How I Plan To Only Spend £5k On My Gap Year

Yes, you did read that correctly! I am planning to spend only five thousand pounds on my gap year. Which will be a yearlong round the world trip. That works out to just over £13 per day!

Want to know how? Keep reading. In this post, I am going to share five things that will help me stick to budget and still enjoy every single moment! 

Disclaimer – This post includes some affiliate links which means that I may receive a commission if you use them. This comes at no extra cost to you <3

Firstly, I must acknowledge that I only feel comfortable setting such a tight budget because I have a decent emergency fund. Plus I have other savings pots that won’t be touched. I view it almost as a personal challenge to stick to such a tight budget, rather than out of necessity. This is because I know worst case scenario, I can afford a flight home from practically anywhere in the world. 

Right let’s get into it, the five things that will help me stick to my £5k budget!

Housesit

Accommodation is often the costliest part of travel but in order to keep my budget so low I have found a way to hack the system. Housesitting will eliminate the cost of accommodation all together. Essentially housesitting is an exchange of services between you, the house sitter, and the house owner. You agree to stay in their property and care for any pets they have in exchange for free accommodation. Think an Airbnb but with pets!

I find all my housesits using the site Trusted Housesitters which is great for people who love pets and travelling a little slower. Fancy trying it out yourself? Sign up using my link to get 20% off 🙂

Live like a local

As I will be staying in other people’s houses, I will have access to a kitchen meaning I will be able to cook the majority of my meals. So not only will I have free accommodation, but I will also rarely eat out – saving even more money. 

By staying in one place for an extended period of time, I intend to fully embrace a local way of life. This means I will not be spending a fortune on the touristy things. Alternatively, I want to act and live like a local. 

Embrace free activities

Nothing I enjoy more than just simply walking around a new city and seeing what I can find. Not only does it mean I get my bearings, but I often come across things that I never would have considered doing. Best part – this is completely free! 

I always google “location, free activities” to see what’s on offer, and then plan I what I want to do and see. 

Travel slow

This one goes hand in hand with living like a local as I intend to take it slow and spend at least a week in every location. This will save me money on transportation and as I will be able to settle into each location I won’t have to pay for convenience. 

Take the cheapest route

I am not picky with my method of travel – be that plane, bus or train I will always compare the prices beforehand and go with the cheapest option. I am also not bothered by the long layovers and multiple changes which often go hand-in-hand with the cheapest tickets. Bring ‘em on.

So that is just five of the things that will help me stick to my tight £5k budget. But how do I intend to stick to it you may ask? Keep reading my friend. 

Breaking it up

After three years of budgeting, I know my money habits by now. I know for a fact that if I put the entire £5k in an account and told myself to just spend until it ran out, I would break out in hives. Not my style at all!! 

Nope, I have to break it up, in multiple different ways and accounts/pots.

I currently give myself an allowance, which seems to work really well for me so I will be continuing this on into my gap year. I have set a £10 per day allowance which will be used for food, activities, transport etc. Basically, anything day-to-day will come out of this pot. 

Every single morning, I will transfer myself £10 into a spending account. If I don’t spend the entire £10 on a particular day, the amount will roll over and continue to build. This way if there is something particularly spendy that I want to do, I will simply have to plan in advance. I will spend less in the days leading up to it and effectively “save” for it. 

So that’s £3650 of my £5000 budget. But what about the rest?

I will be putting £1000 aside to cover any big transportation costs – i.e. a long haul flight. It feels a little unfair to include these types of expenses in the day-to-day spending limit as I do intend to fly from the UK to the US at some point in the year – a one-way flight can cost anywhere from £150 to £500 depending on where I fly into and the time of year. 

Spoiler – I managed to get a flight to the US for just £145. Read here to find out how!!

The remaining £350 will be used as a buffer or for those f*ck it moments when I really really want to do something and my allowance won’t stretch. 

That’s it! Exactly how I plan to spend only five thousand pounds on my yearlong around the world trip! Does this sound crazy to you? Or are you as confident as I am that this is achievable? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.