Monday, September 29, 2008

The Dollar Challenge

David and I are planning on taking a big 3 or 4 month trip after he graduates (whenever that is). We want to go to europe, or africa, or south america, or wherever the wind takes us. We have been planning, and have Europe mapped out, and over the next 5 years, we will map every other place we want to go and make some big decisions on what to do! Its kindof a dual honeymoon, since we didn't really have one when we got married.
We figure we need to save about 10,000 dollars, not including airfare, so probably 14k total. Seems like a lot to spend on a vacation, right? I think so too, but the more we talk about it, the more we see it as a life experience. We got married young, we didn't get to go on a solo backpacking trip of europe, or a study abroad in africa. We feel that this money, while it could be spent on say, a down payment on a house, a new car, or whatever, will be well spent in seeing the world together.
Anyways, this brings me to my point, how to pay for it. I know that I will work quite a bit while david is in school (ie, next semester) and we have decided to try to live off only one income the entire time he is in school (so, whichever makes less money, we save it all). We are also trying something new: The Dollar Challenge. 
This is how it works.
Every night, when you get home, put all your dollar bills into a jar. (add your loose change, too). Try not to spend any dollar bills you get during the day, during the day. There are two ways this is awesome: We are less likely to break a 5, 10 or 20 dollar bill to pay for some gum, or a soda, and we probably won't miss the dollar bills we put in a jar when we get home. We are going to start October 1, and we'll let you know how it went on October 31. :-) We are hoping that this will be a good addition to our savings plan, and that maybe over the next 5 years, it could even pay for our entire plane tickets! Woohoo!
Anyways, all is well in the land of Allen. David is working a lot. :-( Sabrina is bored all day, and can't wait to have a full time job (or 2) next semester! We are both doing school to the best of our ability, and trying to love eachother more every day!