How to save money and annoy all your friends off by being cheap and on a budget – this is the tedious girl’s guide to budgeting.
Additional resource: How to save money for travel by Travel Freak.
1. Release your inner hippy immaterialist and sell your stuff. So far I’ve made 200 euros out of my books, 700 euros out of my cd’s, vinyl singles and a few bucks out of the few clothing items that were designer wear. The money I made equals three months in India or two in South East Asia.
2. Lock up your inner bored-to-death materialist and stop buying stuff. It’s surprisingly easy and actually quite relieving as you can now pass by all the sale signs without thinking that you should go in and buy something because it’s cheap. In the last 7 months I’ve only bought stuff that I’ll take along for the trip.
These are:
– New Osprey Waypoint 80 litre backpack: bought online from a store in Germany. I don’t speak German, but if you really want something and the price is right, you’ll manage it even if you have to file the order in German. Cost: 219 €
– Haglöfs sleaping bag from a summer sale. Cost: 40 €
– Haglöfs fleece (have mercy on me) from a summer sale. Cost: 70 €
– A mozzie net bought online. Cost: 0 € – cheers daddy-o!
– Samsung NC 10 laptop. Cost: 330 €
3. Cut the food costs. Don’t eat out or cook meals for which you would have to buy ingredients such as exotic spices. You won’t have enough use for them in the future. Take a break from diets and eat pasta. I.e. Go to see mom and dad a lot.
Cut down on the alcohol, you’ll be rewarded once you’re out on the road.
4. Cut the cost of drinking. Try staying at home on Fridays, Saturdays and all the other days. If it’s too hard then stick to beer. I of course saved a billion this way.
5. Never ever say no when asked to work overtime. I’ve done this once in the past two years and that was because I had promised to meet up with a friend who had just started going out again after an arduous row of cancer treatments. So it was kind of special.
6. Say goodbye to your hairdresser. Now every day is a bad hair day but it could be worse, like I could be a leper. And hey, even Madonna has been spotted with multi-inch roots. Over the past 7 months I’ve saved 400 euros which, again, equals a month in India.
7. This one is truly tedious but do start keeping a diary of your expenses. Set yourself a weekly budget and stick to it. When buying that one beer, bear in mind that it always takes you 5 euros closer to your weekly limit. In case of the 6th beer, mourn the next morning and promise yourself you’ll never ever do this again.
Do you have any great tips of your own to save before travel? Let us know in the comments below.
