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By the time you read this post, I should be on a flight to Trinidad for Carnival this weekend!!! Wooo-hooo!!!
HOW MUCH CAN AN ISLAND PARTY POSSIBLY COST??? Now you would think a trip to a Caribbean island where you’re staying with a friend (with no hotel costs) would be pretty cheap…but this mess has run me up a good $1,500!!!
I know what you’re thinking…why on earth would Dolla Thug spend so much on an island vacation……that’s not Hawaii or Fiji???
I’ve been asking myself the same question!!
But alas, Carnival weekend is supposedly the best weekend EVER each year in Trinidad and I’ve been told by NUMEROUS people that it is very expensive BUT totally worth the money…riiiiiight…
I truly, truly hope so…but just so you have an idea of how everything added up (in case you ever decide to embark upon such madness), here’s my list of expenses:
Flight (purchased via cheapoair.com):
$530
(I used $200 worth of rewards miles to bring my flight costs down from $730, and this purchase was over SIX months in advance!…if I tried to purchase the exact same ticket a few days ago, it would run me $1400-1500!!! Carnival IS that serious, guys!)
Carnival itself:
$632 (includes costume and 2-day celebration of all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink liquor, Monday and Tuesday. And yes, I spent this much money on some damn glitter, sequins, and feathers…I didn’t know what happened until my friend sent us the receipt for the purchases she made on our behalf and was like, so the total in USD for Ana is $632…I stared at my computer screen for a good 7 minutes…)
$632 worth of sequins, glitter and feathers..........wait 'til you see my gut in this!
Fetes (pre-Carnival weekend parties):
$291 Beach party (again, unlimited food & liquor): $133
Some Cultural Thing: $50
Another beach party (more unlimited food & liquor): $108
TOTAL (not including souvenirs, daytime food, jet-skiing): $1,453
WORTH THE COST?
And in all reality, there’s no way I could ever consume $1000 worth of liquor and food in one week. Even if each drink was $25 and each meal was $25. And my friend has made it clear that the food is really cheap in Trinidad…so it really doesn’t make any damn sense…but capitalism is REAL! And I’ve allowed myself to be a victim…
MAKING YOUR BUDGET KNOWN
When it came to paying for “fetes”, I seriously had to be like – hey guys, put me down for one or two fetes. Anything above that, you guys can go without me – I’ll chill at the crib or on the beach and relax for the night, that’s what vacations are for anyway. I had to stop the bleeding! It was seriously getting out of control. Just because everybody else is spending $2,000 does NOT mean you have to spend $2,000. You have to know your budget, know your limit, and if that means sacrificing one island party that you’ll probably barely remember from all the unlimited liquor you’ll be consuming anyway – then so be it!
HOW DID I PAY FOR THIS?
Well, I’ve been using a “compartmentalizing method” where I have part of my paychecks split between two different accounts. One account (where most of my money goes), I use for monthly expenses like rent, utilities, food, etc. And the other account (where I have $200 per paycheck deposited) I use as a method for saving up for large expenses that I plan for months in advance, like Christmas gifts, travel expenses, or gadget purchases. This method works for me and allows me to pay cash for the large purchases when I have enough saved up so I don’t have that debt on my credit cards (costing interest month after month as I try to pay it down!).
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S A ONCE IN A LIFETIME WEEKEND
But TRUST – I know this is a one-time thing – no matter HOW much fun I have this weekend (and I better have $2,000 worth of fun to make my return on investment worth it), I will surely not be doing this again! So I’m gonna make the most of it! Wish me luck and see you when I get back!!!
So how did I spend my $300 Las Vegas winnings? Did Dolla Thug save every penny until she got home to tuck it safely away in savings??? Ummm…not quite!
Courtesy of zazzle.com
The psychology of “windfalls” are a very interesting phenomenon…I spent most of it, but still had a pretty practical approach (meaning I didn’t blow ALL of it on Patron shots…only $100 went to liquor and more gambling…).
