Guess what today is.
Nope, keep guessing.
Oh! So close.
Okay, let me help you.
It’s payday.
But today is no ordinary payday.
Today, after years of pinching pennies and eliminating debt and watching our savings grow by a measly two percent paycheck after elusive paycheck; After the big setback of selling our house at a loss, and too many minor setbacks to count, the day that we never really quite believed would ever arrive has finally arrived.
Today, we reached our savings goal.
Oh, hell yes, we did!!!
We made it.
I think back over the past three years at how far we’ve come, how hard we’ve worked, to save the money to make this dream a reality. It has been a long road and there were plenty of times when I wondered if we would ever really make it. It feels amazing to want something so badly and to see it through to the end, to dream up something that felt impossible and then keep our noses to the grindstone year after year, slowly inching closer to the goal. It would have been so easy to throw our hands up and declare it’s impossible, but we kept going.
A few of the sacrifices: Keeping the crappy car, Selling the house, Counting our change
Today, finally, the money’s in the bank. The plane tickets have been bought. The jobs have been notified.
Tonight, we celebrate.
I’ve written a lot about saving money over the years, so to find a complete list of articles on the subject click here.
And one more thing.
I know this is just a tiny blog, one little website bobbing along in the infinite hollows of cyberspace, but to those of you who have followed us on this journey, through all of its ups and downs, thank you.
I know I’ve never met most of you and may never get to say this to you in person, but thank you a million times over for your support, kind words, and encouragement. Brian and I can feel your prayers, energy and cheers for us. They have, and will continue to, give us strength and courage.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, I think it takes a village to raise a dream, too. Thank you for being a part of raising ours.
93 more days!!
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{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
WAAAAA-HOOOOO!!! Un-freaking-believable!!! SO proud of you guys! YaaaaaAAAAAAYYYY!!!!
YAYAYAYA!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Gillian
We are soooooooo happy and excited 
That’s so awesome…Congrats on the next step of the journey!
Thank you DJ!
HELL YES! And I’m definitely buying the beers next time!
Thanks Sarah! But you don’t even have to buy the beers
The best part is I have a separate budget for beers 
Congratulations! It must be awesome feeling knowing that all the money you save from here on out is just going to keep you on your adventure longer!!! So exciting!
OMG, it totally is. I love that we’ll be saving MORE. It will keep us on the road longer, if we want to be, and that thought makes me grin.
Congratulations on your success!
Thank you Marisa!
Congratulations Kim! What a huge milestone and it must be a relief too. By ensuring you have enough funds for your trip, you also guarantee you won’t use money as an excuse not to go.
- Lily
We are way beyond the point of not going… but money was never an excuse. If anything was going to hold us back it would have been fear, but that ain’t stopping us either!
tomorrow we celebrate with you guys!!! How amazing to see two people we love reach this goal, you both are an inspiration!
Aww, thanks Jo
Can’t wait share burritos with you tonight!
Congratulations! This is my first time over to your blog and I look forward to reading some of your other articles about how you’ve gotten here.
Thanks Tiffany, I’m so glad you stopped by. I’ve definitely written quite a bit about how we got here but if you have any questions just let me know.
So awesome! Big congrats!
Thank you Ali
I am so unbelievably happy and excited for you!!! This is a truly inspiring achievement – high fives to you and Brian for your steadfast determination in pursuing your dream xxx
Are we like psychically connected or something?! Commenting on Kim’s blog THREE minutes apart? Come on…
Thank you Hannah!! We are so ready to spend that money on this adventure!
Wooooooo-frickin’-hooooooo! You did it guys, a thousand congratulations, the world is your oyster and I am so inspired by your hard work and dedication to each other, and your dreams. Enjoy, YOU DESERVE IT! xxxxx
Thanks Sarah!!! You know, it really does feel like we’ve earned it and that is such a sweet feeling
Wow! What a huge milestone…huge congratulations to you both on finishing one chapter of your life and getting ready to begin a new one =)
Thanks you!! It’s definitely a huge milestone. SO EXCITING!!! (I sometimes just get these huge bursts of excitement and one just happened as I was typing this. Ha.)
Awesome! Congrats! So excited for you all!
Thank you, thank you Elizabeth!
So exciting, congrats and great job!! I can’t wait to read and hear about the rest of the your journey!
Thanks Krystin
I can’t wait to write about it!!
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!! And excited for you, too!! Way to make a dream come true – one bead of sweat [or pinched penny!] at a time! Love you! Deb
Thanks Deb
It feels so sweet now that we have finally arrived at our goal. It was a long time coming!
Woohoo! Congratulations! I got tears in my eyes when I read your headline. Quite an accomplishment! I am so psyched for you two! You inspire us all!
Thank you
You are so sweet. We are mighty psyched ourselves!
