Welcome! Just wanted to start off by saying thanks for visiting!
Budget Jar / Flickr Creative Commons
The first step for getting started in going anywhere you’d like is to get your finances on track. You don’t need to have lots of money, far from it. You do, however, need to trim the fat from your expenses.
Budgeting does not have to make your stomach churn or make you want to put everything down and run. I don’t like the work budgeting. However I do like traveling. I do track my money and know my monthly expenses. Make sure you have more money coming in than going out.
You’ll learn to be in control of your money and not have a nagging feeling about how to survive day to day.
Save a little here, splurge a little there
If something will not nourish you or give you life-long memories then cut it out then don’t waste your money on it.
Start off small, use this week as a jump point. Instead of going out and buying a $2-$3 cup of coffee before work spend the extra 5 minutes to brew your own at home. Buying a $5 sandwich at lunch? (Alright let’s be serious, it’s almost impossible to find lunch for $5 now a days where I am, it’s closer to $8-10.) That all adds up at the end of the week. I like to eat healthy so I meal prep at the beginning of the week for a fraction of that. Simple things such as this have a huge effect at the end of the month. That’s money that you can be saving towards your next trip.
You don’t need a formal budget that gets written down and crunched at the end of the day. Just know how much you are willing to spend and think if there’s any way you can save a little. Cut out bank fees, excess fuel costs, exorbitant apartment costs, etc.
That extra dollar will get you a beer in Thailand.
Don’t be financially irresponsible. Easier said than done? Don’t worry I’ll be covering this more in future posts just start being aware of money coming in vs going out. Check your bank and credit card statements online. A great tool that I use is mint.com. It’s free and lists all your finances, from credit cards and loans to bank accounts and investment accounts. It gives you an automatic budget and lets you know where your money is going. They even have apps for tablets and smart phones. I’ve been using it for 4 years now and love it.
Is there anything you do or use to keep your finances in track? Let me know in the comments
Mike TingTang