Needs vs Wants
Over the past year, I have gotten in the bad habit of making daily trips to my local McDonalds after work. I have been working almost every day and playing tennis when I am free so laziness sets in whenever the thought of cooking comes around. Though this has not increased my budget as I stick to the $5 meals but it has definitely increased my belly size.
Back to point, a young lady who works there most of the nights at McDonalds, read my blog and asked me a question, “What to do if there was something they wanted? Where to take the money from or to save for it?” I was unable to discuss it with her in full as there were other customers waiting behind me, so I decided to blog about it here.
It depends whether it’s a need or want. A car to travel to work is a need but if it is cheaper by bus and you don’t work at an ungodly hour when buses don’t run than it’s a want. I bought my 1995 Rav4 with its peeling paint and outdated interior décor for $2500. It’s a 2 door and I bought it since I do night shifts so it’s a need. If I had bought a 5 door 2010 Rav4 costing $20,000, it would have been a want as I am single and don’t need a big car like that. I also learned via youtube how to look after my car and change oils among other things so I don’t have to pay for garage costs. I am planning on changing my brake pads next.
So my answer for this particular young lady, think if you really need. Emergency accounts are for unforeseen circumstances like you lose your job, get sick and pay medical bills or a sudden event like a funeral.
If you want to take a holiday, plan ahead. In June I plan to go to Wellington which I applied for and saved 3 months beforehand. After checking online for places to visit, admission costs, eating out costs and flights, I decided on a $500 budget for the 4 day trip. Since my friends kindly letting me crash at their place, I saved on accommodation otherwise I would have found deals online or backpackers have always been a good option for me.
By some luck, I got offered extra shifts at work and the extra I earned went into my holiday account. Otherwise I would have added a $100/fortnight which would have come to $600 once the holiday rolled around. In fact, I loved this idea so much, I decided to make $100 payments into my holiday account every fortnight. So that I will always have money when I need to take a holiday.
Additionally I bought my plane tickets quite early so they were quite cheap. Keep an eye on online sites or sign up to alerts so whenever they have specials, an email will show up in your box. So that’s $100 gone.
Next were clothes since its much colder in Wellington than in Auckland especially with winter approaching. Now many stores get their most customers between Friday and Monday. Why? Because most public holidays fall on a Monday or Friday and weekends are usually when most people are off anyway. These are the days when the maximum amount of people would come to do the shopping. Tuesdays are usually when something on sale or special ends and is usually taken down or put back to its original pricing. Wednesdays are usually when the new sales or special signs go up. Now I am quite a big lady and usually if something I want which is on special, It would be either finished when I get to it or I will not find it in my size.
So I went with a friend to The Warehouse, between the days of Wednesday and Friday and I managed to get some great branded tops ($10 each), jeans ($9 each)and a jacket ($40) all for a $120 and in my size. Shopping done.
So I have around $300 to spend in Wellington and since there are a lot of activities and sights which are either free or cheap, $300 would be more than enough.
Planning is everything, even meals since you can read reviews and costs online. I know what I am going to do every minute of those 4 days and indoor activities will be left to the end or for rainy days. So I hope this answers my McDonald friend’s question.