One of the questions we get asked the most about our travels is how we can afford it. Most people think we won the lotto or that our families are funding our travels but the truth is far less exciting, and in reality, we just spent a long time saving. We put every extra dollar we earnt away for 4 years to be able to afford a year on the road.
We did have well paying jobs before this trip, and have stopped along the way to earn some extra money where we can, but there are also some small tips and tricks we implemented to make sure we were spending as little as possible and finding small hacks to save that extra bit.
First, here is some background on us and our careers pre-travels
I (Emma) have always worked in digital marketing and have 8 years of experience working with clients from all industries. Before we left on this trip I built up a very small client base who I work on part time while traveling. We don't make enough to save money this way, but it makes enough to cover the cost of petrol and sometimes food.
Cadwgan worked as a Civil engineer for years before we left, and did a lot of overtime which massively contributed to the savings bucket. He wasn't able to work on the road while traveling but easily picked up some extra work when we decided to stop and top up the bank account.
We also decided to stop for a few months, after 15 months of travel. We settled on Brisbane as we were both easily able to get work in our chosen careers. I got a full time job as a Marketing Specialist for a large Aviation brand and Cadwgan went back to work as a civil engineer for a short term project. This 4 month work stint allowed us to save enough money to afford another year living on the road.
We had to adapt our lifestyle a lot while traveling. Every cent we spent, we tracked and made sure to only buy the essentials and eat in (home cooked meals) as much as possible. We also found a few tricks to save money a bit easier …. So we thought we'd let you know our top tricks.
Free Camping
We like to free camp as much as possible. The best way to find the best free camps is through Wiki camps. It is a small cost to sign up ($7) but the membership is for life, so no ongoing membership costs. It's all crowdsourced information from fellow travellers so it's usually up to date and fairly accurate. We have found so many hidden gems using this app and it's our go-to way to find places to camp for the night.
Our top 2 free camps, pictured below, was in St Helens and Lake St Clair, both in Tasmania. Keep an eye out for our future blog on our favourite free camps around Australia.
Wifi and Free Internet
Working on the road requires internet - it also is very expensive to top up our Telstra dongle ($50 for 40gb per month) so we like to utilise the free wifi wherever we can. Here are our top places to find free wifi in Australia
Libraries - most towns, even the really small ones have a public library. They are a comfortable and quiet place to get a lot of work done (plus free aircon and couches is a massive plus)
Cafes - make sure your buying food and drinks if your planning on hanging around for a while
Shopping centers - the food court is usually the best place + there is always a couch somewhere.
Information and tourist centers - good for some quick research. Not so much to chill and work out of.
Museums and galleries - not all of them have free wifi, but most do.
Commonwealth Bank - (trust us on this one) Each branch has 30 minutes of free wifi (and its good) you will often find us sitting in our car outside the branch browsing and downloading away. The best part is you don't even have to have an account with Commonwealth in order to access the free wifi.
Utilise Caravan Park Memberships and Rewards
While there is a small fee to join these memberships, we couldn't recommend it enough. We purchased the BIG4 membership for $50 (for 2 years) and we have already saved over $937. We also get heaps of perks when staying at the parks (like early check in, or free activities) and bonus sales and discounts. One of the main reasons we purchased the membership is because you get 5% off the Tasmania Ferry - which doesn't sound like a lot, but it pays its self off, and some, with only a one way ticket.
We were lucky enough to be offered the NRMA membership for free (usually $50) and have saved over $200. Another membership is the G'DAY Parks membership, while we have made our $50 back, it is probably our least used membership as their parks are few and far between and if we are planning on paying for a caravan park we opt for a BIG4 and NRMA before a G'day park.
Overall, through caravan park memberships, we have paid $100 and saved a total of $1,128 (as of Feb 2023)
BIG4 Wallaga Lake Holiday Park, Bermagui
Return it - Can Collection & Recycling
An easy way to add a little spare change to your pockets is to recycle your cans and plastic drink bottles. Now available all around Australia, if you recycle your single-use drink bottles and cans you receive 10c per return. It can be a bit of a pain storing cans, but we have got back well over $200 in the span of a year.
While we don't drink all that much, it's easy to add up after a few drinks with friends, or when you save drink bottles when you're out and about, it surprisingly adds up. There is no minimum amount, so wherever we drive past a return box we stop and empty our bag.
Cashback Rewards
Not really a saving technique, but a great way to earn a little cash for the money you are already spending.
Before any online purchase we check if we can get cash back through Shopback or CashRewards - it's small, but it really adds up over time (especially on their special sale / event days) So far we have made $500+ with Shopback and $50+ with Cashrewards. You also get a sign up bonus of approx $10 for Shopback and $10 for Cash rewards.
Supermarket Rewards Programs
We are signed up with both Coles (Flybuys) and Woolworths (Rewards) loyalty programs - and yes we know they use your data and track your purchases but hey, I've made over $600+ in redeemable dollars through flybuys and earned over 10,000 Qantas points through Woolworths rewards.
The key to make sure you're getting that maximum points is to download the apps and activate all of the boosters pre-shop. The boosters are where the points are, and is why we earn so many points per shop. Plus they notify you on the sales of the products you buy frequently so you can save a little more here and there.
Quantas Wellness App.
Ok so this one is a bit random, but a cool way to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points by doing absolutely nothing.
It works based on your health app on your phone (or if you have a fitness watch) basically you set an amount of steps you would like to achieve each day and week, and your ideal sleep schedule. And if you achieve these, you earn Qantas points! The amount is small, but it adds up over time. I have earned 1000 points over the course of the last 6 months. Pretty good for doing nothing at all.
There are also extra challenges that can earn you points such as hitting a big step count for a day - 10k, 15k, 20k steps etc. Or by simple things like checking your tyre pressure or checking your smoke detectors. All you have to do is tick a box to say you have completed the task.
While these are all small things, they really add up and make life a little easier on the road. If you have any other tips and tricks let us know in the comments - we’d love to hear them.
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