How to Start Your Own Blog

I feel like this is such a cliché topic to write about but how I created this blog is something I get asked ALL the time. My desire to create a blog started one day while I was attending a class at my college in the South Loop of Chicago. I went to school for journalism and already had a fascination for words and writing but the need to have a blog came when we had a guest speaker come to one of my classes. The speaker, though I am ashamed to admit I don’t remember her name, talked about her blog and how she made it into a successful career. My little college self sitting at my desk thought that, maybe if I worked hard at it, that could be a reality for me too or worst case scenario a nice little portfolio. 

What Closing the Distance and Moving to a New State Has Taught Me Thus Far

Two months ago, I packed my entire life up into my Honda Civic and drove across the country to finally close this damn distance between Taylor and I. I insisted to my mom, who came along for the ride so I wouldn’t get mugged or kidnapped, that I wanted to drive the entire way. I savored every mile that got me closer to him.

Closing the Distance: How to Start Your Move Two Months Ahead

Freaking out is an understatement. I am officially two months out from picking up my entire life, moving it across the country and I am a complete melting pot of emotion. One minute I’m thrilled to move and looking up decorations on Pinterest and ten minutes later I’m driving to work teary-eyed.

I’ve known for quite a while now that I am an anxious person and to combat that, I have to take things slowly, make lists and get shit done one step at a time. I’ve really taken this move as an opportunity to re-create life, get rid of all the clutter, all the old clothes, jobs, memories and things that no longer serve a purpose to my life.

Our First Disney Trip…In Pictures

To be honest, I mostly do these posts for my future self. I’ve always treated this site like a journal, in a sense, so I can look back years from now and see my own growth as well… and I tend to wash my phone in the washing machine and drop it in the toilet a lot so this is also my way of preserving pictures!

How to Stay Fit When Traveling to Disney World…Or Traveling in General

Twenty-four years old and I had never been to Disney World…

I know.

My parents aren’t big travelers and they also aren’t big theme park people so I never really thought going to Disney World was a possibility for me as of now.

Enter Taylor.

Top Eight Things To Do In Oahu, Hawaii

Oahu is like no where I have ever been before. So much history, culture and a completely different atmosphere gave me a great life experience that I don’t think I could ever get anywhere else. It’s a place that you could look at pictures of all day but there is nothing like the actual experience of being in Oahu.

I have visited Oahu on two separate occasions and compiled a list of my favorite things I saw and did…

Hawaii Travels and Deployment Goodbyes

It would be an understatement to tell you that Hawaii was beautiful. And the time that I spent with Taylor and his family was just as beautiful if not more.

I went to Hawaii to visit T and to say my last goodbyes before he goes under the sea for a long period of time, the longest period of time that we will be apart thus far in our relationship.

How to Travel to Hawaii for Cheap

I never really thought I’d have the chance to go to Hawaii. I know it’s beautiful but my dad hates airplanes, family doesn’t travel much to begin with and it’s expensive so I never really had the urge or the means to go.

Enter Taylor, my boyfriend who chose Hawaii as his first pick of places to be stationed.

He told me a gallon of milk was about ten bucks a pop and I freaked out because if a stupid gallon of milk is that expensive how in the hell am I ever going to afford food, a plane ticket and a place to stay?

Some intense research and internet sleuthing taught me otherwise, however…

Exploring St. Louis, MO

Being that I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, you would think that I would have already taken the three hour drive down to visit St. Louis, Missouri at least once in my life…

Surprisingly, this is untrue.

Me and T wanted to take some type of road trip while he was home on leave and my friend had told me that the St. Louis Zoo has a penguin tour where you can meet and pet the penguins. T’s favorite animal is a penguin so we easily settled for St. Louis as our road trip.

How to Budget Your Travels into Your Monthly Expenses

 

For two years now, Charleston has become my second home and it wasn’t too traumatic on my wallet most of the time. My airline tickets averaged around $300 and if I couldn’t do that I could drive.

The next stop on our military journey, however, is going to be Hawaii, a trip that will most definitely not be too kind on the old wallet. But I have recently put in place some tips and tricks that will get me, stress-free, to Hawaii and back… I might even be able to afford a nice dinner while I’m there.

