Trip to the Gambling World – Las Vegas

Ceasars Palace Las Vegas

Alternate Sky at Miracle Mile Mall, Las Vegas

Bellagio Fountain at Las Vegas

This year, we went to Las Vegas for the Christmas holidays. Well, we went to both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. LA did not impress us except universal studios. But LV was a wonderful trip. We are not into either gambling or pubs. But still we had a great 4 days vacation in the city. There are so many things to do that we didn’t have enough time to cover everything. Above are few pictures from the trip.

Christmas holidays are the longest ones that we have. So, we make sure we take a break from our normal life and go for vacation every year. This year we took 10 days vacation. We try to plan our holidays very early that we make sure we spend very little money and make each penny worth the spending.

For example, we bought 2 days stay from a 4 star hotel month before the trip. The package also included meal planning for two days and $50 spa credit.

Overall it was a good trip for us and now we’re ready to rock 2012.

 

Changes in Indian Mindset

indians spending

There were days when we Indians were so responsible when it comes to money.  Eating out used to be a luxury. But we have changed.

NOW, We eat out everyday. We have servants for even small works. Very few of us exercise. We care the least about our savings. We live pay check by pay check.

In my childhood days, we used to go to movies once a year and we ate out once or twice in two months. Ofcourse, my parents were middle class. But still my parents were able to save good money with their small income.

I’m not writing this post to complain about our current mindset. All I worry is we don’t give importance to savings. We spend a lot. Part of it is due to inflation. For the same basic essentials, we’re paying 4 times the money when compared to what I paid 3 years ago.

We easily spend 1000 rupees for a movie night and 500 rupees for pizza. Well, I’m not an exception. But I try to save at least 50% of our salary for the future. I know it’s a last percentage. But if you are getting 50k per month as a family income, i’m sure you can save at least 20% of it for the future.

It’s the new year and best time for a resolutions (keeping it is yet another story).  How about saving at least 10% of out income this month? It’s not hard unless you have to pay 90% of our salary on EMI.

Take  care..