A Frugal Life, More Travel !

If you’re going to have an expensive hobby like travel then you need to simplify things in other areas of your life so that you have the cash available for your hobby, without wracking up the credit card bills.

Here are some suggestions for developing frugal habits that will leave you money for travel.

1. Get takeout if you’re going to eat out.

When you eat out at restaurants, you’ll be tempted to order lots of extras like drinks and desserts. You can still enjoy restaurant food if you just get takeout. What I like to do is stretch a takeout meal so that it makes several meals rather than one. This is easy when you’re getting something like a Thai curry as there is usually heaps of delicious curry sauce. You can always add extra home cooked rice, tofu, veggies so that you get 2-3 meals out of it.

2. Put your savings in an interest bearing account.

Look into an account that’s at least covering inflation so that you’re not, in effect, losing money on a daily basis. For example if you have 10,000 GBP then 3% interest on that is 300 GBP, which is enough to live on in Asia for 1-2 weeks!

3. Ditch any memberships.

It’s much better to be conscious of what you’re spending rather than have recurring payments. Look through all you bank and credit card statements and reevaluate whether you really need all the services that are getting auto-deducted from your bank account each month. Maybe you don’t really need Sky TV, your gym membership ( esp.if you haven’t been for months!), and many of the other things that have been draining your bank account out of sight, out of mind.

4. Make sure you’re paying the correct tax.

For example, make sure that if you live alone you’re only paying the single rate for council tax. Especially if you’re self-employed, make sure you have things structured so that you’re legally paying the least amount it’s necessary to pay and that you’re taking all the deductions available to you.

5. Switch providers.

Call around and try to get new customer offers for switching companies for any services you use. You can always then call the customer loyalty department at your current company and ask them to match whatever other offer you’ve been given. Even on pay as you go options there can be some offers for switching. In this day and age, it’s not like big companies are very loyal to their customers so why should we as customers be loyal to them! Reward the company that is offering you the best deal.

6. Manage your spending on gifts and parties.

If you’re in the age group of endless hens’ weekends, wedding gifts, and baby showers then you could end up spending a lot of money on gifts and attending events. Being abroad for long periods can definitely be an advantage in avoiding some of these expensive occasions! Of course don’t snub your most important friends but be choosy about who you’re buying gifts for. I can certainly think of a few friends I’ve bought baby gifts for over then years whom I never see now.

Photo Credit: William Warby under Creative Commons license.