I recently ran into an uncle at the wedding reception. Of course we started talking hunting and the recent trips we’ve had. I told him about my successful mule deer hunt in South Dakota as well as my Mule Deer and Antelope hunt in Wyoming, and Hawaii Vacation. I had a great Elk hunt in Montana even though I unfortunately came home empty handed. Now my uncle who is 20 years older than I just said how he wishes he could afford a trip like that at some point. He is in his mid 50’s and has yet to go on a hunting trip he has always dreamed about! The sad thing is I hear this same thing from people all of the time. The most common reason people can’t go on a dream trip is they can’t afford it. This really isn’t true and I’ll show you how you can afford it. Yes travel can be expensive but the experience is always worth it.
I believe everyone can afford the trip of their dreams if they would just use the technique I have been using for years.
Have, you ever notice that when unexpected expenses arise you always find the money to pay for it? The car breaks down, the water heater goes out, you get hit in the face with a softball and lose a tooth (yep, that was me). You always seem to come up with the money you need. The fact is, most of us do have enough money to afford the trip. We just need a better money management technique.
The first thing you need to do is go and open a separate checking account. Call it the dream come true account. The money that goes into this account is for your dream trip only! You do not touch it for anything else. Then you go to your bank and you set up to have a certain dollar amount automatically transferred from one account to your dream trip account each month. By setting up the auto transfer you take the emotion away from the transaction. There is a reason insurance companies, utilities companies, cell companies all try and set up bill auto pay. They want to take the emotion out of the transaction from you. A digital transaction is hardly noticeable but sitting down to write a check can sting!
Let’s say you start with just $100 dollars a month. By the end of the year you have $1200 for your trip. Now my bowhunting trip to South Dakota cost $250 for the tag, about $250 in hotel costs, and another $200 in gas. Go with a buddy and you can cut the gas and hotel fees in half plus you have someone to help pack your deer out.
What you will find is that $100 a month will slide out of your account each month and you won’t even miss it. After a few months feel free to up that 100 to 150 or 200. You will find that if you keep increasing the amount every quarter you won’t miss that money. Your hunting fund will just keep growing. Make a list of your dream trips, put them in order of importance, big and small, and start saving. I have been doing this for years and the monthly “dream trip” deposit just keeps growing. Every time I get a raise, a bonus, or any source of added income I up my monthly draft amount. It is not really how much money you make, it’s how much money you save. All you need to do is put some aside to experience great trips every year.
Today, go to the bank and open a separate account. Start an auto transfer of at least $100 a month then go home and start planning your trip. I have a few trips planned for this next year and the dream trip account has them covered. Now how does a person make time for the trips? We’ll save that for another article. But, If something is important enough, you’ll find a way! Does all of this seem simple? It is, but it works!
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