Hi, Ladies
I am busy planning my YEAR ABROAD. I am super excited and looking for ways to save money and ensure safe travels. Here are a few cost saving tips and items! More about my trip to come…
The following are excellent tips on how to save money for a World Trip
Create a savings plan. A good one of these will have 5 steps:
- Assessment – Hold your trip plan up to the reality of your financial situation. Is it feasible or are you dreaming too big? Make hard decisions. Once you have a general idea of your trip’s overall cost, compile a spreadsheet that lists your income vs. your expenses to see how everything stacks up.
- Setting goals – Your savings plan should comprise several goals, some short-term and some long. List your goals in specific round numbers and don’t be shy to shoot high but not so high it kills your enthusiasm.
- Creating a plan – The savings plan details how you’ll accomplish your goals. This could be removing unnecessary expenses (see below!), setting a strict spending budget or adding additional income to meet your goals.
- Implementation – Put your plan in motion and maintain it.
- Monitoring and reassessment – As time passes, your plan will evolve as your spending habits change. Take a look at your progress every month and scrutinize the budget for possible adjustments.
Set your dream
The first of our tips for saving money is to remember why you’re doing this and to remind yourself every day. Put a picture on your wall, or a map with pins and strings, or your rally monkey, for constant revalidation. Saving money is a slog, but you can do it if you set your mind to it. Then:
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- Simplify your life.
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- Sell some stuff.
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- Earn some extra income.
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- Get into habits of frugality (save without shame!).
- Reduce your expenditures.
Assess your expenditures
Make a spreadsheet where you can find it (put a link on your desktop) then list out every one of your daily/monthly expenditures. Organize them into two columns: “Needs” and “Wants“. Slowly eliminate all the “wants” from your list of purchased items.
Start a dedicated travel fund
Create a new account with your bank called “I’m Outta Here” and feed it monthly, weekly?, daily! Make it easy to transfer money over from another account and every time you go online to check your balance, transfer some money. Make it fun. Make it a habit. Make it natural. Make it painless. Revel in its growth!
Cut back on your lunch
It may be as simple as not getting a $2.50 drink (water is delicious, you know) but make a point of spending less than $8 on this meal. The savings will add up.
Cut back on coffee
No need to eliminate coffee from your life, but geez, stop buying expensive coffee! Think “drip”. It will save you a ton, upwards of $1000 in a year! Check out this cool coffee cost calculator and see what that caffeine is costing you!
Eat out less
Restaurants put more holes in a saving plan than a woodpecker on amphetamines. Plus learning how to cook for yourself is ridiculously gratifying. The Food Network and Recipes.com have a near limitless repository of delicious recipes to start you off.
Reduce or eliminate your car usage
Easiest way to reduce your car usage is to sell it! (Hey, Craigslist.) Uber is a great option daily if you need to get across long distances after the sale (or for supermarket days). Otherwise, that bicycle, baby.
Kill the cable TV
You’ll be surprised on how fast your savings add up without cable TV. Plus, there are plenty of free and cheap ways to get your entertainment. Netflix is cheaper than cable. Books are cheaper than movies.
Reduce your utilities bill
Keep the thermostat low, put a sweatshirt on. Open the windows instead of using the air conditioner. Shorten your showers.
Cancel your gym membership
Instead of that hefty gym membership, exercise in the great outdoors, run in the fresh air. The world is a cardio machine.
Reduce/Remove the spa treatments
Ah luxury, she feels so good, but soon you’ll have to realize that those massages and mani-pedis won’t help you travel any sooner. Make the hard choice and bypass the high-priced spa day.
Get fewer hair products!
If you get a products once every two months as opposed to every month, you’ll be saving 50% of your expenditures at the stylist. Considering the cost of hair care, over the course of a year this will really add up.
Buy vintage
New clothes are expensive, and passé! Thrift stores and vintage/second-hand clothing shops are the new cool. You can usually save the greater part of 75% over their new counterparts and still look cute.
Stay in at night
Going out to bars and clubs will force your account balance to go down faster than a Swiss cheese boat. Without anything to show for it in the morning. Keep your travel goals in mind and invite your friends over for, eep, game night. Or potlucks. Or DVD screenings. Or knitting parties.