Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
Next year, my husband and I are both turning 40! It’s going to be a busy year because most of our friends are also the same age, so there’s going to be lots of parties and celebrating!
I didn’t think I’d want one but I would actually really like a party for my birthday, however, big parties cost money, and if it’s a toss-up between one evening of partying and spending that money on travelling then I’ll choose travelling every day!
Basically, I’m hoping to travel as much as possible next year. We’re hoping to go to Spain for a couple of weeks or more over the summer, and I’d really like to go back to Cornwall, where we’re been camping for the last two years. Plus, I’d love to do a couple of city breaks, especially one in March, for my husband’s birthday. It’s very unlikely that we’ll be able to make the city breaks work on top of the rest, but I like to dream!
All of that obviously costs money, and we certainly don’t have lots of spare cash to spend on travelling next year. However, I’m hopeful that if we can plan and budget and get saving, then we will be able to have a brilliant year of travel, even if every single one of these trips isn’t possible.
We also can’t be as flexible with travel anymore as Ava is in her first year at secondary school, so we don’t want to be taking her out of school for a week anymore (we did it earlier this year, and I think only once more the entire time she was at primary school).
This is a big one for me. I am starting to take a good, hard look at all of those little payments that go out every month that really add up. I would say most of them are blogging-related – little things I’ve signed up to here and there that, when I think about it, I don’t really need anymore or can do without.
I do find it hard thinking, ‘But what if I need it?’ or ‘What if I’m missing out, not being a part of that?’ but really, I can always sign up again one day if I do need it again or find I’m really missing it.
One example of this that I’ve just unsubscribed to is Medium. I was enjoying having access to read as many articles as I wanted each month and getting some good tips from some of the posts on there. But I can’t afford it, I don’t have the time to read everything I want to on there, and I can read a few articles for free every month anyway!
I also keep meaning to go back to the gym that I’m paying for every month – I started going swimming a couple of times a week for a while, but I haven’t been since before the summer holidays, and I’m still paying for it every month! It’s such a waste, and I hate it, but I really do want to go again and take that time out for me. I’m giving myself one more week to see if I end up going, but if not, it’s gone!
There are some things that we just won’t cut down on, such as Spotify, for example, but all three of us use it so much, so I think it’s worth it – we want to live and still enjoy ourselves in the moment whilst we’re saving so some things we won’t compromise on.
Along the same lines is being more careful about what we spend money on and choosing travel over buying ‘things’. Things that we don’t necessarily need but that really add up.
Our house is falling apart, and we’re not willing to pay a fortune to do it up again when we want to move anyway, so there’s no point in spending money on things to make it look nicer right now! That’s something I struggle with because I want my home to look nice, but that’s like putting lipstick on a pig (no offence to pigs).
I am absolutely terrible at saving money. I have never ever been able to save – part of it is that I don’t really earn enough, especially this past year (blogging is so different to a few years ago!), but also, I just really struggle to save.
I hate it, and so I really want to try harder to save some money each month, which will hopefully be a bit easier if I’m able to cut costs down. I want to do this not only to save up for travelling but also in general so we actually have some savings!
Using an online savings calculator is so helpful, as it means I can see how much I can actually save if I cut certain costs and put a bit aside each month or week and whether it will actually be possible to save an amount to travel as much as we want to next year.
Seeing how much I can save over, say, the next year, all laid out in front of me, really inspires me to make it happen, cut down how much I spend wherever I can and start saving up. It also makes me realise that saving up a good amount over the next year is more possible than I thought and that it doesn’t mean putting aside a crazy amount each month or not living life in the meantime.
Having a visual aid really makes it real to me, and I think means I’m more likely to make my goals happen when it comes to saving.
I’ve also been using Plum for a few months now, which is free to use; you just connect it to your bank account (it’s all safe and above board), and then you can set it up to save a bit each week automatically by rounding up what you spend.
The small amounts it takes from your main account don’t make a big difference each week, so you hardly notice it, and I’ve actually managed to save a bit for the first time ever! However, I did then end up putting it back into my account when I really needed it, but I’m hoping if I can cut costs and work harder, then I will be able to leave any savings well alone. It’s already building back up quickly, and it’s great to just set it and forget it.
