The Malachi Group

Save a thousand

Many people ask me how they can save money for vacations without having to make deep sacrifices or huge changes in their financial lives.
Here is a plan to pay for a vacation that only requires a small life change.
First of all, the key ingredients include:
1) Are you willing to commit to a change in your life to get the vacation?
2) Is the end (vacation) worth the means (change)?
3) Are you willing to give up a habit to accomplish the goal?
4) Does it have to be a first class vacation, where you fly, dine and flop on the beach or by the pool? Or can it be a realistic middle-income vacation?
If you are willing, here is a plan for the vacation. Not an all out French Riviera vacation but one that you can achieve saving for in a year, paying cash for the vacation and have a blast.
Here is the life change required to get a week of relaxing bliss. Instead of going to coffee shop each day and getting a fancy coffee drink ($4.50) and a pastry ($3.00) have a bagel at home and just get a house coffee ($1.80). If you buy a coffee house mug, some places will fill it each day for 50 cents.
Let’s tally this up for a year. We will assume you go to the coffee shop five days a week, 50 weeks a year.
Here is an example of the cost of a specialty coffee and pastry for a year.
Coffee – per day $4.50
Pastry – per day $3.50
Total Cost per day - $8.00
Total Cost per Week - $40.00
Total Cost per Year - $2,000.00


Here is the cost of getting a daily ‘house coffee’ and eating a bagel at home.
Bag of Bagels $4.99 divided by 12 = 42 cents per day.
House Coffee at coffee shop = $1.80
Total Cost per day = $2.22
Total Cost per week = $11.10
Total Cost per year = $555.00
****Savings per Year = $1,445.00
Let’s be realistic and say you cheat on this plan occasionally. You should still be able to save a $1,000 in a year. May I recommend that you deposit the money you save each week into a savings account? If you stay disciplined, you will deposit $28.90 a week into the account. You will be able to see the balance grow but don’t count on much interest. When you get close to the goal, you can start planning the vacation.
Where to go? Have you ever considered a Time Share rental (www.timeshare-resales-rental.com)? They are available all over the world. The location I researched was Palm Springs, California. There are time-shares available for rent for $700 a week. While other time-share rentals are negotiable and others are more expensive. Cost depends on when you are going.
May I suggest going a week or two before premium rates go into effect? That way you will get the discount very near the premium time.
If you start this plan and stick with it for a year, you will experience great satisfaction in accomplishing the goal. It will enhance your self-worth because you have made a little sacrifice, saved and achieved. There is no better vacation than paying cash for it. You will find great enjoyment as you lounge by the pool.
Who knows? Maybe you will even start enjoying bagels and straight coffee!