Save money

I’m sure you’re all dying to be updated sarcasm So I decided rather than to be upset and just let it all eat at me I called her. She didn’t pick up but I left a message saying that I wasn’t twisting her arm, that if she wanted to go then I’d love her to but if she didn’t because she had other plans or something I’d be fine. That I just wanted to know what was going on.

She called me, told me that she just felt bad being a freeloader but of course she wanted to go. heartwarming moment She’s my cousin but she’s really like my sister, I’d do anything for her. So everything’s fine now and I’m a happy camper again.

Well I’m taking my cousin with me too now. sigh another $5,000. Yay for me. =/ See I’d be happy to do it except for the fact that I offered to pay and take her a week and a half ago and all she had to do was call me back and say yes. But nooooo she, as she claimed today “forgot” that she said she was going to call me and confirm. Yeah, okay, the airline tickets have gone up by $200 a person…that’s an ADDITIONAL $800. Why didn’t I call her and ask earlier? Because she said SHE would call back and I’d already called her a million times about it before (oh did I mention she was never excited…I’m not the type to do something so that I can be adored but I’d expect her to be excited simply to go, not because it was going to be free). Was I supposed to BEG her to let me pay for her to go to europe with us? So to be as fair and as nice as I could I told myself I’d keep the offer if she called within the week. Well it’s my birthday today, 11 days later, so she had to call and she sent me flowers and balloons and so my heart warmed and I asked her again if she was going to go. She just acted as if it had already been settled or something. Oh my gosh I kind of want to kill her…I had already asked her dad…twice…all she had to do was talk to him ONCE. breathing okay sorry for the rant just needed to get it out there.
On the plus side for the day, my parents and family showered me with gifts. So sweet of them.
LOL so this is a goal about money huh? jk jk…I had a real entry earlier…like 3 people below this one… =D

Well it’s been three months and I’ve saved over $4,000. Not too bad for a college student without a job. But I have lofty goals so I’m going to step it up and get a job. Twenty hours a week, $10/ hour (yes, yes I know that’s not very much, I’ve made more before but I don’t want to take too stressful a job because I’m taking all my premed classes, researching, volnteering, etc. so sacrificing money for sanity is okay in this case).

I’m taking my grandparents on a trip to Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland), 22 days, and I want to pay every penny…airline, tour guides, shopping, everything. I’ve crunched the numbers, contacted companies and such, and it should be about $13,000. That leaves me 4 months to put together the remaining $9,000. I’m confident I can do it. Tip for everyone, and I’ve mentioned this before, have a savings account outside of your bank. I use ING Direct and the rate is 3.8%, much higher than the banks-which is less than a percent-and that at least keeps your money up with inflation.

Cheers to good times.

Doing well so far. Started saving in September and I’ve saved $1,700 so far…not to mention that I’m a college student. One tip for the rest of you is to open a separate savings account (one NOT from your bank). I have one at ING direct which has an annual rate (compounded daily and distrubuted monthly) of 3.5%. It’s much higher than bank rates and because there’s a delay of 2-3 days between making transfers from the savings account to your regular bank checking account there’s less temptation to take money out of savings. Usually people do unwanted spending impulsively and this prevents that. Good luck to everyone. Honestly…it’s not too hard and I’m totally not depriving myself of everything. I go grocery shopping every week or two ($60-$100) and even go to the mall. I just don’t do the whole vending machine, coffee, random purchase stuff.