21 Things I Don't Spend Money on to Pay for More Travel
Travel is both my job and hobby, which means that it is one of my top priorities, too. And while I try to make our trips as budget-friendly as possible, it still costs money to book plane tickets, have a place to sleep every night, and participate in incredible experiences like zipping around icebergs on a Zodiac boat and riding in a helicopter above the island of Kauai.
So how do we travel to places like Iceland, Switzerland and Hawaii without going totally broke? We prioritize travel in our budget over things that others tend to blow their money on — often without even thinking about it.
An ice cream cone here or a manicure there might not seem like a lot out of pocket, but when you take a hard look at what you’re spending money on over time and compare it to the cost of plane tickets and hotels, you start to see what that hard-earned cash could be buying you.
I frequently find flights to places like Florida, California and Colorado for $50 to $100. But I can also easily blow that much on a Target splurge.
We all have different goals and priorities, and that’s OK. Maybe it’s more important to you to look like a million bucks than to enjoy a million-dollar view from the top of a mountain. But if you constantly find yourself envious of all the Instagrammers on fabulous vacations while you’re sipping Starbucks and filling your online shopping cart, take a minute to check your goals and where exactly all that disposable income is going.
If you need some inspiration and ideas on how to cut back, keep scrolling for 21 things I don’t spend money on so I can pay for my travel habits instead.
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Coffee Shops
Starbucks is a once every few months kind of treat for me so I save a good $1,000 each year over weekday drinkers. I make my coffee at home in a Keurig with reusable k-cup filters that I fill with regular coffee, which is cheaper.
Eating Lunch Out
Eating a homemade salad or sandwich over lunch at a restaurant saves me close to $2,000 a year. Now that I work from home, this is especially easy, but even when I commuted to the office, I made sure to keep salad supplies handy and meal prep my lunches ahead of time. Even picking up premade meals from the deli at the grocery store can cut your lunch expenses in half if you regularly dine out or have meals delivered.
Name Brand Groceries
When I worked at a grocery store as a teen, I learned that many store-brand grocery items are actually made by the big-name companies but sold under a different label for a fraction of the cost. I avoid the familiar brands and opt for lesser-known ones all the time and they often taste the same as or even better than their counterparts. I took it a step further and started doing most of my shopping at the discount supermarket Aldi a few years ago, and have shaved 25-50% off my grocery bill easily.
Alcohol
I’m sure many people will tune me out here, but I drink any alcohol at home or away. While I do this solely for moral and personal reasons, the money I save is a huge bonus, especially considering Americans spend 1% of their earnings on alcohol (according to this article citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Meal Subscriptions
Sure, getting ingredients for dinner delivered in the mail may be cheaper than eating out, but buying them at the store saves way more, and if I have to cook them either way, I’ll go for the cheaper option, thanks.
Designer Clothes and Shoes
Even at a cheap retailer, I have a hard time paying tag price for anything I wear, heading straight to the sale section instead. I avoid expensive brands and opt for discount department stores instead. I also don’t go out shopping much to limit the temptation. If I shop online, I leave items in my cart for a couple of days and often end up abandoning them because I forget (and therefore didn’t really need it in the first place). I also hang on to clothes for way too long so I don’t have to shop every season, and when I do get rid of something, I try to sell it on eBay or a similar site to recoup some cost. The same goes for shoes, jewelry and purses.
Expensive Makeup
My mascara comes from Target and I’m OK with that. Some studies suggest that women spend tens of thousands of dollars on makeup during their lifetime, so using drugstore brands for a third of the price or less of the fancy stuff likely saves me hundreds each year.
Salon Visits
Considering a haircut and color or highlight easily costs upwards of $100 and touch-ups are needed every 8 weeks or so, I save at least $500 by only getting my hair cut once or twice a year. It’s more laziness than intentional for me, but I’ll take the savings either way.
