I’ve already started to save for my flight to Hong Kong. I’m going to try to get there during Chinese New Year so that Jenn and I can make the most of our time. The last time I went was at the end of April and we didn’t get to do much together. We did things but during the day, I was just wandering around on my own.
Flights to Hong Kong around CNY can get quite expensive. The very first time I went there, airfare was close to $2,000. That was expected since I’m traveling such a great distance. But the more I visit HK, the more I see that the airfare does not have to be that high. The flight that I took in April was less than half the price. So far, the average cost of my flight is around $1,500. I’m trying to avoid putting anything on credit card since the interest is killing me so that’s the amount that I’m going to try to save up.
I was visiting my ING Direct account today when I noticed that they had a goal calculator. ING is awesome for stuff like that. Their website is very user friendly. I’ve been with them for a few years now but I haven’t really taken advantage of any of their resources until today.
I played around with their goal calculator and found out that my goal of saving up $1,500 can be achieved. I think CNY falls somewhere early in February so I need to save up that amount before then. According to the calculator, I’ll have that amount saved up well before then. That’s if I can spare the savings.
Currently, I am saving $50 from every pay cheque that I get. It’s not a large amount but when you factor in the other savings that I’m taking away from my pay cheque, I am cutting it a little close.
According to this savings calculator, I’ll have to save an addition $84.80 in order to meet my goal on time. That’s not a big jump since I can probably cut back on a few things. I’m hoping that once I have school paid for, I won’t have to worry too much about cutting here and there.
Chinese New Year falls on February 10, 2010 so I have some time. My last pay date would fall on January 28, 2010 so the timing is just right. Although, I have been looking and there are a few places that I can go to in order to reduce the cost of my ticket. Some places have it for half the price so I can use the savings for other things.
