Living up to my so called nickname ‘Scrooge’ which Leanne often likes to call me I thought I would share with you how we saved enough money to make our budget backpacking adventure a reality. Now there is no magic formula to saving money, there is however one simple rule you must obey. Spend less to save more. The longer we saved the better we became at spending less, in the end we managed to have almost the same lifestyle whilst saving four times as much as when we started! I hope you find the following tips useful, they certainly worked for us.
Create a Budget
Create a monthly budget, this is the most important thing will EVER do, write all of your income and outgoings down. Create a spreadsheet so you know exactly how much you’re spending each month and where it is going. You will be surprised at how much money is wasted each month on the small things.
Using your budget slowly remove things and attempt to reduce your expenditure. You can and will with a little effort make massive saving on your bills. Companies will always try and overcharge you if you don’t pay attention to your expenditure by regularly putting up prices.
Reduce Expenditure
Once you have your income\outcome mapped out its time to make those savings, we seriously reduced our expenditure by following these simple rules.
Ring up your suppliers and ask for a discount, when threatened with leaving they nearly always give you a reduced charge.
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Always pay by monthly direct debit, this way you know exactly where you money is each month and what you have left.
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Pay off any debts first, you don’t want to pay any additional interest charges.
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Electricity and Gas - always shop around, you usually get a good deal when you join but after the first year your bill will increase. When this happens it’s time to switch again.
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Getting a water meter can save you money, this cut our water bill in half. However you will need to make sure this is right for you. Getting a water meter if you have a family of 6 is bad economy.
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Cancel Sky, Cable or any other TV subscription services, (well maybe not Netflix, it’s so cheap you might just want to keep it). This includes any other subscriptions you might have, music services, newspapers, magazines, national trust etc.
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Review you internet and phone expenditure. A few phone calls can reduce these.
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Mobile phones, don’t be tricked into spending loads of money, it’s just a phone they all do the same thing in the end.
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Car insurance, these people are really trying to rip you off and whatever price you currently pay you can reduce it. When it comes to renewal time ring them up and say you have had a better offer elsewhere give them a price and not surprisingly there computer comes up with the same number. Always question your car insurance you can save hundreds of pounds in one phone call.
- Budget your shopping trips. Not only will this save you money it will also help you prepare for your budget backpacking trip. Go to budget super markets, ALDI is now your best friend. Cook your own meals instead of buying ready meals.
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After working out your income\expenditure give yourself a set amount to spend each month for going out and socialising and don’t spend more than that. Don’t leave yourself with nothing, severely restricting your self is never good.
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Don’t be tricked into buy one get one free offers, if you buy none you pay for none. That’s an instant saving. But of course if you’re going to buy something anyway then it’s worth taking the buy one get one free, just don’t buy something only because it’s on offer.
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Leave your bank card at home, take out only the cash you need (of course you will have worked out the amount you can take from your budget) This stops you over spending especially on nights out where drinking alcohol will impair your better judgement.
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Mend and make do! You don’t need that new car/ipad/designer jeans. Become more creative with what you do have.
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Clothes, you don’t need any more as you’re going travelling and you can’t take them with you. What you have now will suffice. If you have some old clothes that used to be black buy some black dye and put it in the washing machine when you wash your clothes, your clothes will look like new.
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If you have problems with your car fix them yourself. Look online, get a book, and ask a friend it’s worth a try if it’s going to save you money. Doing this saved me a massive amount of money and now I know how to fix a few motor vehicle problems as well.
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When saving think about that money in terms of air miles or nights in hotels. For example not going out and spending £50 on dinner = 4 nights’ accommodation, 6 meals, and 4 bottles of Chang in Thailand.
- Some of the best things are free, check out your local area for free things to do.
Increase Income
Once you have reduced you expenditure, try find a way to increase your income. This is much harder than reducing expenditure but its still worth thinking about.
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Get a second job.
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Sell your stuff.
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Rent out a room.
- Ask your boss for a pay rise.
There is a whole host ways to make money described online, from online surveys to secret shoppers but be careful you will never get money from free, it’s likely these will be so time consuming it’s not worth the effort.
Finally people are always trying to make you part with your money, don’t let them. Save hard and let your backpacking adventure begin.