The key to making all of this easier on you is to answer four questions:

How much will your trip cost?

The first step is knowing how much your trip will cost for the big stuff such as hotels, rental cars, gas, plane tickets, food, souvenirs, etc. Keep in mind that it is best to over guess prices than under guess. Also, keep in mind that many places, if you are married to the military, you can get discounts! You can make a rough calculation based on these prices…

Food: I know that, personally, I spend about $20 on each meal when I go on vacation. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it is less depending on where I am going and what meal it is. All in all, I give food about $60 per day. Take that and multiple it by how many days you are staying.

Plane tickets: A round-trip ticket to Hawaii is about $850 give or take. Look around on Google or there is a really helpful app called Hopper that will tell you pricing and pick a median price that sounds good to you.

Gas: If driving is your choice of transportation, find out how many miles it will be and find out what your car’s miles per gallon rate is. Divide the miles it will take to get there by the miles per gallon of your car. Then find the average gas prices in your area and multiply it by the numbers you just figured.

EX:) It used to take me 923 miles to drive to Charleston, SC. My little Honda Civic drives about 33 miles per gallon.

923/33= 27.97 gallons of gas to get to Charleston

I usually round up just to be safe so we’ll say about 30 gallons of gas. (I tend to get lost a lot.)

The gas prices around Chicago are about $2.20. So, 2.20×30=66. It will cost me about $66 in gas to get one way to Charleston.

Also, keep in mind that you will be driving around while you are there. Take that into account when finding out how much you will spend in gas.

Rental Cars: This one you should do a bit of research on. This all depends on the company, the type of car, the size of the car and how many days you will be renting it for.  This will require a bit of your own research to figure out, however, USA Today wrote a good article to see what the averages are.

Hotels: Again, this will require some research on your part. Based on where you stay and how nice you’d like your hotel or motel to be, these prices can range greatly.

Ex:) Whenever I go to visit my boyfriend, I already have my transportation and sleeping accommodations taken care of so really that just leaves my plane ticket, food and souvenirs and money for the things we want to do.

Plane ticket: I averaged this out to $850.

Food: I will probably spend about a week in Hawaii so my food will come out to about $420.

Souvenirs/things to do: I gave myself a budget of about $75 a day for things I want to buy and things we want to do. This adds up to about $525.

 

All in all, my trip to Hawaii will cost me $1,795.

When are you planning to go?

Whew! You’ve now have the first and maybe hardest step done! Next comes planning when you’d like to go. Pick a month and calculate how many months that is from today.

Ex:) I would like to go to Hawaii at the beginning of September. That is about 3 months from now.

How much money do you make a month?

Take your paychecks and add them together! If you are a bartender, waitress or anyone who has varying paychecks a month, figure out an average. About how much a day or a week do you normally bring home in tips.

Ex:) One of my paychecks a month is about $800 and the other one is about $900. I also freelance a little so I added in about an extra $50.

Turns out to be about $1,750.

After paying your bills, how much “fun” money do you have to spend?

I have a whiteboard next to my desk that lists out all of my bills that I have to pay, when they come out and have a space for me to check mark them when they have been paid. I know, I know, I’m a really big dork.

But it helps! Write out all your expenses, take what you make monthly and subtract them.

EX:) I make about $1,750 and lets say, for the sake of this post, that my bills come out to be $1,000 a month. That leaves me $750 to spend on whatever my little heart desires.

Put it all together!

Take how much your trip will cost and divide that by how much time you have between now and then. Take that number and look to see if you can feasibly afford to put away that much every month. If not, you may need to think about moving your trip a little farther back.

EX:) My trip is going to cost $1,795 and I have three months to save up.

$1,795/3= $598 per month that I need to save.

We already figured out that I have $750 to spend on what I would like every month. With that being said, if I put away about $600 a month toward my trip I would still have about $150 dollars to spend on going out with friends, new clothes, etc. which is fine for me.

 

Once you have figured out a good monthly budget for you, now it is time to start saving! Once a month, place that money into a savings account, under your bed, a piggy bank, and save up for that trip you’ve been dying to take.

Life is way too short to not travel. Don’t let your financial status stop you.