I know I have not been posting very much but I thought this was something important to keep up on. So quickly – while I have free time – here is my monthly report. Overall I think I am doing pretty good at reducing my debt.
| Cash – Chequing Account | $275.22 |
| Cash – Everyday Savings Account | $303.01*Cash saved for car maintenance |
| Cash – TFSA | $0.00 |
| Cash – High Interest Savings Account | $39.92 |
| Investment – RRSP | $4,592.21 |
| Debt – Line of Credit | $848.65 |
| Debt – Car | $20,975.84 |
| Total Net Worth | -$16,614.12 |
I travel quite often throughout Eastern and Central Canada. I spend on average 4-6 months a year away from home. Sometimes more depending on the given year. This has given me critical knowledge when it comes to saving money while traveling. Hopefully these tips will help you save money traveling as well.
These are some tips I use on a regular basis while I travel:
1. Drive - If you have a fuel efficient car and you are within 1 days drive (normally 6-10 hours) of your destination I highly recommend you drive. Plane tickets in Canada are expensive. For example upon a quick search through Air Canada to get a round trip from Montreal to Halifax would cost me $607.36. That price does not include getting from Quebec City to Montreal, nor from Halifax to wherever I would want to go. Yes – I agree it would take 11.5 hours to drive to Halifax from Quebec City but I could do it on one and a half tanks of gas. A little under $100. We will round that up to $150 with food – one way. So $300 round trip. I think losing two days of vacation/trip time is worth $300 (at least) of savings.
Side note – Only recommended for those who can handle long drives. People who have children can skip this tip as it is pretty much void when young children are involved.
2. Leave chemicals at home – I personally prefer hassle free traveling. When I am required to take an airplane I do not like getting my shaving cream confiscated because it is over 100mL and in my carry-on. Nor do I like how I was asked to remove my shampoo from my checked baggage because it was over the 500ml limit (yes these examples actually did happen to me). I lost not only the money I spent on my shaving cream and shampoo but then had to re-purchase these items when I arrived at my destination – effectively making me pay double. ‘Oh but MyCF you should have known better’. Yes – Yes I should have.
Side Note – If you choose to stay in a hotel most of these items are provided for free anyways, so why bring them?
3. Go to a motel and haggle – Do you really need to stay in the nicest hotel when you will only be there to sleep? No you don’t. The trick is to find a shitty (excuse the language) motel that only has 1 or 2 cars in the driveway when there are many units. Do this after supper when people are normally back in their rooms. Go to the front desk/office and haggle a price. Make sure to state how long you will be staying. And if possible pay for the entire stay the first night there. This is added security so they cannot boost the price up later. The best I have done was $30 a night for 5 days. This definitely beats $100-$200 a night some of the nicer hotels cost. Yes you lose all of the luxury you have when staying in a nice hotel but the price speaks for itself.
Side Note – I am paranoid and so I always travel with an extra blanket. You should too. Do not trust motels or hotels.
4. Be conscious of where you spend money – Do not buy anything but gas from highway gas-stations. They charge an arm and a leg for everything else. If you are looking to stop for a bite to eat, I suggest you drive further into a town as prices tend to get cheaper.
Side Note – Do not buy ANYTHING in airport stores. They charge excessively high prices. Because they can.
While traveling can be extremely stressful hopefully by following these tips you can slightly reduce your worries.
Do you have any tips to save money while traveling? I would love to add them to the list!
A year ago if I asked someone to go and have a beer with me, and they repeatedly told me ‘No, I don’t have the money’ I would have complained about them. I would have thought bad of them. My general opinion of them would be greatly reduced and I would have let everyone around me know how ‘cheap’ they were being. My reasoning behind this was because everyone I work with makes almost the same amount of money as I do +/- $5,000 per year. So if I could afford to go out so could they. Solid logic.
Back then I figured I knew everything there was to know about finances. I thought I was doing OK, especially because I dabbled in the stock market (and lost on penny stocks). I had a small pile of savings. In my mind, I had it made. However, my biggest flaw was that I reasoned that living in the now was more important than the future. You know, we might not be around in ten years right? (Funny how that now I could argue until I turn blue in the face against this thought process)
Everything changed when I realized that if I continued on the road I was on I would end up being buried in debt. Something clicked in my mind – just because I can afford to go out, doesn’t mean I should. But the biggest revelation was that it made more sense to save now so that I could live and enjoy more experiences when I am older. This now seems like the best option. I can retire at age 44 (2 months off from 43 so close enough) which is still very young. My view on money changed that day.
Now saving for my future is my priority. I am much more conscious of my choices and try and base much of what I do now to reflect positively when I am older. So far I feel as if I am doing a good job contributing to my retirement.
If I can contribute the same amount to savings, as I am currently using to pay off my credit card debt by the time I am 44 I will have $217,070 provided a steady rate of return of 4%. This is not including my RRSPs either which I contribute $2400 a year to. At my current rate of savings I should be able to save roughly $300,000 by the time I am 44. I will also be eligible for a pension at that age. So on top of my savings I will be entitled to 60% of my salary. Also I am entitled to a $10,000 raise next year. I can see no reason (aside from buying a house) as to why I would not be able save most of this. I think these are conservative numbers considering most people like using 8%.
For those of you in your 20s, did you ‘click’? Are you on track to meet your financial goal?
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