Probably the number one question we get asked is, “How do you afford it?”, followed by, “How do you live that nomadic lifestyle?”, stated by the belief that,”Travelling is so expensive.”
Yes- travelling is expensive if you follow the exact advice from the guidebooks, tour shops and travel agents. With a little bit of detective work, thriftiness and creativity, there are a lot of ways to curb the cost of travelling.
As a team, Chris and I have deemed travel as our ultimate goal. Everything we do either helps or hinders us in achieving that goal. That’s not to say we don’t have other goals that require money to accomplish. We do. Cooking, gear upgrades, buying a good book, relaxing- but it’s all under the umbrella of our main objective: to live on all seven continents and explore the world.
For us it’s not so much the making of money that propels us along this lifestyle as much as creative ways of making our money last longer. A huge part of stretching that money is our mindset. With every purchase we ask ourselves three things:
1.) Is it necessary? (Do we need this or want this? Want items can be great incentives to save for.)
2.) Is there good value? (How long, how much will I use this product?)
3.) Is it ethical? (Is it fair trade, local made, not tested on animals?)
We aim to choose the product that is the best of all three. It doesn’t happen every single time with every single product and sometimes it’s just impossible due to geographical location for example. We don’t throw the towel in and get discouraged when these objectives can’t be achieved every time, we just look for the next available chance to spend the majority of our purchasing dollars in situations we believe will have the highest payback.
Here’s some insight showcasing just a few examples of how our mindset works in achieving our goal of travelling more. If you want to keep achieving your own goals, one of our visualizations is to think like a snowball. A big snowball.
You know- a big white thing barrelling down a hill gaining in both momentum and size as it rolls. Once you start positive habits in the direction you want to propel yourself, the momentum will keep building if you keep fuelling it. Don’t worry about the smaller chunks that fly off as your snowball rolls down the hill. Just keep the momentum rolling and the next thing you know, you’ll get massive results.
Tiff cutting both our hair:
Figure: one hair cut every three months @ $15 per person
That’s $30 every three months for two people
Four hair cuts in 12 months = $120 savings
A romantic way to spend the evening- cutting Chris’ hair cut.
Usually it seems the days we have time to cut hair are always really hot and Chris is insisting I hurry because he is overheating under the plastic; or they are cool and windy and Chris is insisting I hurry because he is cold.
I think he just doesn’t like to get his hair cut.
Hang Dry Laundry:
Figure: Average of one load per week @$4 per dry
4 dryer loads X 1 month= $16
$16 X 12 months= $192 savings
It wasn’t always pretty. Living out of the van, there is always something that needs to be hung up to dry. At times every available surface would have laundry and wet gear drying on it.
Taking advantage of sun to do a major clean of van.
Use a Hankie:
Figure: box of tissues every 2 months @ $2 per box
Six boxes per 12 months = $12 savings
I have not bought a box of tissues in over five years and will never go back to using tissues.
Hankies are way better because:
a.) Saying “hankie” is way cooler than saying “tissue.”
b.) More stylish–you can get any colour and pattern hankie imaginable.
c.) So much softer on nose- I used to get the sorest red Rudolph nose when I had colds using tissues-
no sore nose with my hankie! Nice and soft.
d.) Wash and reuse again.
e.) Survival item: filter water, stop bleeding or use to keep dust out of mouth on potato harvester.
Use Travel Mugs:
Figure: (This pertains especially to travel in the USA as most gas stations charge a lot less if you have your own reusable mug–but really, it is appropriate to bring your own mug anywhere whether they charge you less or not. Plus, the logos are an interesting conversation starter and tell a story of where we’ve been.)
Save $2 per stop for two people by bringing your own mug
Average two fill ups per month for two people = $4
$4 X 12 months= $48 savings
I love my coffee cups.
Unfortunately the cup Chris is holding above, I ruined.
In an effort to save space on trip to Indonesia, I thought it would be a good idea to store a bottle of Eucalyptus oil inside the coffee cup.
In doing so, the bottle of eucalyptus oil would be protected from breakage.
I thought I used genius packing skills – except –
we never needed the eucalyptus oil and never got the smell out of the cup.
There was no saving it, the cup had to go.
I was relaying this unfortunate travel tale while visiting our friends in Broome, Australia who just happened to have an extra, beautiful coffee cup.
To my delight they gifted it to me and we proceeded to drive to the middle of Australia.
In the middle of Australia, Uluru (the place with the big rock), the cup came crashing out the back of the van at 9.30 pm at a petrol station.
It shattered the ceramic casing when it hit the pavement.
I yelled a loud, “Noooooo!” as if a bloody murder had just taken place.
People turned to see if there was a crisis,
but all they saw was a life shattering event.
I grabbed our emergency duct tape and kneeling on the pavement I taped the hell out of that cup.
It held.
I lugged that mug around in hundred degree F temperatures island hopping throughout the South Pacific. It’s presence added to the weight in my backpack along with the other precious gifts I couldn’t part with from Australia.
This is a great coffee cup and arrived safe and sound, duct tape in tact, back in the USA. It is still in use today bringing to mind fond travel memories whenever I raise it to my lips.
Bartering:
Figure: worked in exchange to pay for camp site
2 hours work of random jobs = $28 unspent money per day
We stayed nine days = $252 savings
Not having to spend money out of pocket let us stay in some amazing places longer than we would have been able to otherwise.
This is a humpback whale flipper slapping along the Ningaloo Reef.
We also got to spot things we would have never seen otherwise.
This is a spiny tailed gecko.
The only reason we found this camouflaged reptile is because we were trimming back some tree branches and he was grasping onto one of the branches.
After admiring him we put him back in his home.
Other Bartering:
Figure: exchanged vegetables for fish and received lasting friendship
savings = incalculable
Here is a big fish and a little fish in a tub.
We started chatting with these travellers in a parking lot and learned that a local had given them the big fish and they caught the small fish. They were disappointed because they didn’t have any fresh vegetables to cook with the fish.
Having just done a big grocery stock up, we were in a remote location with no shops nearby, we offered them some carrots and onions.
They insisted we take the small fish in return. But bigger than that, we meet kindred spirits, still keep in touch and now we have a place to stay in France as well as them in USA.
With just these six examples the monetary savings is over $624 in one year. The above is just a very small snippet of habits we have engrained into our lifestyle.
Thinking back to when we started our goal of travelling, we didn’t know what we were doing or where it would take us. We looked out to a field with thousands of snowflakes, grabbed some and simply made the commitment to start rolling. It is up to each of us to retain what helps us achieve our individual goals and keep the momentum of our own massive snowballs rolling. Let the things that hold you back go flying off as we each launch our way towards personal success.
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…nice fish, nice hankies, nice friends, nice ideas…
nice-nice, nice comment 🙂
We save money by having my sister and husband come to live with us and call them our foster children. It may not be so much a money saver as it is a really great way to have fantastic home cooked meals without cooking! 🙂
barting in action…:)