How an Australian woman saved $8,000 in eight months to fund her dream of travelling Europe

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Sydney-based woman Elena Stavrou, 33, has a serious case of the travel bug
Until recently, Ms Stavrou felt financially unable to fulfill her expensive hobby
She recently completed a course in money management and saving skills
By cutting back on small expenses, she managed to save $8,000 in eight months
Cut backs included whittling her grocery spend to $85 a week

By Alice Murphy For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 00:09 EST, 20 November 2018 | Updated: 00:12 EST, 20 November 2018

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Like much of the millennial generation, 33-year-old Elena Stavrou has an acute case of the travel bug.

But just like her peers, the Sydney-based sales executive often felt financially unable to fulfill her expensive dream of far flung international adventuring.

That was until she completed a six-week educational course on money skills which taught her how to save successfully and transformed how she looked at her finances.

By eliminating some discretionary spending and cutting back on small, daily expenses, Ms Stavrou managed to save more than $8,000 in just eight months to finance her goal: a trip around Europe.

Elena Stavrou, 33, (pictured) transformed her attitude to spending and managed to save over $8,000 in just eight months to finance a long-term trip around Europe

While she never fell behind on her rent or bill payments, Ms Stavrou couldn't understand why her friends had such healthy savings while she was living pay cheque to pay cheque.

She began her journey to financial independence and skilled saving by learning to prioritise her expenditure and ruthlessly identifying where she could cut back.

'I categorised my expenditure into socialising, food, self-care and so on, and eliminated anything other than the essentials,' she told FEMAIL, and now saves between 45 and 50 per cent of her after tax income every month.

After examining her accounts, she pinpointed two gym memberships costing her $180 a month which she ditched in favour of free runs.

Ms Stavrou couldn't understand why her friends had such healthy savings while she was living pay cheque to pay cheque until she carefully examined her finances (pictured in Madrid, Spain during her Europe-wide adventure)

She learned to prioritise her expenditure and ruthlessly identify where she could cut back (pictured in Santorini, Greece)

Ms Stavrou also discovered her biggest area of expenditure was food, saying: 'I was spending a lot of money on takeaways and coffee…I spent almost $500 on eating out in just one month, not to mention my weekly grocery spend!'

Having started with spending $120 on groceries a week, Ms Stavrou has since whittled this figure down to just $85.

'I also noticed I was making regular, often weekly trips to Woolies and spending an average of $50 on unnecessary extras like home hair treatments, conditioner and other expensive beauty products which I really didn't need.

'I gave myself a budget and forced myself to create new financial habits, which meant saying goodbye to this discretionary spending and wasting money on things like chai teas at work, bars of chocolate and banana bread which I was paying $4.50 almost everyday.'

SKILLEDSMART'S TOP FIVE FINANCIAL TIPS

1. Have a separate savings account and set up automatic transfers

2. Stop spending for the sake of spending, start spending for what brings you value

3. Don't create habits around spending (for example buying coffee and lunch every day at work)

4. Start a 'side-gig' early in your career

5. Invest time into financial education

Source: SkilledSmart

By cutting back on social spending, self-care products and groceries, Ms Stavrou was able to finance her travel goal in a short space of time (pictured, cycling in South Tirol, Austria)

She cooks at home 95 per cent of the time and takes lunch to work instead of buying pricey café fare.

The frugal professional also invested in a scooter instead of paying for public transport.

'I'm now spending just $6 a week on petrol and parking is free in the city for scooters, whereas I was paying between $40 and $50 weekly for my Opal card.'

Ms Stavrou stopped buying coffees and snacks at work and invested in a scooter instead of paying up to $50 per week on her Opal train card (pictured in Rome, Italy)

She also created a number of dedicated bank accounts, which she categorised into daily spend, household, travel and emergency saving funds.

But it's not all deprivation, as Ms Stavrou said she allows herself around $70 per month to spend on whatever she wishes.

'It could be dance class with a friend, or new makeup or clothing.'

Paridhi Jain, founder of financial education school SkilledSmart where Ms Stavrou studied, said millennials need to look at saving as 'paying themselves' by setting up an automatic transfer to a separate bank account every pay day.