income sources.


We all have our own reasons why we need to save. In my case, I want to travel around Europe with my loved one. That is not at all a bad motivation to save some money.

I have three strategies to achieve my goal of saving more. One strategy is to cut my spending without compromising the necessities and some indulgencies of my own. I have identified various expenditures that can give me automatic savings if I dissuade myself from them. First, lunch meals are quite expensive at the university cafeteria. I can ask my host mother to prepare lunch for me or I can prepare sandwiches once a week. The potential amount saved for this is $50 a month or $600 in a year. Second, I will bring bottled water from my house to spare me from buying beverages at the cafeteria or elsewhere. Savings for this can be $15 a month or $150 in one year. Third, I will rent or borrow DVDs for movies to do away with going to the theaters. This will also lessen my transportation expenses of going to the movies. Estimated savings can reach at $10 a month or $120 in a year. Fourth, I will not drink more than two canned beers. It is good that I don't smoke but I can minimize it if I do. Approximate savings for this can be $10 monthly or $120 in one year. Fifth, I will use more the internet for its various free online services such as newspapers, SMS, messenger, banking, paying bills, and entertainment. Out of these things, the savings can run as much as $60 monthly or $720 in one year. Thus for the first strategy, it can make me save $145 monthly or $1710 in one year.

Another strategy which requires a rigid discipline is to have a buy-nothing or spend-nothing day in a week. So there will 48 days without spending cash out of the 365 days in one year. This will enable me to save about $500 in one year.

The last strategy is to open and maintain a bank account. There will be a fixed monthly deposit in the account to build up the savings while earning a decent interest. Estimated account balance at the end of the year is $3000.

All in all at the end of the year, the approximate savings due to these strategies will give me $5210. That is not bad for the first year of my personal savings build-up. Of course, for the next year, it will even be bigger and more. I will be on my way to an early, comfortable and worry-free retirement years.

But hey, I want to travel first, free of financial worries. See you around.