7 ways to save money – How to save money to travel the world without winning a lottery?

It’s the last day of the year 2016. Like every year, I always count my expenses and earnings to know how great I did. See? I didn’t say if I did well. I said how well I did instead. Because I know I always do well. I have secret ways to save money.

Why?

When I was a child, my mum taught me how to save. She was always the one having little. But also always the one who managed to save a lot out of the little. Mum taught me million things in life, because that’s why we have mums, right? One of the most important lessons is, no doubt, how to save money.

My strict mother never taught me any exact rules, e.g. put aside 30% of your earnings; do not buy this or that; do not go there if it’s expensive etc.

On the other hand, she kept telling me to do things and do pay for things I really want in life. Things that can put a smile on my face. She would repeat to do things that will make me happy. So I am trying to follow her advice.

Although mum was the one who lead me to the right path of how to save, I was the one to realize wasting money on material things will only make me happy/content for a short while.

And besides, mum still believes one needs to win a lottery to be rich. However, I trust my own intuition. My own power. I believe in my own strength, my knowledge, my skills. I simply believe in me. All my wealth depends only on my abilities.

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Anyway, back to the point.

I am writing this article because I just realized that:

 in 2016 I earned 150% of my 2015 salary.

 

A great progress, isn’t it?

And what’s even better?

In 2016 I saved 56.5% of what I earned.

How the hell did I visit so many countries (Finland, Sweden, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Czech republic etc.), spent a month chilling on the beach, got more than 30 massages and didn’t go bankrupt? And on top of that, I even saved more than half of what I earned?

I never won a lottery. That’s no secret.

I have 2 secrets:

1. I usually buy things on sale. There’s loads of websites offering you things on sale, or voucher codes.
2. My top secret is NOT doing some things many other people do on a daily/weekly basis.

I put up a list of simple things I do NOT do to save money. Plus, I add average money saved per month based on average prices. I do know people who spend this amount of money on these things regularly. It’s the same people who keep asking me ”Where do you get money for your trips?” Read closely…

7 ways to save money

1. I do not drink coffee. Not even a single cup a year. No coffee at all. I know people who go out for coffee to chit chat with friends even more than 5 times a week. Depending on the location, it can be 30 euros saved per month.

2. I do not drink alcohol. I quit drinking completely on the 1st January 2009. As you can guess, it was a New Year’s resolution. I remember when I used to work as a flight attendant in Scotland and my colleagues would go out drinking on their days off. They managed to waste the same 200 pounds on alcohol that I paid for my week trip. Boom! But let’s not pretend everyone drinks so much. Let’s make it just 100 euros saved per month, not per week. Bye bye alcohol, hello Canary islands.

3. I do not smoke. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life and I am 100% positive I never even will. Just 1 pack per week equals 28 euros per month saved.

4. I do not go to hairdresser’s. I cannot remember why but I started to cut my own hair already at the high school. Since then I’ve been to hairdresser’s very limited times as I keep cutting my hair myself. I also almost don’t dye my hair, usually not more than once or twice a year. It can be easily 50 euros saved per month.

I cut my own hair

5. I do not use any face powder, face make-up, lipsticks, shower gel, make-up remover, perfumes, body lotion, toothpaste etc. You heard me right. I use coconut oil instead of 90% of all my cosmetics (toothpaste, body lotion, make-up remover, hair balm, hand and face cream, massage oil etc.) And on my face, only randomly, I do put vegan organic eye shadows, eye liner and eye mascara. But that’s it. No other cosmetics.

I avoid chemicals and put on my body only things I could also eat. Why? Because your skin absorbs more than 60% of what you put on it. So all those shitty chemicals do go directly to your blood. And I do not want that! So let’s say you buy 1 of each of these cosmetic products per month, which could equal on average 50 – 100 euros. Once a year I buy my eye make-up; and maybe one bottle of organic cold pressed coconut oil per month (it costs 5 euros). This simple thing is saving me more than 500 euros per year!

6. I do not buy handbags. I will never understand the women’s obsession with thousands of kinds of handbags. What’s wrong with me? Or what’s wrong with you? Do you really need to have 30 different handbags with 30 different pairs of shoes to match? My mum is like this. And when I see she can never find anything because she forgot it in another handbag at home, I learned I do not want to be the same. I always want to carry everything I need without having to think about every single time I leave the house/hotel.

I only have 3 handbags. Three! The smallest one I wear (mostly at home) when not wearing my camera bag. There’s just space for my phone, wallet, keys, lip balm, mirror, tissues, tissues and my amulet. Another handbag is big with space for my laptop. And I also own one posh looking handbag for meetings. However, I never travel with more than 1 handbag. And I buy a new one ONLY when one gets broken, which is approx. one every 4 years. Handbags are so unnecessary! How much do you spend on handbags? I have no idea. 50 euros a month?

7. I avoid buying bottled water. Logically, where drinking tap water won’t cause me any stomachache, not buying bottled water is one of the best ways to save money. I grew up in a place where tap water is very safe and I am against plastic bottles which not only are leaching chemicals in the water but are also so non-biodegradable. I am not only trying to save my life, my health and my money, but also our planet Earth.

Unfortunately, in many countries people have been so brain-washed into drinking only bottled water they don’t even do any research on tap water in their area. Personally, I travel with a BPA-free water bottle with shungite stones inside which clean water from pesticides, hard metals, bacteria and microorganisms. I refill my bottle everywhere I can. Simple as that. I drink a lot. In hot months up to 5 letres per day. Refilling my own bottle can save me 150 euros per month. New flight ticket, yay!

My BPA-free water bottle

Following these 7 simple things saves me on average 458 euros per month!

458 euros per month makes 5,496 euros per year saved. You could live in Thailand for a year for that money. How crazy is that?

What does it mean?

I can buy flights somewhere to the beach every single month. Hello sexy guys swimming in the sea, here I come!

TIP: Do you want to know how to earn enough money to travel the world? Here are 8 top secret ways I personally earn money :)

TIP 2: Sign into my newsletter and I will send you 20 tips to save money to travel. FREE :)

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