Details as follows:
The First Hundred – the boring, sensible approach: I made sure to tuck one of the $100 bills in my suitcase so I wouldn’t be tempted to spend it and could at least have 30% of my winnings when I got back…and the 70% I spent?…
The Second Hundred: We went shopping the next day and I allowed myself to buy these $80 beauties (which I’ve worn all of 3 times since March!…jackpot money well-spent lol I get some good compliments on these bad boys!):
The Third Hundred: As I stated before, the remaining $100+ I spent buying drinks for me and my friends, food, and gambling a little more here and there throughout the rest of the weekend. As suspected, no more significant wins were made!
All in all, I made out pretty good – no complaints!
I got lucky, but what are some of the common pitfalls of Las Vegas?
10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT VEGAS GAMBLING…
1) ALWAYS go with a gambling budget (that you can afford to lose! whether it’s $20 or $200) – and when that money is gone – it’s GONE and you push away from the table! When determining your gambling budget, keep in mind what your REAL financial goals are (winning the jackpot does NOT count as a legit financial goal). You don’t want to put your finances in jeopardy! I went to Atlantic City for our college senior trip, and went with a $40 budget, lost the first $20 on a tragic game of Black Jack. Decided to try the Wheel of Fortune slots, got down to my LAST $5 and knew this was it! Pulled the handle and won $170!! I don’t know where my luck comes from…I think I get it from my daddy, he used to love Atlantic City!
2) Casinos use chips for a reason. Although plastic chips are the equivalent of cash within a casino, you do not have the same emotional connection to little round pieces of plastic as you have to cash money (i.e. your strong desire to keep as many paper bills as possible). This disconnection with chips allows your brain to feel more comfortable with betting more chips than you normally would if you were actually using cash. It’s a very dangerous game when your brain is processing real money as play money. Always keep in mind that at the end of the day, when your chips are gone – your cash will NOT be returned to you!
3) Beware of (what I like to call) The Windfall Syndrome. This syndrome occurs when you win unexpected money, and therefore do not feel the need to act responsibly with it. i.e. “If I fritter it all away on all-you-can-eat hotwings, what difference does it make since I never planned on having this money in the first place?” This is part of why it’s possible for lottery winners to end up going bankrupt! They put windfall money in a separate category or compartment of their brain where they don’t feel it’s necessary to handle it with care as they may with their regular income (if they ever even handled their regular income with care!). When dealing with a significant windfall, it’s recommended that one WAIT before they spend the money (at least a week or more), until the initial emotional high has worn off. THEN set up a plan to spend some, save some, pay down debt, and most importantly WISELY invest some! And don’t fall for scammers!…and anybody approaching you about your new money is a scammer!
4) This is a rumor…but I wouldn’t put it past them! Some believe that casinos actually inject oxygen in the air to make you feel more alert, happier, optimistic and more willing to spend money despite any large losses. What do you believe?…Apparently this site debunks this oxygen myth.
5) BUT it is true that many casinos do not have clocks or windows in order to encourage gamblers to stay longer (i.e. lose track of time!) Bring a watch and/or your mobile device!
Dearest Readers,
As of today, I’m competing in an “Education and Wealth” blog competition on GoBankingRates.com and it would be really wonderful if I could win so…do me a huge favor and VOTE FOR ME, PLEEEASE! All you have to do is go to the site and comment with my article #: “19″. That’s IT! SO easy. You should also check out the other articles, they’re pretty good. Below is the article I submitted which I think is a decent read for anyone in school (undergrad, grad, or other). Thanks for your support!!!:
For many, it’s that time of year again – time to head back to school! After sharing my own college credit card debt disaster story, a reader asked me what I would have done differently back in college.
Courtesy of cbc.ca
I decided to make my response into a whole new post so here are my top money saving tips [in no particular order] for higher education budgeting (those I followed and those I wish I’d followed!). Comment with any other tips that I missed!:
1) This first one is pretty obvious, but…apply for as much financial aid, grants, and scholarships as humanly possible. FAFSA and www.fastweb.com are the best sites to start with. Every little bit helps and it costs nothing to apply (except your time, but that’s irrelevant ).
2) (if you can help it) DO NOT BUY BOOKS NEW! Get them used or BORROW them whenever possible. The college text book market is one of the biggest rip off scams known to man (right up there with infamous infomercials). Chances are you’ll probably only spend about 5 hours of your entire life with any of your text books – so why spend $300 on each! There are plenty of online markets for trading and bartering for college text books, amazon and google are your friends.
