How We Saved Enough Money to Travel the World!

Hey all,

I've been asked the same question a million times at this point. "How in the world can you afford to travel so much!?" For anyone out there that's interested in finding out HOW we saved enough money to travel the world please check out my latest post here: http://su.pr/2x9PxA

This article is full of money-saving tips and tricks that we personally used that helped us achieve our savings goals for our RTW Trip that we're taking in June. These methods of saving can be applied to any goal you may have, travel related or not!

If you have any money-saving tips & tricks that you have personally used yourself, feel free to post them here! Let's face it, there's nothing better than everyone getting together to share their money-saving tips that we can ALL benefit from.

The tips about conserving energy use are good, but slightly misleading. For $50 a month savings to be directly attributable to unplugging items, you'd have to have a ton of gadgets plugged in. We're talking 16 computers, or 12 sets of DVD players, LCD televisions, Xboxes, and surround sound systems.

Even if you each had a DVD player, cell phone, microwave, television (assuming it's not plasma), surround sound system with subwoofer, printer, laptop, desktop, LCD monitors, PS3/Xbox, router/cable modem, and, let's say, an MP3 player (and that's a lot of stuff), and they were all plugged in all the time, your monthly savings would be roughly $25. It's more likely that being in a mindset to unplug everything simply contributed to better habits when it comes to energy use, like not running the A/C constantly, or being more frugal when it comes to heat (I noticed the largest disparities in energy use between you and your neighbors were the winter months.)

Paying more attention to your thermostat or being more frugal with A/C or heat will have a more staggering and immediately noticeable effect on your energy bill. I actually don't unplug everything (my media desktop and router stay on all the time, and I'm bad about leaving my laptop plugged in when I go to bed), but on months when I don't run the A/C or heat, my kWh usage in a single month is 128.

So what I mean to say is, unplugging things is fantastic, but just general awareness is better, and wearing a sweater or opening the windows in lieu of climate control the best. For those looking to cut back, that's where the big money is.

Edit: Also, heating water is a biggie. I'm guilty of long showers, and it shows up on my bill in a bad way if I'm too indulgent during a particular month.

Ultimately it boils down to lifestyle habits that we can adjust to save money here and there. Waking up earlier to take the bus instead of the taxi, etc.

That's a nice post. Especially about avoiding eating out. I much prefer cooking our own meals anyway.

Costco and buying in bulk helped us save for our trips.

A 25lb bag of rice lasts us over two years of several lunches/dinners per week and only costs $16.

$8 for a huge box of oatmeal is another one of my longest lasting buys.

For cheap healthy protein, dried beans are great. Just get a pressure cooker to really speed up the cooking process.

Very nice post!

Saving money is often just a matter of working out how much you need and then coming up with a plan of how you're going to get there.

I'll also throw this article on saving money for your RTW trip into the mix, as it covers lots of information on saving for your trip.

Nick