Can You Afford Your Bucket List?

Have you looked at your bucket list lately? Most adults have a bucket list that includes everything they want to do before crossing that inevitable border between here and the hereafter. Unfortunately, too many populate the listing with many impossible feats, accomplishments, and goals. Why not make your bucket list a more down-to-earth one that only contains realistic things? Here’s how to do it.

Make Some Rough Estimates

Go through your bucket list and try to arrive at a ballpark price estimate for each numbered item. Don’t be afraid to make a few phone calls and do online research to determine what the various activities might cost. Next, be honest about ranking the bucket list in numerical order, starting with the first thing you want to do. Remember, the sooner you start, the easier it will be to do everything.

Save by Cutting Monthly Expenses

Be practical about money. Come to grips with the fact that most of the stuff you want to do will have a price tag. Trips worldwide, bungee jumping weekends, and scuba diving vacations aren’t free. So, consider a refinancing arrangement to lower total monthly expenses if you’re paying on student loans. That way, you can stash away a chunk of cash to pay for all the items on the bucket list. When people refinance student loans with NaviRefi, they get much more than lower monthly payments. Most working adults who refinance end up with much better terms, like more favorable rates and more time to pay off the balance.

Choose the Least Costly Items

Try doing the cheapest things first to supercharge your movement through the list and tick off several items as quickly as possible. Lots of people include bungee jumping, parasailing, and hang gliding; those are three suitable activities to put near the top of your roster. They’re not all that pricey, and you can do them pretty much anywhere without having to travel too far.

Consider Making a More Affordable, Realistic Listing

Don’t feel guilty if you discover that you’re far short of being able to afford to do everything on your list. Most include several fantasies on their tally, like traveling in space or driving a Formula One racecar. Why not come up with things you can actually afford and do? This paring-down tactic works for almost everyone. The goal is to eliminate impossible listings and replace them with more realistic choices. While tastes vary widely from person to person, here are some examples of substitutions you can make:

• Replace space travel with an 8-hour hot-air balloon ride.
• Eliminate an around-the-world cruise by sailing down the California coastline.
• Forget climbing Mt. Everest and add hiking up Mt. McKinley.
• Cross off riding in a nuclear submarine and add snorkeling in the ocean.

All those replacements are doable, realistic, and affordable options compared to the original goals. It’s fun to have lifelong aims and dreams, but even better to have a roster of activities and events you know you’ll probably be able to accomplish if given enough time.