Dollars vs. Dreams

posted 23rd October 2011    Written by: Kat    CATEGORY: All Posts, Kat, Money, Season 5, Travel, Travel/Adventure

Money’s been on my mind a lot lately. Long-term travel plans will do that to you, I suppose. I’ve got a variety of fears related to this trip, but the one that’s most consistently present is the fear of running out of cash. I touched on that in my post about my travel/moving plans, but I think it’s worth a closer look. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone here, and I suspect this fear is what stops some people from following their dreams of traveling, opening a business, and more.

My parents raised me to make very practical choices about money. My family is solidly middle class–perhaps even upper middle class in the economically-depressed area where I grew up–and they taught me from a young age to save. I’ve never been the type of person to accumulate a large sum of credit card debt, and while I was employed, I was putting money into a retirement account. I decided to leave my job in Seattle to do AmeriCorps partly because the paychecks were sometimes uncertain. Even though I wasn’t going to earn a lot of money during my AmeriCorps year, at least I was able to plan for that.

Point being: my nature is to make reasonably intelligent financial decisions and save money.

What the fuck was I thinking when I quit my job?!

I was thinking that I’d spent a few years automatically transferring 20-30% of my earnings into a savings account every month. I knew that someday I’d use that money to do something awesome, and that time had come. When it wasn’t in my checking account, I didn’t spend it. It was like magic when I looked at the savings balance later!

I was thinking that I was tired of earning my keep in a way that drained me. I was doing so many things on the side that I enjoyed–teaching yoga, blogging, taking photographs–and I wanted more time to explore those options as a potential sources of income.

I was thinking that life is short, and that I’ve never really bought into the idea that we should wait until we retire to follow our dreams. A former coworker once said to me: “It’s hard to dance when you have a walker, but it’s easy to sit at a desk and type.” I don’t want to wait my whole life to do something that I’m excited about now. I don’t want to spend my whole life saving for something that might never happen.

I’m not advocating racking up debt to fund crazy plans and diving into things with reckless abandon. That’s not my style. I am suggesting that if we want to do awesome things, we need to make those a priority. I was able to save the money for this trip by living what some people saw as a spartan lifestyle. I spent money on the things that mattered most–travel and food, including eating out with friends–and I was cautious about the rest. There were certainly times that I missed living alone, but I saved hundreds of dollars each month by having a roommate. I rarely bought things like clothes, books, and other random items because those weren’t in my budget.

My dad said to me a few years ago that he and my mom had a hard time understanding me because they saw my brother buying things (new tv, car stereo, etc.), and I wasn’t like that. I like to spend my money on experiences. That’s how I choose to live my life, and that includes the financial side of it.

All of that doesn’t take away the fear of running out of cash. You know what’s scarier to me, though? Planning around a someday that might never arrive and living a life that isn’t authentic.

Of course, I’ve still got a semi-meticulous travel budget. It’s not like I can get away from my upbringing that easily.

[photo credit: me!]

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Comments (3)

3 Responses to “Dollars vs. Dreams”

  • Lauriane Says:
    October 23rd, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    I am the exact same way! Funny :)
    I also have a sibling who likes to spend cash otherwise, but I've always been careful about my money… Although when traveling (I spent a year doing a RTW trip), I discovered that saving for later wasn't always a good option… I lived in New Zealand and Australia, worked there and saved the cash, fearing that I'd run out of it… As a result, I actually went home with money (but given the change rates I lost a lot of it: 4000 NZ$ turned into 1500€…… ouch!), and now I wish I spent more cash on some "expensive" experiences like skydiving, which I didn't do back then because I thought it was a lot of money, but now I actually wish I had done it, because in the end you don't remember the amount of money you spent, you remember the experience…
    And if I do travel extensively again, I'll try to remember that !!

    So have a guh-reat trip and don't be afraid to spend a little more than usual while traveling, if it allows you to make life-long memories!! You'll get back to your careful spending habits when going home ;)

  • Kat Says:
    October 24th, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    I read this post yesterday and I've thought about it on and off ever since. Your words struck a chord with me because I feel like I could have written them myself. Money has been on my mind a lot lately too, and we seem to have the same perspective on it. I've always had a practical nature, started saving really young, and was driven by experiences not things. It's an excellent feeling working hard and saving towards something, and knowing you're being sensible about it right? I'm having a problem now though because my hunny isn't the same way. Don't get me wrong, he's very romantic, caring, and the best father ever to our daughter. But he happens to be a spendthrift and doesn't see big-picture. It's hard being the complete opposite of someone financially. Recently we completed a 9 week finance class about got set up with a financial adviser. All that effort didn't seem to work though. I've got to run, but I want to say best of luck on your travels, and what you're doing is really admirable! :)

  • Kat Says:
    October 31st, 2011 at 12:56 am

    Thanks for commenting, Kat. It's definitely an excellent feeling saving for a cool thing and feeling like you're being sensible (while also getting to do something rad!).

    I hope you and your hunny are able to find the balance. Maybe in addition to talking about finances you can spend some times talking about dreams and what excites both of you? (Note: I am nothing even remotely resembling a counselor. I just feel like people need to talk about dreams together more and invest in shared awesomeness.) Thanks for the good wishes, and best of luck to you, too!

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