Beauty Services
No professional waxing, lashes, tans, extensions or pedicures here. I don’t spring for a lot of beauty items or services, opting to do things at home or skip them altogether and pull off a natural look.
Subscription Boxes
Subscription services seem to be available for everything these days. I really don’t understand why people like to pay for bundles of clothes or makeup that they don’t even get to pick out when they could buy things they actually want with the money instead.
Everything New and Shiny
I try not to get obsessed with every new and cool gadget that comes out. I never buy the newest phone or tablet when it comes out and if I need a piece of tech, I take a lot of time shopping around and patiently waiting for deals. We did recently buy a robot vacuum, but that’s only because it was cheaper than a maid.
Unlimited Data Plans
A few GBs of data serves two people in our household well each month and saves us $50 or more each month over an unlimited plan. That’s $600 savings each year, or a round-trip international flight.
Phone Upgrades
Our phones are always at least two years behind, and we didn’t even have smartphones at all until several years after everyone else. Not upgrading each year saves us tons, and we don’t have to make endless payments or dish out hundreds for the newest model that will be old news in five months.
Multiple Streaming Platforms
I heart Netflix as much as the next person, but there are just too many different streaming services to pay for these days. Each one is upwards of $10 a month, and if you’re subscribed to all the different video and music options, that adds up! Now, cutting the cable cord and replacing it with a couple of cheaper platforms, I can get on board with.
Annual Passes
While we enjoy attending athletic events and the theater, we don’t maintain memberships or annual passes to anything. I always crunch the numbers, but we typically don’t do the same activities enough times to make a pass worth it, even at Disney (where we go at least once a year). The same goes for travel — we never buy the all-inclusive city sightseeing passes or bus tours, only paying for places we badly want to see or opting for free experiences and outdoor adventures instead.
Gym Memberships
Even the cheapest gym memberships cost at least $300 a year for two people. We have a treadmill and free weights and take walks around the neighborhood instead. Or, we sit on the couch and watch TV and eat chips.
Professional Services
We pay for pest control to spray our house every couple of months (because have you seen Texas roaches … gross), but aside from that, we at least attempt to take care of repairs and services ourselves before calling a professional in. Opting out of lawn care saves close to $1,000 each year. Changing the filters, fluids and bulbs in our cars ourselves saves a hundred here and there. And fixing household appliances that need minor work saves a bundle over service calls.
Travel Upgrades
I always shop around for the best flight and hotel deals and go for the cheapest option 97% of the time. That means if it costs extra to check a bag, I pack light. If it costs extra to pick a seat, I don’t. If a window view or king-size bed is $10 more a night, I skip it. These little upgrades seem minor on their own, but considering how much I travel, they add up fast.
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Financing and Interest
The only time we’ve taken out a car loan was to get a better deal on the purchase, and we paid it off ASAP. Whether it’s a car or a new mattress, paying for things upfront instead of financing every purchase saves tons on fees and interest and ensures that you actually can afford what you’re buying and you aren’t handing off the bill to some later version of yourself who probably also won’t want to pay for it. The same goes for credit cards. We use them to get points and cashback, but ALWAYS pay them off every month so we aren’t charged unnecessary interest. We try to avoid having debt in general, with the exception of our mortgage, which we make double payments on each month. Sure, we could use that extra money for a fancier hotel, but saving as much interest as possible on the big debt of a home purchase will give us much more money down the road.
Gambling
We don’t buy lotto tickets or participate in any other forms of gambling. So basically we don’t stick our money straight in the trash can.
Rent
There’s a common misconception in the travel blogosphere that you can either travel the world or settle down and buy a house, but throwing money away on rent just to be free of responsibility doesn't make much sense to me. Mortgage bills can be cheaper than rent if you stick to your budget. I don’t believe in putting off travel for retirement, but investing money wisely when you’re young will help you travel more later in life, too. Because I’m sure I’ll have just as much wanderlust at 76 as now, and maybe then I'll splurge on the balcony suite with an Eiffel Tower view.
