I want to start this blog post with a short exercise. Get out a sheet of paper and write down all your set expenses: rent/mortgage, car payments, cable bill, cell phone, insurance, school payments, and the like. Tally them up.
Then write down all your discretionary spending. This is what you spend on food, movie nights, outings, shopping, that daily coffee, cigarettes, tickets, your daily midday snack, and other similar things. If you don’t know what you spend money on, go track your expenses for a two-week period, see what you spend, and come back.
Add that all up — what did you get? Probably a large sum of money. And I bet there will be many expenses you didn’t realize were there. Financial experts call these “phantom expenses” — we never know they are there because the expenses are so small. People bleed money without realizing it. A dollar here and a dollar there adds up. Even a daily bottle of water or candy bar can make a substantial difference over the course of a year.
What does this have to do with travel? One of the main reasons why you think you can’t travel is because it requires money. If we cut our phantom expenses, reduce our set costs, and find other ways to save we can build our travel fund much more quickly.
No matter how cheap we want to be, travelling internationally or locally requires some money. There’s no way to avoid that, so in order to save for our trips, we need to cut our expenses and start planning. Here are some simple and creative ways to cut your expenses, make money, and get on the road sooner:
Start a Dedicated Travel Fund
- Place a percentage of your income in the account every month and don’t spend it in any case. Added any additional fund for travel to this fund. Keep it in mind that this is not an emergency fund and you need to be dedicated and start saving.
Cut the Coffee and Fancy Drinks
- Cant live without your regular coffee dose? Well, cafe loves your money. Coffee is a daily expense that quietly drains your bank account without you ever noticing. That daily hundreds on coffee costs you thousands per month. That adds upto thousands or more per year, that’s two months in Southeast Asia. What’s more important: your daily cup of Coffee or spending more time on the beaches of Thailand or exploring the jungles of Borneo? Give up the coffee or brew your own cup.
Cut down on Dining Out
- We all need to eat, but restaurants are getting quite expensive these days. I have increasing sticker shock every time I go out to eat. You want how much for pasta?! To keep your food bill low, cook more often. Compare price of similar meals you prepare at home versus you get at restaurant — you will be surprised how much you save.
Lose the Car
- Cars are crazy expensive to own, between insurance, repairs, loan payments, and filling your tank. Get rid of your car if you can. Learn to love the bus, carpools, bike, or walk. This tip may not be feasible for everyone, especially especially when there are no extensive public transportation system, but an alternative is to sell your car and buy a cheaper used one or to cut down on unnecessary long drives or day trips.
Find a roommate or Paying guest
- You’ll see a huge gain in your savings by lowering your housing costs. If you own your own place then downsize your apartment or bring in some roommates or paying guests. Turn that living room into a spare room if necessary. In places like NYC where rents are expensive, people turn living rooms into bedrooms and studio apartments into two bedrooms by putting a folding screen in the middle of the room. It’s not the most ideal living situation, but it does save money.
Get rid of Cable TV
- In the age of Netflix and YouTube, there’s no reason for you to be spending money on cable television. Get rid of it and just watch everything online for free.
Ditch your Landline
- I honestly only know about 10 people these days who have anything other than a mobile phone. You don’t need both a mobile phone and a landline. Ditch your phone line and avoid doubling your phone expenses.
Downgrade your Phone
- Having an iPhone costs while smartphones are handy devices, getting a cheap phone will save you money. You might miss all the features but instead you get to go places.
Sign up for travel newsletters to find out about discounts
- No one likes to clutter up their inbox, but by signing up for mailing lists from airlines and travel companies, you’ll be able to get updates about all the last-minute sales or special deals happening.
- In addition to signing up for airline and travel site mailing lists (check out the resource page for my favourites), I have a weekly mailing list where I find the best travel deals of the week and send them to you. I do the work of looking for deals for you.
Build a network on Couch-surfing
- Building a network on Couchsurfing can help you make friends with locals and get free accommodation when you do travel. But if you have never used it before, you might not get many responses. After all, someone who hasn’t been vouched for and has no reviews isn’t an appealing candidate. Make friends, be added to people’s profiles and vouched for, and have a network you can utilise when it is time to actually go away.
Save on Utility Bills
- Replace your light bulbs – Save on utility bills by stop wasting energy. Utility bills acounts for a huge sum of our monthly expenses. Turn off lights, replace bulb to more efficient lighting, etc
Buy Second Hand
- Why pay full price when you can pay half? Use wholesale websites, and clearance sales to buy at discount.
Sell your Stuff
- Look around your home and sell stuff you don’t need anymore: TVs, couches, tables, stereo equipment. Old stuff are often kept in storage never to be used. So sell them online and make some bucks.
Skip the Movies
- Watching movies in Cinemas is ridiculously expensive. Tickets, popcorns, drinks and other small things add up. Enjoy movie at home on online subscriptions which is cheaper.
Quit Smoking and Snacking
- Quit smoking – Smoking kills not only you, but also your wallet.
- Stop snacking – A snack here and there not only adds calories to your waistline but also empties your wallet — another example of phantom expenses. We don’t think much of them because they cost so little, but they add up over time and eat into our savings. Eat fuller meals during lunch and dinner and avoid the snacks.
Earn extra money on the side
- The sharing economy has made it really easy to earn extra money on the side. You can rent your spare room out on Airbnb, drive with careem, etc. No matter what skill or unused asset you have, there is a moneymaking service for you. Use these websites to boost your trip savings and travel cheaper.
Stop buying Plastic Water bottles
- Plastic water bottles are not only harmful to the environment, they are also harmful to your wallet. One or two water bottles a day will add up to a substantial amount you could save. Instead of plastic, buy a metal water bottle and fill it.
Live a Simpler Life
- Cutting your daily expenses, being more frugal, and downgrading to a simpler way of living will allow you to save money for your trip around the world without having to find extra sources of income.These tips alone will help save you at least thousands that will suddenly make your dream trip seem less like a dream and more like a reality.
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