A few days ago, a dear friend of mine came into London to spend sometime with me on my birthday weekend. Over dinner, we were exchanging winter travel plans and she started sharing some of her dramatic encounters during her exchange programme thus far.
It revolved around how people are too quickly to judge your actions and question your decisions, without really understanding your situation.
It stemmed from the fact that traveling is seen as a luxury that people, like us, who come from humble backgrounds, don't deserve to enjoy. Where we come from, the older generation - sometimes even the youths too, believe that traveling and visiting new places is not considered as a part of learning or education. More often than not, it's being frowned upon and perceived as part of a lavish lifestyle, one we should not adopt because our families aren't wealthy.
Money has always been a very touchy subject in my family. A term you refrain from using, as if it were Voldermort. I'm lucky enough to have the money to travel without having to work. That being said, the money is not more than sufficient. In fact, it is less.
So here's how i've been rationing my allowance to have more money for travel:
1. Reduce Shopping Expenditure
Telling myself every item of clothing I buy can probably fund 1 night stay in a hostel.
Plus having a really small cupboard in Halls means not having sufficient wardrobe space. It also means I have to put in more creative brain juice refrain from repeating outfits. Seems like a win-win situation!
I use to shop a lot. $100 each time I checked out my cart - say once every 2 months, sometimes once a month. After living alone in Paris, I stopped shopping excessively. Partly because I could hardly find clothes at "thailand prices" and I cannot justify buying luxury goods.
People constantly tell me Paris and London have amazing places for shopping because things are so cheap. I do not agree.
2. Not Eating Out
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of meal plans in my hall - meal plans that my counterparts in america get, that they don't have to pay for, yes i am jealous.
But that's okay. There is always a way around.
a) Sandwiches are really cheap when you make them yourself.
b) Cooking in a group means you get to split the grocery cost - thats a real good plus point.
Of course you can let yourself have a good meal say once every month or something, but there are always cheaper places to go to. All those frequent Café Hoppers - THERE IS YOUR PLANE TICKET TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.
Alternatively, cooking = learning a new skill and you'll never want to pay 4pounds for a sandwich from the school canteen that you can make yourself (Lesson learned after buying 3 not very nice sandwiches).
p.s. I use to be all obsessed over Starbucks and coffee, but now, no. 3 Starbucks drink = 1 night of hostel rental.
Also, packing lunch when going for day trips (see point 4) helps to save a lot more money!
3. Eating Less
No snacking, unless biscuits are on sale/under a pound.
Eat less but please don't starve yourself.
I don't mean go on a diet, or eat less than required to save money, but eating less snacks, and eating proper meals does save a lot. From the looks of it, I'm spending a lot on snacks. If you're like me, and prefer Tyrells / Kettle / any other more expensive brand of snacks, then this point is especially important.
I realise, 75p Sainsbury Brand Digestive Biscuits are so much cheaper and more worth it than a £2 bag of chips.
4. Taking Day Trips
This probably works only if you're in a bigger country with multiple intercity train lines. For a small country like Singapore, it would be hard to take day trips anywhere other than Johor Bahru in Malaysia.
But, after living in the European Continent, I realised taking Day Trips is an amazing way to travel, explore different cites, and save on the lodging fees. Lodging in most UK cities cost minimum about £15-20 a night, as a college student I don't have the ability to pay for that. So, taking day trips as opposed to weekend trips is a much better alternative.
Alternatively, you can always stayover/crash at a friend's place, or try couchsurfing. Since I have no experience in that (yet), I can't give any tips.
5. Recording EVERYTHING I purchase
This is so much harder for me than I could have ever imagined.
Honestly. I have never been good with recording my finances.
I tried keeping a log of what I spent on whilst in Paris, that sort of failed. After 2 months, I stopped recording down, probably because I was having an internship allowance.
But, there isn't any more inflow of cash whilst in London. And with that in mind, I must say, thus far I'm doing good. After 1 month in London, I think I'm within my budget - this includes having to buy things like pots, pillows, shoe rack, rail cards, and other settling in stuff.
Plus, recording everything diligently (as diligently as I can - 'A' for trying) shows you how much money is spent, and where. Using an excel sheet allows me to see how much I spend on groceries, travel, and other miscellaneous stuff.
I learnt a tip from a guy friend of mine. He told me that he recorded everything on his phone, and then transferred it all to an excel sheet maybe once a week. After adopting his method, it was a lot easier to keep a log of the outflow of cash from my pocket.
Prior to using his method, I would open my excel sheet everyday and attempt to recall what i've spent. But every time I turned on the computer, I open safari and that's it.
So, Thank You Daryl. I'm sure my parents would be proud of my new found financial recording ability.
People tend to restrict themselves because they don't see a possibility in certain things happening. Most people don't see a possibility in traveling because they believe it is expensive.
Recently, I've come to realise that money should NOT be a restriction. There is always a way to save up, to work, and to fight for your dreams - be it travel, art, photography. Mine is to travel. Money (or the lack of) should not be the determining factor.
I'm not going to make my parents pay for my traveling expenses, so that's what I've been doing and trying to do to ration my budget so as to be able to travel more during the breaks.
Let me know if you have more tips!
