A Romanian woman wants to save money for her August vacation and has already started making plans and saving strategies. After doing some calculations he came to the conclusion that “we should set aside 400 euros per month”. “We still eat water, straw and milk,” she concludes.
The woman is now thinking about the summer vacation she wants to spend with her husband. He estimated a necessary budget of 2,500 lei, and if he collected 400 euros monthly, he would have vacation money in the next six months.
“I proposed to push ourselves, tighten the belt and collect money for a well-defined goal”
“The group kept discussing ways of saving, savings account, interest, investments, etc. and I learned a lot.
However, we want to save a relatively small amount of money (approximately 2,500 euros or the equivalent in lei) in 6 months for a well-defined purpose (namely a vacation). What do you think is the best option to save this amount strictly during this period?
The idea is that he will have to pay for the leave with his card. (He will be paid a 25% percentage from the place of work afterwards and this is imposed on him).
I said let’s go for the classic “money for the mattress”, we put it every month and in August we put it all on his card, he pays and that’s it.
If we are going to do it like that, is it good to have them in lei or euros? I’d say euros, it’s less tempting to get into them and they’ll be useful anyway, since the vacation is in Europe.
However, as the currency varies, let’s not go around buying euros every month, possibly losing quite a lot on commissions.
The male half thought about opening an account in euros. But there are quite high management fees here, for six months, and I don’t know if it’s advantageous.
Or is it profitable to get a Revolut card, put it there and not have a headache?
Excluded from leaving them on our salary cards.
PS We have other savings (money to be there) but we wouldn’t want to dip into them. Those have no purpose, and to be honest, we’re stingy about putting money there. (Okay, we don’t have that high salaries either).
However, I proposed that we push ourselves, tighten our belts and collect money for a well-defined goal. Maybe that’s how we stick to work and enjoy a well-deserved vacation at the end.
If we see that it works out, we do it again.
PS2. My head already hurts when I think that we should set aside 400 euros monthly, in addition to what I already save month by month (that money that has no purpose, but be for dark days). We still eat water, straw and a fight, if it is. But we are ambitious”, she wrote on the group Family budget.
“We don’t lend to anyone because we are in debt”
Following the post, several people made a variety of savings recommendations.
“If I have them in lei, I get into them. If I have them in euros, I don’t get involved. It’s probably not necessarily cost-effective to change them, but at a few thousand euros…I’d rather lose that commission than have nothing. Now I don’t know what salaries you have to be able to put aside 400 euros per month. That means almost 2000 lei. I also follow several techniques, but the euro one works for me”.
“I recommend you sign up for a CAR with a profitable interest rate. It’s the only way I can save.”
“I would do it like this, I would calculate how much I need to put aside each month and the first thing after receiving the salaries I could set aside that amount, as if I didn’t have it, then from the rest of the money I would make a clear budget, utilities x lei , food y lei and other expenses or unforeseen expenses. It will be harder at first, but if you create the habit and have a clear goal, I’m sure you’ll succeed. As for the currency in which you save, if you need euros, save in euros, there are exchange offices where the price is a little above the BNR exchange rate. And yes, I would keep them on the mattress not in warehouses”.
“I’ve been using Revolut since it came out, I’ve had no problems. And I make a Vault (“safe”) for each financial goal (you can also make a group/family vault etc and put several people in it). And finally, even on vacation, I feel more comfortable paying directly with the Revolut card (the exchange rate is much more convenient than if I paid with a card in lei; plus I don’t stress that I used the salary card in who knows what store in another country)”
“We change a certain amount of lei into euros, because we know that if there are lei there is a 100% chance of entering them. + Every month I make a list of my expenses, so I’m sure I cover the monthly needs + a small amount in case of anything. And with other accounts we don’t get complicated because we did that and it didn’t turn out well. And we don’t lend to anyone, as we are guilty of this too (I haven’t seen them again). Now everyone does as they see fit”.