I’ve got really good at using cashback sites when I buy anything online now, and it all adds up quite quickly to make a bit of extra money on things we’re buying anyway.
My favourite is TopCashback, as I find that most places we shop at are on there, and it just adds up quicker for me on there as opposed to others.
JamDoughnut is another that I’m enjoying using, and it works a bit differently to others in that you buy a gift card before you make a purchase, which you then get cashback on. It’s mostly for supermarkets (you can use it in-store, too) and restaurants, but they have recently added Amazon (cashback on Amazon – woo!!). It’s perfect when you know you’re going to buy something more expensive or a chunk of stuff because you just buy the gift card for the amount you’ll spend before purchasing. Use my referral code PFPX to get a £4 bonus when you use the app for the 1st time.
I add browser extensions on my Macbook for all of the cashback sites I use, so I never forget to use them when I’m on my computer.
I am constantly clearing our house out, and I feel like we still have way too much stuff. So I want to keep going with that and get lots of clothes and shoes (I have a lot of clothes and shoes!) on Vinted or Facebook marketplace and make some extra money. I find it too easy to send clothes I don’t want anymore to the charity shop, and whilst that is great and I would prefer to do that, we don’t have enough money to give everything away!
Along the same lines, I am determined not to buy many new clothes over the upcoming months. I think I mostly buy new things to make me feel better and think this perfect thing I’ve spotted will make me feel great and give me more confidence, but that never happens! So, I need to stay away from the ASOS app as much as possible!
I know this isn’t always an option, but right now, I am doing some freelance work as well as blogging, and I can pretty much do as much as I want. I’ve struggled with this a bit because freelancing doesn’t generally pay anywhere near as much as blogging when blogging is good, so it takes a lot more hours to earn a decent amount.
But blogging has been very inconsistent over the last year or more (at least it has for me, but I think for others, too), so I’m not currently earning enough from it, sadly.
So, to make enough money, I need to put the hours in and work my bum off, which means having a much better daily routine and work schedule – which I am currently working on!
I love staying in amazing accommodation when we’re away (who doesn’t), but if we want to be able to travel more, then we have to choose budget options sometimes. Particularly when you go on a city break, you’re likely to be out most of the day, including eating out at night. So you probably just need somewhere to fall into bed at night before another day of sightseeing.
I’m not talking disgusting places you don’t want to step foot in, but basic accommodation that is clean and simple and provides a base for you to rest your weary head each night.
I am not good at packing light, at all. I start off with the best of intentions but then think I really need that dress and that dress and, oh, ten pairs of shoes for a few days away.
But if I want to travel more, then I have to be able to pack lightly for shorter breaks and not pay to check luggage where possible. You can save so much money by just taking your hand luggage, and I do really love the idea of just making a couple of outfits work with only one (maybe two!) pairs of shoes and the bare minimum of everything else. It will definitely be a challenge for me, but I’m up for it to be able to travel more!
I plan to do this by planning out my outfits for each day as much as possible, which I find very hard to do in advance as I like to have options, but it will make it so much easier to pack light.
I’d love to one day visit all of the popular expensive cities like Paris and Barcelona that I’ve never been to, but that time is not now.
Instead, I intend to search for places that aren’t quite as popular right now, that you can travel to more cheaply and spend a lot less on accommodation and everything else when you’re there, like Romania, for example. There are so many beautiful, almost-undiscovered places to travel to that I would love to visit, and it makes city breaks much more feasible for us.
As part of saving money in general, I want to do as many cheap days out at weekends and in school holidays as possible. I love just a family day out to a country park or something with our dog, where we take a little picnic or just some sandwiches and do lots of walking in the fresh air. Even when it’s freezing, it’s fun to wrap up and get outside.
However, my daughter always wants to make big, exciting plans every single day that she’s not at school! She does always have fun when we’re out together, whatever we do, but I’m working on her not expecting expensive days out every weekend!
I know she’ll also have a brilliant time going on trips together, so hopefully, it’ll be worth a few more casual days out!
Planning ahead will really help us to save money and be able to travel more next year. Travelling and holidays have really gone up so we need to work out where we have to spend and where we can save.
By planning at least our main trip in advance, we can spread the cost out and also look out for great deals and offers when they’re available.
This is a collaborative post.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
Contact: [email protected]
