A few days ago I paid off a large chunk of my student loans – close to two thirds of the payoff amount. I subtracted the amount from my checking account, and stared at the numbers that remained.
This is where the “oh-f*ck-me” moment comes in.
It’s not the pleasurable kind of “oh f*ck me,” the one involving gasps and eye rolling and flesh. Too bad, too, since that certainly would have made a very interesting story.
No, my “oh-f*ck-me” moment came when I realized I may run out of money while I’m in Argentina. Two things caused my underbudgeting:
- I paid for my plane ticket using a credit card, and forgot I need to pay it off before the end of September. Whoops – (actually, now that I’m writing about it, since I just signed up for the card, I may have an introductory 0% APR or some shiz. I will look into it.)
- My Bible, my wonderful Lonely Planet Guide for Argentina, lowballed many of the hostels by three or four $US per night – something I only discovered when I went to book my stay. $3 extra per night for 40+ days = a good chunk of change, especially by Argentina standards. Plus, if they got the hostel costs wrong, there’s a good chance they got the food costs wrong, too.
Before I go any further, let me define what I mean when I say “run out of money,” because I don’t want to overdramatize or make myself sound like an horribly destitue artist who, in his throes of creative passion, may pour my life savings into hookers, booze, and blow. I mean, I don’t even like blow.
I have enough money to go ahead and start self-publishing my book when I return. I invested the money in a mix of mutual funds and stocks (which I might move to a money market fund after all the shibang that’s been going down.) I also have an emergency fund to cover my expenses for six months if I find myself a horribly destitue artist, etc. etc (hey, I didn’t think I’d be working out of my parent’s basement. You never know.)
As far as I’m concerned, though, both of these funds only exist for their allotted purposes, and running out of pesos in Argentina isn’t a good enough reason to go dipping into them.
Back to my moment: well, the ‘ole aortic valve did jump a couple beats, but all things considered, I handled it pretty well. I took a couple of breaths – and my moment of zen came to me like a watery mirage on the desert sand. This was a good thing: it’d force me to be on my toes, to work harder at the restaurant, on the book, to make sure I wasn’t wasting my life in front of a television or on the Internet. I’d have to work on my Spanish more. I’ll land in Argentina, and immediately would need to kick ass and take names (read: find cheap places to eat and sleep.) As I find out how I’ll do this, I’ll be posting it here.
It was odd, but the thought of canceling the trip because of lack of funds never materialized. I can make sacrifices, but doing new things and seeing new places wasn’t one of them.
There’s this liberation of the spirit when you realize money can’t hold you back from what you want. Going minimalistic is part of the process, but I think there’s something bigger going on here. It’s slippery and squirmy and I can’t quite wrap my mind around it yet, but it feels like something good.
Posted by Ming 
