How I Keep It Cheap

So lately I have been asked by some readers and even some friends how we manage to go to Europe, take side trips, own a house and seemingly have a lot of fun with our salaries.

Michael and I certainly don't make tons of money. 

But we do manage to do and see the things we love.

I am no financial expert by any means. And I'm not trying to say I'm good at this. It just works for us.

But with Michael's stinginess coupled with my love of purchasing things, we found a balance.

I have always been cheap. I don't have a nice car, designer clothes, name brand purses. 

I just never cared.

Michael is the cheapest person alive.

I am not kidding. 

Once, we got in a fight over a margarita. He didn't want me to buy one. I bought it anyway. It was $5.50.  He is a little too thrifty for me sometimes. 

When we first got married (2 years ago) we lived in an apartment that was $540 a month. Now, this thing was tiny. But it was nice enough. Apparently Hugo didn't think it was nice enough. One time I left him in the apartment and me locked us out and I had to break the door down. 

Super secure doors….hmm.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. 

We did manage to save money for a house and take a trip to Europe in under a year.

And here's what we do:

Plan it out.
Now I am not suggesting you plan every detail of your life out, hardly. But especially with travel it's very helpful to plan things ahead of time. Book a hotel online (we did this when we traveled to Amsterdam and Paris). Buy museum passes ahead of time. Etc.

We try to not eat out.

I cook a lot. We recently started doing eMeals.  You pick a meal plan and a grocery store and they give you 7 meals for 7 days based on your grocery store's sales. And it's $7 a month.

7 meals is usually too many meals, plus we will eat leftovers so I only use 3-4 a week. They have plans like gluten free and paleo too. But I guess I'm not that healthy. Sorry.

When we do go out to eat we have a coupon.
We use sites like Groupon, but my favorite is Scout Mob. That's because you don't have to purchase anything ahead of time. If you use it, you use it. If you don't, no sweat.
Or, we even eat before. Like last Friday, we ate before and then split an appetizer. And we try to not order drinks out. They are always so expensive anyway.

We have a savings pad.
When I fell rock climbing we thankfully had a 6 months of living expenses saved. And thank God, we needed it.
We have some “safe money” in case something bad financially or emergency happens so we can be prepared.

We make lists.
What DO we want to do. We love music, travel and so we know that we can try and save we can do these things.

Basically, we try to not spend money when we don't need to.
Sometimes, it's tough. I get mad. I want what I want.
But in the end, I ‘m grateful we don't spend on frivolous things and save for meaningful things.
Meaning, it pays to be cheap.

How do you keep it cheap?