X
Pictures from Barcelona.
"You don't have to be rich to travel."I saw this quote on Pinterest the other day, and I believe its true. You don't have to spend excessively to travel. In fact I've been always taught to live within my means.
So here's how i've been rationing my allowance to have more money for travel:
1. Reduce Shopping Expenditure
Telling myself every item of clothing I buy can probably fund 1 night stay in a hostel.
Plus having a really small cupboard in Halls means not having sufficient wardrobe space. It also means I have to put in more creative brain juice refrain from repeating outfits. Seems like a win-win situation!
I use to shop a lot. $100 each time I checked out my cart - say once every 2 months, sometimes once a month. After living alone in Paris, I stopped shopping excessively. Partly because I could hardly find clothes at "thailand prices" and I cannot justify buying luxury goods.
People constantly tell me Paris and London have amazing places for shopping because things are so cheap. I do not agree.
A £50 pound bag is not cheap. It probably used to be £200. That does NOT justify the purchase - something I realised last summer.
By not buying that bag, that wallet, that pair of discounted shoes, you actually end up with A LOT more money to travel.
One way of going about with self constrain is, if you second guess the purchase, don't buy it. If the thought "SHOULD I get this?" don't get it. "What if I regret?" always follows closely after, but unless you absolutely need it (for example, gloves for winter when you don't have any), you will NOT regret.
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of meal plans in my hall - meal plans that my counterparts in america get, that they don't have to pay for, yes i am jealous.
But that's okay. There is always a way around.
a) Sandwiches are really cheap when you make them yourself.
b) Cooking in a group means you get to split the grocery cost - thats a real good plus point.
Of course you can let yourself have a good meal say once every month or something, but there are always cheaper places to go to. All those frequent Café Hoppers - THERE IS YOUR PLANE TICKET TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.
Alternatively, cooking = learning a new skill and you'll never want to pay 4pounds for a sandwich from the school canteen that you can make yourself (Lesson learned after buying 3 not very nice sandwiches).
p.s. I use to be all obsessed over Starbucks and coffee, but now, no. 3 Starbucks drink = 1 night of hostel rental.
Also, packing lunch when going for day trips (see point 4) helps to save a lot more money!
3. Eating Less
No snacking, unless biscuits are on sale/under a pound.
Eat less but please don't starve yourself.
I don't mean go on a diet, or eat less than required to save money, but eating less snacks, and eating proper meals does save a lot. From the looks of it, I'm spending a lot on snacks. If you're like me, and prefer Tyrells / Kettle / any other more expensive brand of snacks, then this point is especially important.
I realise, 75p Sainsbury Brand Digestive Biscuits are so much cheaper and more worth it than a £2 bag of chips.
4. Taking Day Trips
This probably works only if you're in a bigger country with multiple intercity train lines. For a small country like Singapore, it would be hard to take day trips anywhere other than Johor Bahru in Malaysia.
But, after living in the European Continent, I realised taking Day Trips is an amazing way to travel, explore different cites, and save on the lodging fees. Lodging in most UK cities cost minimum about £15-20 a night, as a college student I don't have the ability to pay for that. So, taking day trips as opposed to weekend trips is a much better alternative.
Plus, by taking Day Trips you can take advantage of flash sales when it comes to train tickets. £10 for a return ticket is a pretty good deal don't you think :) I have already booked 2 day trips that are around £10 each.
Alternatively, you can always stayover/crash at a friend's place, or try couchsurfing. Since I have no experience in that (yet), I can't give any tips.
5. Recording EVERYTHING I purchase
This is so much harder for me than I could have ever imagined.
Honestly. I have never been good with recording my finances.
I tried keeping a log of what I spent on whilst in Paris, that sort of failed. After 2 months, I stopped recording down, probably because I was having an internship allowance.
But, there isn't any more inflow of cash whilst in London. And with that in mind, I must say, thus far I'm doing good. After 1 month in London, I think I'm within my budget - this includes having to buy things like pots, pillows, shoe rack, rail cards, and other settling in stuff.
Plus, recording everything diligently (as diligently as I can - 'A' for trying) shows you how much money is spent, and where. Using an excel sheet allows me to see how much I spend on groceries, travel, and other miscellaneous stuff.
I learnt a tip from a guy friend of mine. He told me that he recorded everything on his phone, and then transferred it all to an excel sheet maybe once a week. After adopting his method, it was a lot easier to keep a log of the outflow of cash from my pocket.
Prior to using his method, I would open my excel sheet everyday and attempt to recall what i've spent. But every time I turned on the computer, I open safari and that's it.
So, Thank You Daryl. I'm sure my parents would be proud of my new found financial recording ability.
People tend to restrict themselves because they don't see a possibility in certain things happening. Most people don't see a possibility in traveling because they believe it is expensive.
Recently, I've come to realise that money should NOT be a restriction. There is always a way to save up, to work, and to fight for your dreams - be it travel, art, photography. Mine is to travel. Money (or the lack of) should not be the determining factor.
I'm not going to make my parents pay for my traveling expenses, so that's what I've been doing and trying to do to ration my budget so as to be able to travel more during the breaks.
Let me know if you have more tips!
X
Pictures from Barcelona.
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