Saving for a trip to the majestic Grand Tetons? Here are some tips to save some dough. Photo Credit: Rick Koelsch
If you’re looking to build up your traveling nut ahead of a long term adventure, then you’ll need focus energy on saving some coin at every turn.
Big ticket expenses like rent, cars, and dining out are important to reduce to keep money in the bank, but there are many everyday items that can be cut out as well.
On top of the opportunity to save more money by cutting back expenses now, you will also be setting yourself up for lower expenses on your adventure, since your daily habits on the adventure will share similarities with your normal life.
The following expensive daily habits may not seem like much savings on their own, but cutting them back in tandem can be a bigger boost to your trip savings than you might expect.
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Coffee
Your probably expected this one.
A daily coffee quickly adds up, even more so with special orders. Brew at home or at work to save cash and avoid wasting time in lines.
At Starbucks, The Coffee Bean, or Dunkin’ Donuts, a coffee will cost about $2, and special drinks might cost $5. Cutting out a daily drink could save you $60 – $150 dollars per month.
Smoking
The benefits of quitting smoking are numerous, most importantly improved health.
Quitting smoking can be tough. I know because I’ve done it, multiple times.
I smoked up to a pack a day for about six years, and I quit for good before leaving on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike because it didn’t seem like a good idea to smoke while hiking 2,000 miles.
Patches and other preventative measures can be expensive upfront to help you quit, but in the long run the benefits outweigh the negatives.
If you’re smoking a pack a day, then that’s about $5 a day that you can cut out of your expenses and put towards the adventure travel nut, or another $150 a month.
Maybe that money will help motivate you to quit.
Cell Phone
Disconnecting completely is liberating, but life and work will probably prevent it.
Instead, try to reduce your service for a lower monthly cost.
Check out other carriers and research pre-paid options to find a lower-cost option that provides the coverage you need.
If you’re often around wi-fi, then you might look into Republic Wireless, a low-cost competitor to cell phone services.
If you’re cell bill is above $100 per month, you could easily find options to save half on that bill.
Alcohol
Another expensive habit that will crunch your wallet.
Giving up your night cap or your weekly night at the bar might seem abhorrent, but it presents a pretty good opportunity to save money.
If you’re drinking a six pack of craft beer or bottle of wine per week, you could save about $50 per month by cutting out alcohol.
If you want to find free beer, crash parties and weddings.
Bottled Water
If you live where the tap water is safe – and chances are you do – stop paying someone else to fill a water bottle for you.
If you think that your tap water tastes terrible, then try the filters that attach to your faucet or a container you can put in the fridge that filters impurities and helps cut through the taste.
Cutting out a bottle of spring water per day will save at least $40 per month.
Stop throwing out leftovers
Eating out less leads to more cooking, which leads to leftovers becoming a part of your life.
Make sure you eat them – throwing them out is the same as throwing out the money you spent on the ingredients.
One good practice is to make leftovers a part of your plan.
Plan for leftovers, and either plan to take leftovers to work with you the next day for lunch or freeze a batch to thaw and heat up for dinner.
Cut the cosmetic habits
On your adventure trip, chances are you won’t want to spend time or energy on perfecting your hair or following a six step skin cleansing routine.
Use your pre-trip time to your advantage and simplify your life by reigning back expensive and time-intensive beauty regiments.
Have a friend cut your hair or just shave it off.
Forgetting your lunch
Whether you’re heading to work or heading out sightseeing, taking your own lunch with you is always the cheaper option.
When you forget to take your lunch to work and you don’t have options to scrounge up some free grub, you will probably end up incurring the expense of eating out to eat.
Like I said above, if you are making your dinner each night, then go ahead an pack your lunch for the next day.
Brand name items
Brand names come with brand prices. Finding similar items under store labels will always be cheaper, and most of the time, the difference is negligible.
Ditch your gym membership
Though you may need to train for your adventure travel trip, a gym may not be necessary.
A great way to prepare yourself physically for extended adventure travel is to act it out your adventure.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail? Go hiking.
Riding a bike across America? Get on a bike.
Wrestling with alligators? Well, you get the picture.
Prepare your body for whatever adventure you are saving your money.
What are your ideas?
Do you know other ways that someone can curb daily spending habits to more quickly save for adventure travel?
Leave a comment below.
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