Loot to Scoot: Strange Secrets to Save Travel Money

There are TONS of volunteer and work opportunities online. My dear friend and I had a bleeping fantastic (and free!) summer volunteering in a school in Peru and living with the school administrators… all because of a CRAIGSLIST ad my friend followed up on! (Yes, it is pretty fantastic that this wasn’t as sketchy as it sounds… We met first several times with part of the family living in Boston to read our skeeze-o-meters!)

There seem to be an abundance of big Volunteer Abroad companies that salivate to charge you $2000 for a few weeks of “Volunteering”. Although some people have loved this option, my advice would be to seek out the smaller opportunities (word of mouth works very well, as does Googling a specific country or job and “volunteer”), OR call the companies and say “I am not rolling in money now because of ___, but I have ___ to offer in terms of skills, and I am wondering if you offer any scholarships. Sometimes works!

Naturally, there are also various well-known, totally free work exchanges abroad for Farms, Yoga Ashrams, etc. Google away, cowboys!

4. Go into teaching.
Every year I ask my students, “Who is interested in becoming a teacher, for a career?” Audible guffaws are heard, and the one kid at the back who has been pondering raising her hand lowers it and mutters, “Y’all don’t get paid at all, and anyway kids are mad aggy.”

“INCORRECT!” I always holler. While, compared to fancy computer folk or, say, Madonna, teachers don’t get paid a CRAZY amount, I would like to point out an important fact: My starting salary as a teacher (after earning my Masters right out of college) was FAR above those of almost ALL of my friends. Although doctors and lawyers ultimately earn $100,000 a year and above, remember that they spend 3-5 years after college in (expensive!) school before they earn anything at all. We celebrate all career paths, but I’m just pointing out that I started earning right out of the gate, and was able to save a nice amount while my lawyer and doctor friends were still deep in student loans. (The fact that kids are “mad aggy”, or verily aggravating, cannot be disputed, but they are also mad awesome and hilarious :) )

Moreover, after 6 years of madness and glory in Boston schools, I can declare there is no other job with such great vacations (and opportunity to positively impact the world, of course). Imagine this: you’re lying on a rainbow-colored towel on Ipanema Beach and you suddenly realize… it’s Friday, so you’ve just gotten paid for the past two weeks of packing large amounts of Brazilian food and sun into your body. Two months of paid vacation, baby– during which you could even get a second job! Despite the recent awful layoffs, a teacher is always (internationally and nationally!) marketable.

Disclaimer: Teaching is a VERY difficult job (especially at first!), but the ultimate gains are so lovely!

5. Buy clothes… in your friend’s musty closet.
As the furious student stormed out of the room, he glared back at me to see what final insult he could hurl. “Those aren’t New Balance,” he finally said, pointing to my ratty sneakers, “Those are OLD Balance.”
Over the past six years, I’ve tried to keep my appearance as professional as possible at work, and as beautiful as possible at play, but the truth remains that I saved a good chunk of change by clothing myself in 99% secondhand clothes from my friends. I mean, we live in the land of plenty, and we all have WAY too much stuff. Clothing communism now! Share the love and the shirt and consider monthly Clothing Swaps.

6. Babies suck money and mobility, duh.

Want to save money? Want to travel? Please note that it’s 300 to 1 million times harder to see the world and save the loot to do so if you have a little one. To a much lesser extent, this applies to pets. If a baby or a pet will give you great happiness, mazel tov! However… you know what I mean.

7. DO eat out/ buy that thing you want!
If you’re always saying “no” to tantalizing things in order to save money, you are eventually going to be too depressed to even get on that plane at the end of the year. Figure out what luxuries make you happy and never let ’em go! It all balances out if you cut the other stuff.

8. Distract yourself.
Tempted to blow all your money on lame stuff? Do something else instead! Work long hours, take on crisis-prone friends who need you to listen to them for hours, find a boyfriend/girlfriend, exercise extensively, go to bed early, write a blog… whatEVS. Just admit that a two-year-old told “No! You can’t do that!” will cry hysterically, but a wee one given something alternative to do will gladly rock that second thing out and forget about the first temptation.

9. Pack your home with roomies.
This one is maaajor. Rent is a huge expense, as are non-shared utility bills. If you really want to travel but also really like walking around your solitary pad stark naked, think long and hard about what you desire the most: daily indulgence or a long-distance prize of extra money to see Machu Picchu? Roommates save loads of money.

Come to think of it, my brother has managed to have the crazy rent and still see Machu Picchu this summer. How? He followed up on a muttered comment by a woman during a conference that she was leading a youth trip to Peru and might need a co-leader. My sweet sibling exemplifies this final formula: Some frugality + Some indulgence + Some desire to make @@@@ happen –> the hills of Peru are yours!

That’s MY little bag of tricks. What’s in yours?