Sunday, March 29, 2015

Normal is a Hoax

A friend of mine on facebook posted a status the other day with this question:
How does one fund world travels and adventures while they're still young enough to enjoy it?
While others were leaving creative comments for him like "find jobs that pay for travel" and "work for hotels overseas... they are happy to hire people who are fluent in English," I answered simply "Don't spend money on video games, tattoos, or beer..." and I should have added "energy drinks" to that list as he drinks A LOT of them.

I know, I'm a jerk. It felt like a buzz kill answer too, but honestly I could not help myself. And ever since I left the snarky comment I can't stop thinking about the question he posed. This young man works at a hip local restaurant, I think full time, and still lives with his parents. I personally think it's financially wise to live at home if you're not married and your parents are on board with it so I'm not putting him down in that regard at all. He's been graduated from high school for a few years and is not enrolled in college. That is NOT meant to be a put down as I did not go to college and really never wanted to either. He spends a great deal of his time playing video games, just like my husband... video gaming is an enormous generational trap but hey if that's how you want to spend your time and money more power to you. He's also as of late started acquiring new tattoos and piercings. While I have zero gripe against either of those things, I don't have any tattoos for my own reasons but I went through a punker stage and I really appreciate good tattoos, to be honest even more so when someone is covered in really good ones. I also had a few piercing myself although they're in my past. However he makes comments often about how much he desires to travel, generally always accompanied by a "whoa is me, I can't afford it" twist.

I know for a fact that one can nickle and dime themselves into poverty. This fellow does not pay rent to his parents and he has a job. As far as I see it there is no reason he shouldn't be able to fund world travels and adventures in his exact situation with only a little difference. He needs to put his money where his heart is. If his deepest hearts desire is to "travel" through a television screen with a controller in his hand for hours on end then okay, spend $70 a pop here or there on the latest greatest game. If his hearts desire is to cover himself in images that express who he is, you know, wear your heart on your sleeve, as opposed to covering his innards in real life experiences that will impact who he is forever then go ahead and keep spending hundreds of dollars on tattoos. And while I understand that beer and energy drinks are fun, they are incredibly expensive. I speak from experience here, my husband loves micro brews (although he's tremendously cut back on buying them) and I used to have a SERIOUS Starbucks coffee problem.

I am absolutely not writing any of this to put this young fellow down. He and I have a lot in common precisely because of his ardent desire for adventure and travels, and his punker spirit (which yes, I still have, despite my having grown up). But I write all of this to say, "where are your priorities?" It's so easy to just go on with life. It's so easy to just hit up the Starbucks drive through again and again. It's so easy to go out with your friends and spend $15 on beer at the local pub (over and over and over...). It's so easy to get caught in the trap of normal, video games for example which are HUGE money earners for their creators. It's not so easy to cut out all of those things for a little while to fund some world travels but wait, it actually should be easy.

Let's say he spends $3 a day on energy drinks (I bet that's a low estimate) $90 in a month.
One tattoo, I think a low estimate $200 in a month
Three six packs of micro brews $45 in a month
A few coffees from a coffee shop,
lets say one a week generally around $4.95 for a mocha $20 in a month
Let's not buy three video games $220

That's $575 saved in a very short period of time. It would take two months (granted I made him purchase two tatoos and six video games in this scenario but he buys a lot of other geeky nonsense too so it's probably a VERY reasonable if not super low savings estimate) to fund a VERY nice world travels adventure. There are trips on travel websites, to Ireland for example, that cost about $600 for a package that includes airfare, a rental car, hotels, and an enormous breakfast each day for a week. (And I know these trips are legit because my mother in law took us on one several years back and it was amazing) After two months of saving $1150 by cutting out a few "normal" life expenses this young man could travel to Ireland for a week with a very decent amount of spending money in his pocket.

The question he posed irks me to no end because my husband and I spent so many years living just how he is living now. The real question is NOT, "How does one fund world travels and adventures while they're still young enough to enjoy it?" but "Why isn't one funding world travels and adventures when they're still young enough to afford it?" Why is it so difficult for the average Joe to look past the every day normal and see that if he just laid out his priorities and went after them then he could have so much more than, "oh woah is me, I can't afford it?" You can afford it! Just stop being normal. Normal doesn't win. Normal has never won. Normal is a hoax!

