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Stay away from malls/shopping centers to save money!

Stay away from malls/shopping centers to save money!

This is a guest post by Kirsty of No Place To Be. Kirsty is travelling round South East Asia with her boyfriend Poi. They started their trip in China and five months on call Chiang Mai, Thailand home with rough plans to travel Laos and Cambodia in the next two months – who knows where they will end up? They write about their adventures on their blog noplacetobe.com.

Girls ShoppingI am addicted to shopping, doesn’t matter what it is from stuff for home to clothes to toiletries I love it! For me it’s not just buying stuff, it’s the whole process going to find the perfect scarf or dress or jumper or necklace or bedspread or random ornament or anything!

So the biggest thing for me to do to save money was to simply stop going to these places! Ah so simple! A year or so before we planned to leave I changed my habits so that I didn’t go shopping after university (I studied a bit more, or planned to at least). At weekends when I would usually go shopping with girlfriends we would go and hangout in a bar or go for lunch out-of-town. It helped a lot that both of my best friends were also saving for something and we could help each other avoid the shops.

When bored, I still shopped online looking through Topshop or ASOS but found that I didn’t want the stuff half as much. Even when shopping in person I found that I kept comparing the prices of things to how much that would get me on the road. This £70 dress could get me a weeks accommodation in Thailand. Suddenly I didn’t really want that dress as much!

Saving is difficult and I did reward myself a few times with small purchases. However now, I made a new rule: it had to be something that ultimately I would take on our trip, like a long-sleeved shirt or some kind of travel gadget. That way I could still succumb every now and then to a shopping trip but not blow the budget!

Have you given up something you love (like Kirsty gave up shopping) to make your travel dreams happen sooner? Let us know in the comments!

Flickr Photos: Unlisted Sightings, Funkdooby

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