life.hack:save.to.travel

The husband and I just returned home from just under 3 weeks in Ireland. And it was awesome!

See? Pretty.

And back in September I took myself on an epic birthday trip for 2 weeks in England.

See? Also amazeballs.

So many of our friends and acquaintances are just baffled how we are able to travel so often. We aren’t doctors (C’mon now – I’m a crafter!) and neither of us inherited large sums from Great Auntie Puddy Pop. So how we do it? Who does our budget? How long do we have to save for each trip?

Really. There’s no big secret. We just spend differently than most people. It’s super easy to save pennies which turn into dollars….which you can later turn into Euros, Pounds, Pesos, Krona, you name it!

• Stop going out to eat so much. Food is one of the biggest places to save money. Really. Go out to eat on special occasions. Or when you need pho or you are going to die (the latter happens to me a lot). And when you do? Don’t go crazy. Do you really need an app and a dessert? Booze is way cheaper elsewhere. And soda in a restaurant? Please. Just set your money on fire with the candle on the table.
• Make a menu at home and stick to it. Buy only what is on the menu. And when you are menu planning, take stock of what you already have. If you need to buy 17 things for that 1 meal, you already shot yourself in the foot.
• Shop at Costco. Really. There are only 2 of us and we do 90% of our food shopping there. You probably don’t need the 4 gallon bucket of chili for 2 (Or maybe you do. I don’t know. I don’t judge.), but you can use the package of chicken breasts or the big bag of frozen peas. Buying the same thing at a regular grocery store costs more and you get less.
• Stop buying your lunch. Pack that shit. Take leftovers to work. We cook enough for dinner that we each get leftovers to take to work the next day. Let’s say you spend a conservative $8 a day for lunch….That’s $40 a week. And $2080 a year. That could be an around the world airline ticket. For realz.
• Don’t buy processed foods. They are more expensive than the ingredients to just make it yourself. And when you make it there aren’t all those preservatives and chemicals.
• Stop buying things you can make. Why pay $3.50 for a jar of strawberry jam when you can spend $10 on strawberries and sugar and make 10 jars of your own?
• Learn which stores are cheaper. Want super cheap yet huge quantity produce? Check your local Asian market. I bet you are surprised.
• Cut the cable. In this day and age where everything is streaming, do you really need those 400 channels when nothing is ever on them anyway?
• Slim down your wardrobe. It’s ok to wear the same thing more than once (even in a week!) and do you really need ALL those shoes? Invest in something you really love and wear it to death.
• Go to the movies on the cheap night. Instead of paying $40 for 2 tickets and some popcorn, go on the discount night. Many theaters only charge $4 or $5 for the same movie you would see for $15 on another night. Here, we go on Tuesdays. And one of the theaters (only $3.50 anyway) gives a huge popcorn discount with their rewards card (a bucket for $4)
• Stop buying books new. Now, I love books. And I kinda maybe hoard them…but no way am I buying them new. Shop the library book sale, your used book store or, *gasp* the library (That last one is free. Really.)
• Make your own coffee! Do I really need to explain this one? $4 a day at your local coffee joint equals $20 per work week, and $1040 a year. That’s a ticket to Amsterdam.
• Keep an eye on air deals. If you can be flexible with your dates and even your destination, you will get more bang for your buck. We have a list of 10 or so places we would like to go. If there’s a screaming deal, that’s where we are going!
• Cancel those subscriptions you are only “meh” about. If you aren’t reading those magazines, why get them? I had a stationery subscription for $18 a month, and while the cards were super cool, I realized I have somuch stationery already. And $18 a month for a year is a good deal ticket to Boston!

I am totally not saying that we scrimp and save every penny. No way. We go out. We buy beer in restaurants, we splurge on things. But it’s not an all the time thing. Since our day to day expenditure is well thought out and pretty minimal, there’s money in the account to buy that plane ticket to Europe when it has to be booked within 48 hours (this happened this summer). And of course not all of these things will work for you. But every little bit helps. And taking a step back and looking at where you spend, helps you to cut costs and save for super cool things.

So, where are we going next? Who knows! But we will be ready!

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