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If you want to travel, that’s all you need. Your desire will trump everything like a set of weighted dice. People often tell me how ‘lucky’ I am to have traveled but I’m no more lucky paying bills than I am to have made traveling my priority, minus the priority seating. To get in that plane seat you’ll need a teensy bit of my crappy advice, a job or two, and first hand experience for the rest of it. So here’s a budgeting break-down to the best of my beer-soaked memory! *Cracks open a bottle of Israeli wine*
SIP IT / SLAM IT WORKS HARD AND SAVES MONEY
In 2011 I was working a job that didn’t pay very much for full time. I got approximately $860 every two weeks after taxes for working that standard 42.5 hours a week or whatever (unpaid breaks…. because half an hour is a real break?).My rent was $550,
and phone and other bills brought that up to around $650.
After food and beer and socialising expenses I was left with only a couple hundred dollars at the end of every month.
Sometime in May of 2011 I decided to get a job at the bar across the street from my apartment which was opening up shortly. I got it and started serving 3-4 nights a week.
If I was making anywhere from $80-$200 in tips, averaging $120, that’s already an extra $500/week, $2000/month. (I only worked weekdays too; the weekend is the more profitable time).
I started with about $1000 in savings, and saved up $12,000 in six months and I didn’t have to budget. The best part about having 2 jobs is you don’t have time to spend money, which is where the savings come from. I missed birthday parties, lunch and dinner dates, but still managed to spend money on a coffee every day and pay for my friend’s bachelorette party.
Working 2 jobs, especially an evening job serving, will rack up your savings exponentially and leave no time to spend money as I already stated. That was my surefire way of gaining 6 months of uninhibited travel around Europe and by the time I got there, I spent money on whatever I wanted, ate out all the time, took friends out for drinks, all because I dedicated only 6 months of my life to having no life. It’s a small sacrifice to pay for the irreplaceable experience of world travel.
Currently I’m planning another trip (length and location to be determined) and I want to leave in 2 months. In 2 months if I spend no money I could potentially reach my goal, especially if I start a day job. It will mean surrendering my social life in pubs to an extent again for why would I give them up entirely, but this is what I want and I will go for it.
SIP IT / SLAM IT’S STANDARD TIPS FOR SAVING MONEY WHILE DRINKING BEER
- You still get to drink beer and wine with friends in their homes/cook at home rather than eating out (huge money saver). You can even drink nice beer! Just don’t drink as much (easier said than done)
- Make coffee at home at a fraction of the cost of going out, but if you have to socialise cheaply, coffee is the way to go. I calculated my coffee consumption going out to be about $1200/year. I wanted to cry and then asked my friend to go for coffee so I could talk about it
- Find discounts or eat out only when things are on special
- Walk/cycle/transit to work. Transit can be pricey in certain cities, but cycling is free if you have a bike and walking is even cheaper. Live close to where you work and you will never think about gas prices or insurance or maintenance. It’s good to get walking anyway, since when you get to your travel destination you will thank yourself for being able to sustain hours upon hours of schlepping around
- Give up your gym membership. (Bahaha! who am I kidding I’ve never had one)
- Give up cable. It’s the biggest money-waster there is
- Eat inexpensively at home but don’t give up flavour. I still have butter and cream and cheese and all the lovely spices I need. But fish and eggs are cheap for protein, rice and potatoes for starch, and all the veggies and fruit you could desire. Shop at cheaper grocery stores or markets and buy no name brands. Reinvent your habits and you will feel better, look better, and save money. This is chronically hypocritical advice that just floats around in my head that I barely apply but we all know better, don’t we?
- Change your monthly fees. Do you have automatic withdrawals every month? Bank fees? Phone/internet bills? Shit you get mailed once a month for no reason? Switch it up, learn to live without, analyze your banking, and get rid of what you don’t need, which leads me to…
- Sell your crap. Sell it, you know you don’t need it. Host an indoor yard sale if you have to, sell jewelry, pawn or consign your electronics or clothes, host a clothing and accessories swap and gain what you need for traveling. If you’re gonna be gone for a long time, sell the things you can make money off of, like furniture
- Do your taxes. If you’re lucky you might get money back!
- Stop buying clothes. I just bought a pair of shoes but I will sell a pair or two to compensate since I now own the mean of the two. Make sense? Whatever you can figure it out, it’s SHOE MATH (#shoemath?)
- Move. If your rent exceeds more than a quarter of your income, it will be very difficult to save money. Get a roommate, move in with mum, whatever it takes. If moving will cost you too much, just worry more about the saving part. When you leave you’ll get a damage deposit back anyway, which will help
- Stop buying records at full price. This one applies to all you record junkies out there. The road to good music is paved with all your savings so just be content or find it on the internet for the time being
- Spend whatever time you have being constructive and creative. This is the hardest thing when your habits dictate otherwise. Surround yourself with people you admire who already have the good habits of artistry, cooking or baking, woodworking, or music
SIP IT / SLAM IT ABROAD