Hurrrrahhhh!!! Kim & Brian, congratulations!! You’ve earned it – with every penny saved and every sacrifice made, it has brought you to this moment that much sooner. Time to pop open the champagne!!
Yayaya!!!! Thank you. We celebrated with margaritas last night. Maybe champagne tonight?!!?
Wow, that’s awesome! We’re only just calculating our budget and savings goals and it’s going to be less than a third of what you guys have come up with. We do have a shorter time to save it though but you make me believe that maybe we can do it too!
You can do it!!! You really can. Just keep on keeping on and save every dime. Good luck!!
Congratulations! Can’t wait until you start posting from your trip!
Hi Kindra, me neither
Can it just get here already 
Great job! You guys rock. We never had any doubt you’d do it. Hope the celebration was epic:)
Only 93 days to go…how times does fly. We are still checking to see if Division street is doing their pubcrawl next month but lets plan a get together either way. Talk soon & keep on saving!
Cheers,
Rhonda & Jim
Yes, a get together is in the works, on Division or otherwise. We are still squirreling away every penny. Thinking of only 93 days with an income definitely makes it easier to save!
Congratulations! I’ve been feeling a little bit stalled in my progress the last few weeks, and it’s awesome to hear the success stories. Have an awesome celebration — and enjoy the gravy of the 93 days’ past your goal!
Thank you Victoria
I understand the stall… this too shall pass. Much luck to you. We will definitely enjoy the gravy 
WOO HOO! You must be so proud and excited – can’t wait to hear and see how to trip goes! As I said before, if you’re in Tanzania, I know some awesome kids who’d be thrilled to meet you and teach you a little Swahili
Congrats!!
Thank you!!! We are both proud and excited. I have fallen in love with those kinds in Tanzania through your blog! One day I WILL get there and learn a little Swahili from them
KIM! I just began reading your blog and am so happy for you guys! My husband, Dustin and I both are preparing to leave for India in July-We bought our tickets two days ago! I’m really excited to read more of your posts and get to know you guys better-we will begin a blog together soon too and we’d love to keep in touch and share about our travels-who knows perhaps we’ll run into one another around the world for a drink or dinner! Best,
Tiffany
WHOO HOOO!!! Congrats on buying the tickets!!! Let me know when your blog is up, I’d love to follow along on your journey. It would be wonderful to meet you somewhere in the world
Also, I can’t wait to read about your experience in India. We are going in January 2013.
CONGRATS!!!!!!!
Thank you!!!
Congratulations! That’s an amazing accomplishment!
May I suggest something? With the extra money you’ll put away until you leave, how about you put some money in a ‘let’s-splurge-life-is-short’ kind of envelope? A few thousand dollars to do something crazy during your trip. I don’t know, let’s say you want to rent a sailing boat and live the life of the rich and famous for a week. Or take diving lessons on the Great Barrief Reef. Money for something expensive that you’ve always dreamed of. Just a thought.
I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, I love it so much I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. WE ARE DOING IT. I talked it over with Brian. We are going to take a few grand and set it aside and then use it to do a big splurge at the perfect time. Thank you!!!
YEEEEEAAAAAAAYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an amazing feeling! So happy for you guys. Can’t wait for you to be on your way, eeeeeee!!!
Thanks!! We are so pumped!!! The time is drawing near… 13 weeks left!
Hooray!! Congratulations. It is a great feeling!!
Thanks Jeremy… such a great feeling!
Congratulations! That’s awesome that you guys did it!!
My wife and I are planning a similar trip and today we hit 25% of our savings goal! We plan to leave on our RTW trip 2/2014.
Eric
SE PDX
Eric, congrats on 25%. It seems like we were there just yesterday. You are well on your way to leaving for your trip on time. SO excited for you. Do you know where you’ll go first?
We plan on going to W Europe first, then down through the Balkans into Greece to Turkey. Who knows how it will really turn out. My must do’s are gorilla trekking in Uganda, India, Sri Lanks and SEA.
How many times have you changed your plans in 3 years?
We have changed them a thousand times! I was just trying to change our first country today- and we’ve already bought tickets!!
Gorilla trekking in Uganda will be amazing. It will all be amazing, but that will just be insane.
Really cool! I’m just starting a change jar for my next big trip… looking forward to the day I hit my goal!
Scott, you’ll hit it! AND, I’ve been reading your blogs for great, quirky places to visit during our US road trip
congratulations on reaching your goal
Yay, thanks!! We are so so sooooo pumped!
Congrats on your success! I find your site truly inspiring! I’m realizing there has to be more to life than just the 8-5 corporate world that I dread going to everyday. I’m looking forward to reading your journey!
Thank you Dorena! It was a lot of hard work but I can say with 100% honestly (now that we are traveling) that IT IS WORTH IT!
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