Saving is something everyone struggles with!
Hey guys, it feels like it has been a long time since I posted an update, when in all reality its’ just been a little over a week. On this rainy Wednesday I wanted to talk to you guys about saving. Yes, the dreadful talk about saving money. I am going to be honest I am not the best at saving money, but my mother always taught me to have a back-up savings in case for emergencies. Even though I am not the best it’s still something that should be talked about because we can learn from each other.
So, in all honesty being a college graduate is hard, but also being an entrepreneur, and creative who doesn’t want to follow the norm is even harder. This is the path that I’ve chose, and it does reap its rewards, but it also comes with some hardships. I didn’t want to get a traditional job at a corporation because I was always taught to be my own boss and I take those words to heart. That is why I have chosen this lifestyle, running my own business is the dream that I have.
Not saying I don’t have a job because I do, right now I am working as a server at Buffalo Wild Wings. (Side note: Yesterday the National won the conference championship and is going to the World Series) Why you ask, well to basically save up enough money to fund my business. Being a server doesn’t pay much hourly; $3.89 to be exact. Then again being as though I work at the location right next to the Nationals, and DC United Stadium I make a decent wage in tips.
When I decided that I was going to go to Barcelona, Spain to study abroad for my last college credit towards my degree I was already working at Buffalo Wild Wings. At that time, it was December and I was injured so I wasn’t working. I had gotten a refund check and took a leap of faith and signed up. Now let me tell you at that moment in time I had no idea how I was going to pay for this trip, but it was something that I desperately wanted to do. What’s even funnier I didn’t even have a passport. So, I was lacking in so many ways. Then on top of that I was injured so I had no way of being able to work.
Things work out mysteriously though, as the end of December and January went by, I had applied to so many study abroad scholarships I forgot how many. I didn’t get all of the ones that I applied for which was okay, but the ones that I did get made the world of a difference. I received a scholarship that would pay for my airfare there and back. Also, I received $300 off my tuition for applying early and received a $500 grant because I went to a minority serving institution.
By the end of February, I had finally gotten surgery to fix my knee and was cleared to go back to work. I was so happy but also so nervous because I had to come up with $1,700 to be able to get on a payment plan with the program. I do recommend a payment plan if you want to go abroad if you don’t have thousands of dollars laying around. It helps spread the stress out.
How I decided to save for my study abroad trip was to put everything to my savings. When I say everything, I mean it; every tip, piece of spare change, and everything in between. I was a broke college student but that was nothing new to me because when I went to Coppin State by playing on the woman’s basketball team, I didn’t have the time to have a job, so I was often broke. Most of the time I had to ask different family members to send me money just to survive. Then after transferring to UDC and moving back home that summer I had gotten a job and didn’t have to ask for money anymore. That is the best feeling in the world when you no longer have to depend on others to do for you what you can do yourself. So, asking my mother to help me pay for my study abroad trip was hard.
I am not the type to easily ask for help especially when it comes to money and sometimes that can be a good thing and other times it can be poison. Regardless I swallowed all of my fear and decided to make a GoFundMe to help me raise money to get to my study aboard. I can say that did help a lot I was able to raise a total of $400. This wasn’t an amount that was made in just a week it took me months to raise that money.
So, every time I got off of work, I would count my tips and give myself a 20% allowance that would last me until the next time I went to work. The rest of the money that I made went into a little bin until it was deposit day. I chose to go to the bank only once a week so that I wouldn’t have to make a lot of trips. Its’ just me being lazy if we are being honest. With this method and along with the $500 that my Aunt Sonnie sent me I was able to make the deadline to turn in my application to be on the payment plan. I was so happy and thankful to be able to make it that far, when I didn’t even know how I would get there.
I continued with this method of saving and adjusting it when necessary, I was able to make the payments of my study abroad trip up until the last one. The thing is the very last payment was due when I would be aboard in Spain. I had to make a choice to be able to live while there or pay off this bill and struggle while there. So, I did what any other college student does and went to apply for another student credit card. The thing is my mother had got me a student credit card my second year of college. I already had one, but my mother was paying on it and I would help here and there.
This credit card would be in my name so I would really have to be responsible with it, because if were being honest I wasn’t when my mother gave me the card, she got me. I learned some really valuable lessons when using that card. I got approved and then I went to Spain, I still didn’t finish paying off the study abroad bill, but I tried to not let it stress or ruin my time there.
I was prepared for the interest rates to increase the amount of my bill, so I tried to save as much as I could. I tried to use the method that I did before I went to Spain. While I was out there, I was able to experience so much, but the thing was I didn’t have any cash to exchange for euros, and the price rates to get money out of an ATM was crazy. I just ended up swiping my card a little bit too much. In the end by the time I got back to the states I had spent about $700 on that credit card. I can’t say all of it was meaningless but that added onto the bills that I needed to pay, so on top of the study abroad bill I now had a new credit card bill. I now had 4 bills that I needed to pay. Before I left for Spain, I only had 2 which was my phone and the card my mother had gotten me. Now it was my phone, my card my mother got me, the card I got before I left the country, and my study abroad bill. I felt like I was drowning in my debt, I almost slipped into a depression.
Also, during that time, it was the summer so being young and stupid I wanted to try to go out all the time. By doing that I took more and more money away from the money that would go towards the bills. I’m not saying don’t have fun and live your life but just make sure you are having fun within your means. After a about 2 weeks I finally got myself together, I decided to buy a journal to be able to note down every little thing that I accomplish during the day just so when I feel like I’m not doing enough I can go back and see that I was actually working hard.
After that, I had come up with a new method to divide my money when to pay on my bills. In no way am I telling you to do this, I was able to do this because at this moment I am still living with my family so the stress of having to pay rent is not something I am aware of yet. I just divide my tips in the 4ths so that way everything is paid on evenly. This is a smart method if you want to make sure your money if evenly divided out, but the downside, is every payment will be in small amounts. I kept this up for about a month and a half and in September I was able to bring my study abroad trip bill down, but it wasn’t paid off yet.
It wasn’t until that I received a blessing that I was able to pay it off; I received an amount of money that enabled me to be able to pay off my study abroad trip. It was also may surprise that even after all of this time no interest rate charges were on my account. I was so happy and grateful when that happened, I paid my study abroad bill quick, fast, and in a hurry. Now that my study abroad bill has been paid off that was one less stressful thing that I have to deal with and with that an adjustment to my savings method had to be made.
Now that one of the four bills are gone, I just split everything evenly by thirds. Being able to spread more money around has enabled me to bring down my credit card bills. Also, it has given me the opportunity to go to Paris. Aside from paying my bills I also send a third of that money into my what I call my savings account. This is an account with a credit union, the only way I have access to that account is if I am transferring money to it or I have to go to a physical location.
I find this to be great a way for me to save my money being now its untouchable even to me because the metro ride to the credit unions location is a long one. I like to play little underhanded tricks on myself when I am trying to save money. I do have a slight spending problem. It is nothing drastic but it is to the point where I don’t like to have to spend money anymore because I get so annoyed because at some point I have to pay a bill or its’ the simple fact I am taking away money that could be going to my business.
Again, I am in no way shape or form trying to tell you that this is the way to save, because I’m pretty sure that you may have a way that’s even better and that’s good! Even if you don’t, I hope that I was able to teach you something if not about saving then at least from my mistakes. What are some ways that you save?