3) To be a true college student, use Megabus, Bolt Bus, or Chinatown bus service whenever possible! Amtrak is just not worth the money when you can use much cheaper means for much better savings.
4) You’ll be surrounded by fellow peers spending (their parents’) money all around you. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses! It’s not worth it – trust! Keep it cheap – shop at forever21, H&M, other less costly stores (and don’t sleep on Target). Because let’s face it – out of everything I bought during college, I probably only know where 5% of those clothes are today – stuffed in some storage bin in my closet!
5) If you can be an RA and live “room and board”-free – DO IT! I never took advantage of this (too busy being a bad example by having parties in my own dorm room), but if you decide to be a Resident Advisor for your dorm, this can save a lot of college housing costs during your latter years of college. Good deal if you ask me… Continue reading College Saving Tips – LESS is MORE!
This past March, I went to Vegas for my friend’s 25th Birthday celebration. And…I hit the jackpot.
Well…not the jackpot jackpot, but let me just tell you the story…
So it was the first night of our 3-night weekend in Sin City. It was my first time really visiting Las Vegas (I had been there for a layover in the Las Vegas airport once when I was like 10, but that doesn’t count!) My friends and I had just dropped our things off in the hotel room and decided to head downstairs to check out our hotel’s casino (we were staying at this hotel, the Luxor…fancy huh?).
Courtesy of www.las-vegas-vacation-specials.com
Two of my friends had arrived a few hours before me and the birthday girl so they had already tried their luck a few times with the various slot machines the hotel had to offer, but there was one that caught my eye as we were making our rounds. It was this really huge slot machine with a big slot handle…like this chick:
Courtesy of amazon.com
Actually, it was slightly smaller than this machine shown below, but this should give you a pretty good idea of why I was so drawn to it (and no, that’s not me in the picture!):
Courtesy of quitecurious.com
Anyway, the slot handle attracted me and I had to pull it (…get your mind out of the gutter!). So I told my friends I was going over to the big machine while they were putting a few singles in the smaller machines we were talking near. I walked over and took out the first $5 of my $50 gambling budget (yes, I had a gambling budget; who goes to Las Vegas without a gambling budget???) and neatly fed it to the machine. I pulled the handle and watched the pretty lights and big numbers spin (easily amused much?).
SHE SPINS…
The first symbol to land was some random blue logo that was something the hotel used in their machines (not the typical “cherry” “7″ “$”, etc.).
The second symbol to land was the same random blue logo.
In the next few milliseconds, as the 3rd wheel came to a stop, I wondered what would happen if I got 3 in a row!
The 3rd symbol was NOT the random blue logo. BOOOOO!
I didn’t get 3 symbols in a row, but the pull was pretty satisfying and I was ready to just cash out on my remaining $4 and move on…but the little red numbers started counting upwards.
They finally stopped at 324 points. That couldn’t possibly mean $300, right??? I tried to quickly analyze what a “point” meant. When I first put in the $5, did I start with 500 points…or only 5 points? Did a point=$.01 or $1??? I couldn’t remember!
I stared at the machine puzzled for about 2 seconds before I decided it would just be safer to cash it out and figure it out when the little ticket stub told me exactly how much my “winnings” were worth.
I hit the “cash out” button, but nothing happened.
I hit it again…nothing.
Good morning, Readers. The topic of today’s article is not necessarily geared to my traditional Dolla Thug audience of 20-somethings, but we can all learn these lessons early before we’re parents ourselves (and if you are already a parent, then this article should be of even more value now!). I want to introduce you to our first guest author, M. Smith. M. Smith is a financial article writer. She has worked as a financial consultant and has had many articles published on various finance sites; her areas of expertise include debt settlement, debt consolidation, debt relief, refinancing, reverse mortgage, credit repair and so on.
Courtesy of www.allmandandlee.com
THE DREADED REUNION Have you recently been to your high school or college reunion? You must have had a nostalgic and fabulous experience. One of the benefits of attending a school reunion is that there is no underhanded advantage in attending it! You need not pretend how young you are or where you started your life. Your classmates already have that information. The relative advantage is that if you have a diverse class of 500 classmates, then you get to learn from the various wide-ranging experiences and subsequent financial experiences of your classmates. Continue reading Money Management for Teens and Parents
GOT YOUR STUNNA SHADES ON?
