Iman in Italy/ How I'm Paying For Travel as a 1st Gen Cheapskate

I'm going Italy this summer for my cousin, Tanyella's wedding. Exciting! I will be staying a little over two weeks to explore the country after the wedding with my Uncle, Grandmother, and Mother. We will go Verona, Venice, Milan, and perhaps Rome or elsewhere should we feel like it. I hope to overlap with Hamoodi as well, inshaAllah.

It will be a wonderful trip! God has sent me serval downloads guiding me on how to go about my time. I will sit in many cafes and talk to many a stranger. I will write to you.

At this time, I've spent $2,500 on flights, transport, and accommodations. I put $6500 in a high yeild savings account over the past 8 months for this trip. I will aim to spend only $3500 total, but who knows what will happen to me when I see the leather goods. I am but a young girl. When it came time to purchase my flight, I looked for 0% apr for 12 months credit cards. I decided on the United Gateway card which offers

They gave me a pretty decent line of credit, $14,500. I don't plan to use it all, but I'm always happy to expand my "available credit".

The card takes 5-7 days to arrive in the mail, but they offer an option to add it to your phone wallet prior to it's arrival, so I did in order to book the flights the same day in case of the price fluctuating. I then booked the hotels and trains the same way. Once that was all paid for, I divided the balance by 12 months and set it to autopay out of the high yield savings account I made for the money I set aside for the trip.

Why did I do it this way instead of paying the money up front since I had it? Because deep down inside I'm a FOB. I know that $6500 in my 3.9% apy savings account will make me like $235 extra by the time the 0% apr frame is finished. I l know that tying up my money in large purchases for leisure instead of leveraging zero interest debt gives me anxiety, and I don't know what the state of this country is. If I need to flee the US in the next 12 months, I certainly won't be paying off that credit card.

Why am I telling you? Because I hope more young people learn to art of debt leveraging and not being in crippling debt. Don't spent on a card without a plan to pay as little interest as possible! Zero interest credit cards are only a trap if the spirit of your most frugal uncle doesn't guide you! The spirit of my Uncle Shan guides me every day and I am grateful.