Advice for saving money for travel

Ninja_scrotum

This advice is mainly for the smokers who wish to save lots of €€€ for travel...

I recently quit smoking. Was on 20 per day at least. I'd always find the time to smoke 'em. But now after quitting, everyday I throw the €7 I would have spent on fags into a jar. I've been off them 3 weeks, thats nearly €150... the price of a two-day long safari trip somewhere in Africa....

In one year I will have saved roughly €2500 - all fagmoney. I'm also saving at least €200 work-money per week. I'm saving for a rtw trip at the mo', and every bit of cash helps. Don't buy that dirty sweaty sack of chips after the pub, have a sandwich or some cornflakes at home. Bring packed lunch to work. (handy tip #1: brown bread fills you up better than white) I used to spend almost a tenner a day buying rolls n' sandwiches and coffees and fruit or whatnot. Now i spend feckall. (handy tip #2: milk fills you up nicely) Try to put a limit on your weekly spending. Notice I said "try", since it's very hard to do when one has a soft spot for a few scoops of guinness:D

I suppose I have an advantage since I moved home specifically to save more money.

If anybody has any good ideas for saving money, please please tell me!!! I'm trying to get to the 10,000 mark as quick as i can!!

Neamhshuntasach

I think drink and smokes will be the main obstacles to saving money for most Irish people. I would drink almost 3 times a week. But i've cut it back to just weekends now which helps since i got a full time job to try save up for my RTW trip.

i'll drink a few cheap cans which i buy in bulk as it works out cheaper and a bottle of cheap vodka in lidl. I'll be well on my way to being drink by the time i head out and i end up spending feck all. When i'm drunk its like i've reached my peak and don't even think of anymore drink. I've been out in town for the past 3 saturdays and have spent well less than 30 euros. so i'm saving almost 90 euro's a week on what i'd usually have spent on drink.

i've also decided to cut down on buying phone credit. I don't have a girlfriend at the moment so that helps with the calls. i really only text people. And since i work in an office i'll use the internet to text for free and i'll use it at home too. I topped up 20 euro's over 2 months ago and i still have 17.63 in my phone now. I'll only use that credit when away from a computer.

i also moved back home which gets rid of the rent overheads.

i've decided to not buy any more designer clothes and i have gone through my closet and found clothes i forgot i even had. between them and what i'll buy in penny's i'll save a bit between now and next june from what i'd usually have spent.

cut out buying food in the likes of centra and spars and dunnes stores and such. Buy a weeks shopping in lidl or aldi. That can save you up to 40 euros.

if you drive, cut back on pointless journeys where you could have easily got a bus. You'll save on petrol and you will notice it.

i used to rent dvds but lets just say i learned how to get them from others sources. I save a few quid on that a week.

The main thing is to just cut out the non-essentials. I've been living like a cheap bastard for the past 3 months but i have managed to put away between 350-400 a week since i cut out or cut down on things i could do without. Thats 4500 euros in 12 weeks which is a fair whack in my books. my target is 15 grand and then i'll gradually go back to my old ways once i tuck that away