Astrogirl’s company is sending her on a week-long business trip in two weeks to LA. Today she said, “Why don’t you come with me? You could go down to San Diego and see Doug!” So I’m thinking about it… I REALLY need a vacation, but I’m broke right now! While I could afford the ticket, it would leave me very little money until my next paycheck… my finances are a bit shaky at the moment! It’s a long story, but I’ll try to summarize: normally I keep about $3000 cash in my room (my “just in case N. Korea invades” getaway fund), and I have used that for the past few years for yearly ‘back to the real world’ trips. However, a few months ago, Astrogirl’s ex-boss called her and said “I’ll pay you $38000 a year to come back and be MY secretary again!” (Astrogirl is a REALLY good secretary! And I don’t say that just because I love her… witness the fact that her boss is willing to pay her a salary that is about double what the other secretaries make…). So, Astrogirl quits her job, and goes back to her old job. OK, fine. However, Astrogirl then gets money-hungry, goes to the bank, and opens another savings account! (here in Korea, they have savings accounts that pay a very high interest rate, with some conditions: #1) you agree to deposit a certain amount every month, #2) you do so for an agreed amount of time (usually 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc.), #3) if you fail to deposit the agreed amount EVEN ONCE, you forfeit ALL of the interest.) So, Astrogirl has 4 or 5 of these accounts going, in which we have both been putting money for the past few years. Her new account, however, she opened while not thinking clearly… what it boils down to is that her entire paycheck is going into savings accounts (and a couple of hundred bucks that she gives to her parents every month, as both of them are retired with no pensions), leaving her NO money! Funny, as she make MUCH more than her friends and peers! So, back to my getaway fund… gone. These days, every month I give Astrogirl about $600 to put in the various savings accounts (along with virtually her ENTIRE salary), and about $200-$300 for spending money… leaving me with damn little money to go to San Diego!
This has good and bad points.
Good point: we have saved about $50,000 (about 75% Astrogirl’s, of course)as of now (and by the time we go back to the US in a year or so, it should be closer to $80,000-$90,000… enough to keep me in beer for at least a few months!).
Bad point: I have no getaway fund, and have to drink cheap beer these days!
So, am I going to San Diego (via LA) in a couple of weeks with Astrogirl? I dunno… still thinking about it… but I guess I’m leaning towards ‘no’… I DO need a vacation, but it’s going to cost, at minimum, about $1500. That’s a LOT for a week out of Seoul! On the other hand, I’d PAY $1500 to get out of Seoul for a week! What to do?
HELP!!! What do you guys think?
