My last trip to paradise was in November 2009. Due to finances I haven't been able to get back, the next time I am hoping to go is November 2012, which really sucks. I miss Jamaica so much. I'm curious as to what boardies do to save money, give up, etc. to get back home. Please share.
I so can relate to what you're saying about tight finances.
My husband & I didn't have a honeymoon after our wedding and we couldn't afford any vacations at all for the first 8 years of our marriage.
We made a little "Irie Box" and we started putting $7-10 in the box every day. In order to do that we had to cut back on a lot of little things.
We don't have cable now (Just hooked up the television to our laptop and watch Hulu) , cancelled all subscriptions. We're on a family plan with our cellphones - we never buy new ones, just wait for our free phone upgrades.
We sold our car. (we live in San Francisco - parking garage rental costs 300$ a month - not to mention the cost of insurance)
I walk to work every day instead of taking the bus (A 45 minute walk, lots of hills.. phew!). Pack all my lunches.
After 3 1/2 months we had enough money in the "Irie box" for the plane tickets. 2 months later we could book the accommodations.
It helps that we don't have children yet... but we're planning to start a family end of next year, so this will be our last year of travel for a while.
I don't miss the things that we've given up because Life is about experiences, not having all that stuff.
You never see a hearse being followed by a U-Haul.
Good luck saving up for your trip! I recommend having a box and putting money in it. It's rewarding to watch it fill up, it also prevents the temptation to spend any of it before you reach your goal.
I really hope you'll be able to get back to Negril soon!
Last edited by Clarity; 10-16-2011 at 08:49 PM.
Carpe Diem
Hi Negril Irene,
Great question!!! I too walk to work this saves on gasoline, parking ($4.00 per day), car insurance is cheaper when you walk and it's good for me, my walk is about a 30 minute walk each way. As well we eat at home a lot, we both love to cook and enjoy it so we often will have a friend or two over on the weekend. We love watching RealNegril.com on Saturday nights when Seastar Inn is open, this saves a lot of money because we stay at home, cook in and enjoy our concert in Negril from the comfort of our livingroom (thanks Rob & crew)!! I also like to buy US dollars on paydays, this is our spending, scooter, dinner & entertainment money. Same as Clarity I take my lunch to work as does my husband, this saves loads!!! Anyways it's always worth it in the end!!
Peace,
Islander - Brynn
Looking forward to our next visit to beautiful Jamaica! See you soon!!
I was working 3 jobs for a short time and still work 2 now. I didn't really give up anything but now that I've been once I give up just about anything if I could click my heels and be back in Jamaica. Every time I buy my lunch at work throughout the week now I think this could be better spent. I just had to spend 800 dollars in car repairs that wasn't expect. Huge bummer for my travel fundsI'm already thinking about taking on a 3rd job again.
before getting my current job, I had to save as much as i could, I set up a transfer of £10 a month from my bank account to a savings account by setting it up so that it went out on pay day i didn't miss it, Overtime as much as can be done, also got into the habit of emptying my pockets of loose change at the end of the day, putting into a jar and then putting the money in jar into my savings account, other things like buying cheaper branded food, getting the cheaper season ticket for the bus, cutting back out on nights out etc. also it helped that family either brought me things i need for trip or gave me money instead of xmas presents. We are lucky here in the UK as many travel agents will let you pay a small down payment and then pay the rest 8 weeks before you go. But also thinking before you buy, do i really need it??
We do many of the same things mentioned above. It's amazing how much the change in the jar adds up to! But my favorite trick for saving for Jamaica each year is this -- when I'm out and about, and think of stopping at DD for a coffee, or picking up a bunch of flowers, or, God forbid!, stopping for fast food snacks -- if I'm able to talk myself out of it, I take the same money I would have spent, and stuff it into the back pocket of the passenger seat. Every couple of weeks I take $20-30 and put it away. When I clean out my wallet, I take all the extra ones and put them in the same place. By the time we go to Negril, I've saved enough to pay for all our spending money -- and the dollar bills comes in very handy for tips -- don't have to go to bank and request them! The airfare we charge and pay off in advance, and the hotel bill we pay off when we return. I always call ahead to the credit card companies before we leave to determine who can offer me the best rate (and now you have to ask how much they charge for the foreign transaction fee, what a scam!) Somehow this has worked.
Apart from my real work, I spend a lot of weekends as a KJ/DJ and all the money I get from that I convert to US$ and put it 'in the drawer'. It goes a long way to covering the hotel costs. Putting loose change in a demijohn and another jar contains £2 coins (about $3), it's amazing how much gets saved in this way.
Sold the kids to a chimney sweep for £600 ($800), so that helped a lot............................
(joking)
Rise early, treat everyday as though it's your last and your last day as it's your first.
I agree with everything above - we have agreed to try to get to Jamaica at least once a year. The coin jar works - we can usually save up all most of our spending money while there that way. Also, signed up for a credit card that gives miles - our trip in January is on free milesMy youngest started college this year so I planned with some guilt, but decided we still need to enjoy a week in paradise for our sanity! We never go out to dinner, put away an additional 50 per month for our trip.
we could never afford to travel when raising our family, but luckily we were able to celebrate our 25th anniversary in negril last feb.-march. It was not very hard to save for ourselves once the kids were out of the house, but i can give tips that we hope can give us four weeks this year. 1- pay-roll deduction, never see it never miss it. 2- coin jar, always see it, ours has a counter on it, and i can see now it has over 500.00 dollars in it. 3- negotiate, by booking our own flights, and bartering with miss Vivian at Mariposa, we were able to enjoy 19 days last year vs. a week at an all inclusive. Good luck to all you saving, and see ya soon cheers
Wow, these are some great ideas and mamde11 that is why I missed my trip this year....my oldest went off to college. I am now planning for 2012. I already have the coin jar but will transfer funds directly from my paycheck to a savings account that I don't ever touch!
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