With summer (and heatwaves) upon us, I have a question: Can anyone explain to me why one would purchase sunglasses for more than say…$100?
Courtesy of www.geeksunglasses.com
I’m talking about those $300 Chanel/Gucci/Dolce/etc. frames. I mean…you wanna spend that much on a cute purse…or some fly ass pumps…fine. I can semi-comprehend that. But to me, sunglasses are so fragile…so easily lost…so easily misplaced…and so easily forgotten that they’re practically disposable! I could never really understand why someone would drop multiple Benjamins on an item I personally never spend more than $10 on (I spent $5 on these beauties).
Well I decided to take this opportunity to bring to you capitalism at it’s WORST! Anything to make a buck, huh? Here are some of the worst ways people have capitalized on Obama’s “brand”. ENJOY and COMMENT! Continue reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY OBAMA! (not so safe for work)
How did I have fun AND save money during my initial Dolla Thug Phase?
Courtesy of http://www.watchmojo.com
1) I DIDN’T LIVE IN MANHATTAN (unless it’s above 120th Street); try decent neighborhoods in Brooklyn or Harlem.
2) I made sure to go to FREE events (i.e. enjoy the park, free museums, Summer Stage concerts, River to River festival, etc. – or just hang at a friend’s place and watch old DVDs or shameful reality tv)
3) If I went out, I made sure to get to the venue BEFORE they started charging (“Free before 11″ meant I was ready and leaving my place at 9pm to get anywhere in Manhattan by 10:15!)
4) Liquor can be expensive – I definitely didn’t get caught up in the bottle-buying Manhattan high life; I took a cash budget of about $20 and I needed to make the most out of it (i.e. Long Island Iced Tea!) because when that was gone, I needed to be good for the rest of the night…unless someone else was buying! Tip: Being a lightweight saves money!
5) My preferred transportation of choice was the SUBWAY, no more cabs (living in Queens or Brooklyn guarantees a bill of at least $25 from Manhattan). Even now, I will take the subway at pretty much any time of night…alone…probably not safe, but I figure subways are lit, people are always riding 24/7 and my stop is fairly peaceful. Famous last words, I know – but it is what it is…
DOLLA THUG MENTALITY – SCHWARZENEGGER INTENSITY!! The Dolla Thug Revolution forced me to stop wondering where my money went and made me focused enough to say, “Ok, I’m going to take care of the necessities, and everything else in my paycheck is going to this credit card debt.”
Courtesy of pictureschat.com
After the credit card debt was paid off, I was able to say, “Now I’m putting all extra money toward savings for my emergency fund.”
Then, “Ok…now I’m going to use this money to rapidly pay off my student loan debt and build up some investing funds.”
During my initial Dolla Thug phase (which doesn’t last forever!), I just pretty much spent the bare minimum for a good 8 months. You’d be surprised what you can do when you STOP spending money! Utterly amazed! Continue reading How Dolla Thug Came To Be (Part 2)
There comes a moment in every personal finance success story where the person has to realize the error of their ways and (most importantly) TAKE ACTION to do something about it. Whether they realize they work TOO hard to have NOTHING but bills and debt to show for it. Or they have an emergency scare that snaps them back to the reality that they need to have savings and stop living above their means.
Courtesy of http://www.stoptherobbery.com/Intention.html
It’s that “A-HA” moment. That “something’s gotta give” moment where the light finally turns on in your head and you realize you have the power to make the future better – NO MORE PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK!!!
Mine happened…October 2007. (More to come…)
The Personal Finance Revelation is a financial “Come to Jesus” moment. It marks the end of financial insanity and chaos, and marks the beginning of the journey to financial achievement.
It’s like that moment in A&E’s Intervention, when the person decides to go to rehab. Yeah…it’s like that…
For the record, I am not a certified financial advisor of any kind and will not be held legally responsible for any misuse of the content of this site.
Below is the article I submitted which I think is a decent read for anyone in school (undergrad, grad, or other). Thanks for your support!!!: 
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