Unusual ways to save money for travel

If you’re anything like me you’ve already read approximately 8 billion blog posts about how to save money to travel. Most articles offer practical advice about cutting your spending. Yea, it’s all good advice but it’s all so boring. Cutting out coffees and doing overtime at work is fine at first but it’s difficult to keep up that momentum for the months or even years it takes to save for a big trip. So I’ve come up with some unusual and slightly more fun alternatives to save money to travel…

Go veggie

If you love meat then this will never be an option but if you could be easily swayed into the Veggie Camp then read on…
Did you know that the average vegetarian saves around $750 a year (about £510) on their food bills. There are health and environmental benefits too so you could be healthier, help the planet AND save enough money for a decent holiday!

Do an outfit challenge

Did you hear about The Uniform Project? It was when one woman wore a little black dress for an entire year to promote sustainable fashion. She ended up raising over $100,000 but also raised awareness to women around the world about how much money we unnecessarily spend on clothing. She managed to style her LBD is a new and quirky way almost daily and looked amazing all year.
The average woman spends £588 on clothing each year, which is once again enough for a great holiday!

Start a ‘Come Dine With Me’ club

Save money on eating out by starting your own Come Dine With Me club. Get a group of friends together and take it in turns to host a dinner party each week. You’ll save loads of money and probably have more fun too.

Start a different type of club

I don’t know why but being in a club makes things seem so much more fun. It also means people are more likely to commit to a specific time and date and won’t flake out at the last minute.

So start a book club, a running club, a movie night club, a Wednesday wine club, a dog walking club, a Friday night takeaway club. Start any kind of club that will keep you away from more expensive things like pubs, restaurants, cinemas, shops or nightclubs. You might even want to start a travel club to get together and plan your next adventure…

Ditch the gym and switch to a DIY fitness program

The average person wastes £480 on unused gym memberships. I don’t have any kind of stat for this but I’m sure people who just go for a run and do a home workout twice a week are probably fitter. Get yourself on eBay and buy some workout DVDs to do in your living room. Some workout DVDs are HARD so you’ll be getting fit and saving enough for a holiday too!

Change to a pay as you go mobile

If your phone is coming to the end of its contract and there’s nothing wrong with your handset then consider going old school with a pay as you go sim.

The average person wastes £200 a year by being on the wrong mobile tariff. I actually think I waste even more because I’m usually somewhere with wifi so I can easily make calls and send messages via wifi.

Don’t use coupons or money off codes

You might feel like you’re getting a bargain with a coupon but they’re actually just encouraging you to buy something you probably wouldn’t have bought in the first place. Yes, you saved 20% on a haircut but you didn’t need a haircut for another 5 weeks.

Stay away from big spenders

We all have a few friends who splash the cash like they’ve planted a money tree. Maybe they do have loads of money but unless they’re sharing the wealth then they end up encouraging everyone around them to spend more than they have. It’s hard to save money when your friends are constantly buying new clothes and eating out so stick to your more frugal friends to save money.

Go cold turkey

Did you hear about the Spend Nothing Year? It was a project when two friends decided to save money by spending nothing – they literally bought nothing but the absolute bare essentials they needed to live. They took frugality to a whole new level but also learned they can happily live without all the crap we surround ourselves with.

I did this when I lived in a campervan in Australia. All we bought was food and fuel and you quickly realise that ‘stuff’ doesn’t make you happy.

Do you have any more tips for unusual (and not insanely boring) ways to save money?

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