Saving Money while you are Abroad!

    So, you raised all the money you needed for the trip. You are walking off the plane into a whole new country. Congratulations! But now you have to figure out how to not burn through your entire bank account while you are in the country. I can help! While I was in South Africa, I spent a little more than I had expected to, but I also had the trip of a lifetime. These are the 5 tips that I figured out while I was there!


1. Don't promise people gifts from the country. 
   I know you want to bring every single person you know something back, which is fine if you have the money, but most of the time you don't. I brought stuff back for my boyfriend, my little brother, my parents, and his parents. Outside of that I really didn't bring home gifts for a lot of people. If  you can, see if you can hold them off for birthday/ Christmas gifts depending on when your out of the country. In this case, the gift would act as two gifts in one!



2. Filtered Water Bottle!
 There are so many options for this right here! If you are going to a country where they say the water is safe, but you are still unsure about it. Take this instead of spending so much money on water during your trip. This is one of the things that I wish I would have brought with me. I probably spent 10-15 dollars in 3 weeks of being in country on bottled water alone. If you are going for longer than this, who knows how much you will spend. Also, the conversion rate for my trip was in our favor, so it could be even more.

3. Don't be afraid to ask for tap water
   If they say the water is safe to drink in the country, drink it at restaurants. Most other countries don't do free refills and don't do nearly the portion sizes on pop as the United States does. You will most likely be disappointed with your Coke or Pepsi anyway because they do not taste the same as in the United States. Asking specifically for tap water usually means that they won't charge you for it, but often times if you don't specify, you are going to get a bottled water that you are paying for.

4. Bring Pictures back as memories. 
   Bringing back a few souvenirs is great, but they get expensive and most the time get put in a box. I will admit that I bought a few more than I knew what to do with. Most of them are neatly put away in a box, but I probably won't ever do anything with them now that I am back. Try to keep the buying of souvenirs for you down and just take as many pictures of everything as you possibly can. Make yourself a photo album when you get home!

5. Barter 
   I don't know about other countries, but I was in South Africa and after going to the African Market, I got really good at saying, "Oh, I only have this much.. but I really like this.." Not all countries are like this, but many African countries have great markets that support the locals.(similar to our flea markets) Don't be afraid to ask if they would go lower, but try to have the change correct if you do get them to go lower.
   A good way of doing this is to have your money strategically placed in different pockets. For example, have 10 dollars in one, 5 in another and 20 in another. This makes it easy to pull out a little bit of cash and not have to show the person how much money you have. Also, in situations like this, don't be afraid to say not right now because there is a good chance that someone else will have it. You can always go to them and say, "That guy over there said he would give it to me for ___, how much can I get it from you for?" Easy way to knock down the price on something you want!


Overall, don't worry about how much you are spending if you can. Enjoy the short time you have in another country and indulge in the experiences. Don't be afraid to do anything that you want to do. This is probably a chance of  a lifetime trip and you may never get the change to come back. Enjoy the trip and never worry about saving money on experiences, only stuff!

Have you been abroad? How did you save money while in country?

 If you haven't seen last weeks post about
raising money to go abroad, check it out right here.

Thanks for another great
 Money Saving Monday!