We all love travelling. We all want to see what’s out there. Find the unknown. Discover new lands and uncover new trails. Learn about another culture or even another language.
Most of us dream of leaving home and wonder around the world.
But why just so few of us still do?
With globalisation, travelling and learning about other places out of our hometowns have become a lot easier. We now have the internet, we can search for everything at the touch of our fingertips, learn another language without leaving the room, find about other cultures on a Google search. But we want more. We want to see it for ourselves, we want to experience it with our own hearts. And for all of those amazing things, we need a bit of planning.
Money is the main reason why people bury away their desire to travel. The excuses are endless… ‘I don’t have enough money’ or ‘travelling is too expensive’ or even ‘I will travel when I save up some money’. You’ve heard them all. And you probably said them yourself. We’ve done it ourselves.
But if you put your priorities straight and start making a plan, everything is possible.
The one (very important) thing we had to do, was to make travelling our main goal and build a plan. When we decided we wanted to travel, we made a few arrangements and organise our lives around our travelling plans. We sat down and made a list of our expenses, income and savings and made a plan according to our financial situation. We cut down on things that we could live without and started making some changes in our everyday life.
Build your plan. Focus on the goal. Start saving.
We’ve put together some great tips that helped us save money for our dream travel around the world. It may not sound easy but it’s not impossible!
9 Sure Proof Ways of Saving Money to Travel
- Cut down on ‘luxury items’
Do you really need a new pair of pants every month? Or a new top every time you go out? Do your clothes get old or not ‘wearable’ too quick? Top Tip: buy fewer but great quality clothing that is timeless. It may be more expensive, but it will last longer and you will be able to wear them more often. Buy accessories that are cheaper and easier to combine with other outfits. Buy used or swap clothes you don’t like or use anymore, of just sew up a piece you love. You will be saving your money a lot more than you imagine. SAVE: $100-500 (year) - Stop buying coffee
It may be tricky but you can make it work. Buy yourself a reusable cup and take your own coffee with you in the morning. Cut down on caffeine or start drinking tea (take your own tea bags if you can get warm water at work). It may sound silly but saving $3-4 a day it’s almost a round-travel ticket to Europe in a year. SAVE: $720-960 a year!
- Cancel superfluous subscriptions
Still paying $50 a month for cable TV? Ditch that and choose Netflix instead, if you can’t stay without your favourite series. It’s a great difference and you probably shouldn’t be spending this much time in front of the TV. Off to plan your next trip! SAVE: $468 (per year) - Know your farmer
You may think it’s silly, but Farmer’s Markets are a LOT cheaper than your local supermarket. Find your weekly local markets and do the bulk of your shopping there. You’ll be impressed at how much you can save and you can get to know the people that grow your food and even do some bargaining. Win, win! SAVE: $1560 (year)
- Get cooking
Eating out is one of the most expensive ways of throwing away your money. Sure, we love going out for dinner every now and then, but if you have to eat our every time you’ll end up spending a lot more money than you need. Start prepping your lunch for the week ahead on a Sunday and get ahead with a net saving of $45-60 a week! That’s almost the whole food for the week! Find some easy and quick recipes and discover the chef within to make your money double. SAVE: $2000 (year) - Look for deals
We love a good deal. So if you are in (real) need for something new, like a present or a specific item, look for deals first and see if you can grab a special. Don’t look for deals if you don’t need anything, otherwise you can fall in the trap of buying something you really don’t need. After all, why pay more if you can get it discounted, right? SAVE: $100-200 (year) - Have a spare?
Today it’s getting easier and easier to make money with something you already have. Got a spare room? Rent it out on Airbnb or find a flatmate to share costs. Got a sweet ride? Why not go for a few hours with Uber and get the most out of what you have. SAVE: $1000 (year)
- Ride to work
If you have a bike or can commute easily to work, why not swap your car or public transport for a ride or walk to work. It’s such a great way to get in shape and save money! SAVE: $1000-2000 (year)! - Work it!
If your money is short and you can do some extra hours, ask your job to give you some extra hours (paid, of course) or get a casual job for the extra bucks. If you can give up some hours of your evenings or weekends, get a job as a waiter/waitress or at a bar or babysitting if you are good at it, are you an artist? Whatever trade you can make good use of, go for it. Jean is a web developer that also does some few other websites on his free time. Do what you can and what’s available to you. It will be tough and tiring at times, but believe us, it will be worth it!
After all this hard work, in one year you can save up to $7k! And that’s adding up to the savings you will be making. So think about all the money you’ll be able to save once you put that plan up and start working for your dream travel.
Of course, if you decide to do it all or some of these tips, make sure you get some time (or money) to treat yourself after the hard work. Make sure to enjoy your journey even if you are not travelling. Get time off to relax or have a few drink with your friends. It’s all about balance and we found all these ways to help us save money and we stick to it as much as we can. Sure, sometimes we are getting to enjoy ourselves and have dinner out or breakfast at our favourite coffee shop. At least we know that we are finding the best ways for us to save wherever else is possible.
Do you have any other tips for saving money? Share it with us on the comments! We would love to hear more about it.
Pin me for later!
Happy Savings,
Larissa & Jean
Nomaddictives
