Before going traveling I usually don’t need to have a huge amount of savings, but I do want to be sure I have money together at least for a month. I’m working on the road anyway, but as my job is not the most reliable one on earth, just to have a short safety net, I want to have some savings. But if you’re usually living from week to week, how to put together the amount of money you’ll need for a month? While some people always have that on one of their bank accounts, for me that has never happened, so I always need to think about it. Here are a few things you can do.
Limit your spending for a month
For the month before your trip, try to change your lifestyle a bit. If you used to go out every night to have a beer or two, cut a few days every week and you’ll have some savings. If you’re a smoker, smoke less, it’s good for your wallet and it’s definitely good for your health. If you’re paying for multiple monthly subscriptions, think if you actually need them. Do you need Netflix? Nope. Do you need to pay for your running app? Nope. You can also save when food shopping. You don’t need to buy the expensive stuff. Sometimes it’s the cheapest to go to the discount shelf. Buying the things with today’s expiration date is usually 50% cheaper and if you plan to use it for cooking today anyway, why not buy the same things cheaper.
Freelancing
Depending on what you do, you could open accounts on some freelancing websites – writing, editing, programming, designing small things for small extra money, why not take advantage of the opportunities to add just a little to your travel budget.
Give away your flat
If you’re planning on going traveling for longer than a month and you don’t own your flat but rent one, why not give away your flat while you’re traveling. You could have extra money from that in two different ways. Firstly, you’ll know you won’t need to worry about your rent while you’re away. And secondly, you’ll probably also get your deposit back which you can use for your trip. Or if you don’t want to give away your flat, why not make an agreement with a friend who needs a flat for a few months. Or get one of your friends to help you with renting it out on Airbnb while you’re away.
Sell stuff you don’t need
You probably need your laptop and your phone, but if you’re like me, you’ll have at least some stuff you don’t need anymore. Maybe your old sort of broken laptops you’re not using anymore. You could maybe sell it very cheaply for parts. Or maybe you have a guitar in the closet that you haven’t taken out for a few years – if that’s the case, you probably don’t need it and might as well sell it.
Rent out your car
If you own a car that you won’t need during your trip, you could also rent it out for the time you’re away. There are enough websites for that independent of the country you live in. You might need a friend to take care of it though while you’re away, if you don’t find someone who’d want it for the full duration of your trip.
There are lots of different ways to save, or earn some money for your upcoming trip. And just for the chance of winning you can also play lottery online, although make sure you don’t spend too much on that. As we all know, the odds of winning aren’t the highest.