10 comments:

  1. It sounds like your young friend's desire to travel is more theoretical at this point, because of course, you're right, he could fairly easily follow his dream, if it is really his dream. He might want to check out the blog So Many Places, by a woman and her husband who sold everything they owned, quit their jobs and traveled the world for three years.

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    1. He honestly thinks that he doesn't have the money to travel. He whines about it pretty frequently, like he would really go on all these great trips "if" he could afford it. No, you can't afford it if you spend all your money on other stuff but you can choose not to spend your money on all that other stuff. People act like they don't have the choice and that is the insanity about the whole "normal" situation. You do have a choice. (I am going to check out that blog now)

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  2. Wow - that was really spot on!!! I don't know who this person is, but you are pretty much describing a lot of people in that same situation!! I saw a quote somewhere, I can't remember by whom or the exact wording, but it was something like "Don't sacrifice your tomorrow for what you want today" which really resonated with me.

    I, like many, many people am an "instant gratification" type of person - I want what I want when I want it and......dang it.....I deserve it. This sense of entitlement we have brought on is unbelievable - most of us aren't willing to work for anything, we just expect it to fall into our laps.

    I also have no problem with piercings and tattoos (I would LOVE one but....did you know they use NEEDLES????), video games, or beer (but I HATE, HATE, HATE, those energy drinks...just ask my daughter) but they do cost money and the bottom line is, it you have to make choices in life and you can choose to live in your parents house and blow all your money on "stuff" or you can choose to save money, secure your future, and spend your money on "experiences" - the choice is yours.

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    1. That's exactly it, we want what we want right now and we deserve it too! We've a world covered in a cultural psychology that wants and deserves video games, micro brews, energy drinks, and tattoos (for example) so they deserve them but of course that means they "cant afford" to travel or whatever else it is they can't buy because saving is nonsense. That's insane! No it does not mean you can't afford to travel it means you spent all your travel money.

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  3. Not only great advice, but I like how you put your self in the question. I'm hoping I have instilled just what you describe with my kids. I had the opportunity before kids and family and to do so, I banked every penny I could from my highschool grocery store job. Now travel is still a priority so we try to prioritize it higher than nonsense and we've neen able to take the family to Europe, Carribean and Mexico and older two have travelled on their own as well. Its more time now we need to figure out -but working on it.

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    1. I love hearing that you saved money from your high school grocery store job to travel! That is an awesome testament to the fact that all it takes is prioritizing. It's great to hear also that travel has been a big part of your family.

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  4. Another way to put it, buy only what you need, not what you want. Cutting spending by $5, will fund an off season week in Europe. Look for bargains, Europe is cheaper in winter, and less crowded. I have been to 48 states and 12 other countries, If I bought everything I wanted, I would hardly have left home.

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    1. Perfectly put! It's great to hear from people who've actually been on the other side this conversation (not buying every little want and saving for bigger things). We went to Ireland off season too, which I think made all the "attractions" so much better because they weren't swarming with people. 48 states and 12 countries is very impressive! I'm really impacted by your last statement too, "If I bought everything I wanted, I would hardly have left home." I can't imagine if you'd have missed out on the opportunities to see 48 states and 12 different countries just because you chose rather to buy whatever you felt like on a daily basis.

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  5. And your future - if you can't find money to travel, you most likely aren't saving for your retirement either!!! If we could only tell him what a difference he could make in his life now by saving while he has no bills, no children, nothing......oh but we could tell him, but, as I well know from personal experience, unless you are willing to hear it its not going to happen.

    I don't see anyone my kids ages that are saving and focusing on the future (I know there are some, just no one I see) it is all about eating out, having fun, and enjoying ALL your time. I'm all for enjoyment but there has to be some balance and I'm just not seeing the balance.

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    1. I don't see the balance very often either. And you're right I'd love to sit him down and give him a long lecture and honestly lay out for him how he could actually travel right now if he really wants to but in cases like these unless someone asks for the lecture it generally does more harm then good. I was really good at giving lectures in my younger days (about other things, to friends making horrible decisions) but I learned my lesson on that too.

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