BootsnAll Travel Community

This is pretty useful: 88 Money-Saving Tips

One other money-saving website I just found yesterday: Trezr.com. I filled out a couple quick surveys and am getting a free Senseo coffeemaker and a $5 Starbucks gift card in the mail. Took about 5-10 minutes of my time. A great site for snatching up free/cheap x-mas gifts for the family, etc.

Another really good one. The Dollar Stretcher

One thing I'm doing now is saving up change in a 5 gallon water bottle. At the end of the day I just put whatever change I've accumulated from purchases in there. When it comes time for my trip, I'll have a nice amount of money set aside that was easily saved.

Ooooh the change jar!

Now, I'm waitressing part-time and the change jar is growing... I love it

I have a very effective way of saving though not to be recommended - - -

I broke my leg 10 weeks ago and have managed to save a small fortune by staying home and doing nothing!

(Its a lonely and depressing existance - but highly effective).

My girlfriend and I started doing the change jar thing about two weeks ago and I'm shocked at how much is already in there. The best part is that we don't even miss it - out of sight, out of mind.

princessrhi: Even better than breaking a leg, why not find your way into a coma and collect disability and unemployment for a year or two. You can dream/sleep your way right up until the day of your departure!

Phew, I thought I was the only geek to do that, lol. It'll be interesting to see in the end how much is in there and how long it'll take to be full. I dont plan on leaving for a RTW for a year or so, and I've only got a small layer on the bottom full. but yeah it's really easy way to save like you say, out of sight and mind.

I've just started a blog where I'm going to explore some of the methods I used to put the money together for my RTW trip (and which I am currently using saving for my second!). The link is below, hope it helps - feedback much appreciated!

I've started agressively picking up change on the street -- don't even let a penny go by without picking it up. Looking down at the street rather that around at the sights not only keeps you from seeing needless crap you think you want to nuy, it hones your focus for finding stuff. I started on September 11th this year and have already found about $60, a book of stamps, a few partially full baggies of controlled substances (and a pipe to boot). I know it's not a ton of cash, but I'm walking anyway and that money will go a lot further in Nica than here in NYC.

Best ever money saving tip: give up alcohol. Especially if, like myself, you live in a country where its so expensive. I did the maths on how much I used to spend per month it it was pretty scary, and the thing is i always thought I was careful with money since my friends would spend even more. In england a typical pint of beer is £2.50, say you are at college/university and go out quite often. You can easily buy 10 drinks over a week. Times that by 4 weeks in a month.

When I stopped drinking it instantly saved me £100 per month - which I put towards the next trip. And the other good thing is I no longer feel shit for most of the day on saturdays and sundays. Nowadays I just drink on certain occasions, like when I visit old friends I haven't seen in a long while. But otherwise I am saving a lot of money.

>Best ever money saving tip: give up alcohol.

Yup... that was first on my list. I found it hard to stick to (not that I'm an alcoholic... I mean more dealing with the social pressure to drink), so I would remind myself that with that £2.50 I could get a night's accommodation in Thailand. Or four big bottles of Singha beer...

Imposter, your website is bloody brilliant!!!!

The past where it calculates a rough budget for you is amazing...I now have a rough idea where I'm going and roughly how much it will cost me!!

Thank you!!!

Glad to hear it Helen Pass it on!