I wish I could tell you that there were 1 or 2 big things we did that allowed us to afford our 3-month Worldschooling adventure, but it was actually a series of so many small things that added up over time. I answered the question of How Much Does Worldschooling Cost, and here’s a list of where the money came (or is coming) from:

1. Using my husband’s salary. He escorted us down to South America and stayed for a week, using vacation time, but he has returned home to work and will be receiving his full salary while we’re gone.
2. Saving our tax returns. Since we first started planning this trip, we’ve received 2 tax returns that we were able to use for the airfare.
3. Using my business profits. My business is still fully operational in my absence. While it’s not a ton of money, the profit from my business helps cover additional expenses before and during the trip.
4. Selling items on Craigslist and Facebook pages. I usually give away my baby/kid/homeschool stuff to friends when I’m done with them, but I sell my more expensive non-kid items (furniture, electronics, small appliances, etc.)
5. Saving monetary gifts from family. Our parents often give us money for birthdays, Christmas, and sometimes at random other times. We’ve saved those gifts for the past couple of years and have applied them towards the trip.
6. Reducing gasoline expense. Hubby leased an electric car when our home state (Georgia) had a tax incentive program, so he hasn’t paid for a drop of gas in 3 years. He’s the one who commutes to work and most of my driving is pretty close to home, so a tank of gas lasts me a long time.
7. Skipping our annual vacation. We go to the beach and/or mountains for 4-5 days each year. We always get really good deals, so this didn’t save as much as it may seem, but we’ve been operating under the “every little bit matters” philosophy.
8. Not eating out often. We never ate out a ton, but we really cut back when we started planning the trip. The biggest change has been that I almost always pack lunches when we go on field trips which is at least once a week. That has always been my plan, but I used to just end up purchasing lunch out because I failed to plan ahead.
9. Changing utility companies and minimizing utilities. We’ve changed internet and electric (or maybe gas?) providers multiple times to take advantage of new customer deals and monthly savings. We also haven’t had cable in nearly 10 years.
10. Canceling under-utilized services. We scoured our credit card bills and found a few random monthly or annual charges for services that we rarely or never used, and we canceled all of those. Most of them were apps with recurring costs that we had forgotten about.
11. Drastically reducing Starbucks visits. Hubby doesn’t like Starbucks, so this one fell squarely on my shoulders. I simply adore chai tea lattes. They make me happy, and that’s pretty much it. I went from 1x per week to 1x per month.
12. Cutting babysitting expenses. Trustworthy babysitting for 4 young kids is crazy expensive. I used to think that I HAD to pay for care when I had to go places like the dentist, doctor, or a volunteer meeting. Now, I just bite the bullet and bring them with me. I see the cringes on the faces of office staff when Mama Duck walks in followed by a line of baby ducklings, but I just smile and ignore it. I absolutely bribe them to behave PERFECTLY with the promise of extra TV time or something yummy to eat, and it totally works. Hubby and I also have our weekly date nights at home. The kids know to stay upstairs unless it’s an emergency (it never is), and we enjoy dinner & a Redbox movie downstairs alone. 
13. Going “natural.” I grew out my relaxer which has completely eliminated the need to go to the salon because I can do it myself now. It’s still a work-in-progress, and it hasn’t been easy, but it was a great money-saving, and mental health-enhancing, choice.
14. Keeping basic wardrobes & relying on used clothing and shoes. I’ve never been a fashionista, so admittedly, this move has not been all that difficult. Plus, I’ve spent an immense amount of the last 8 years in maternity or nursing-friendly transitional clothes. I consigned 80% of my regular wardrobe, and stick to a very basic set of mix & match clothes for day-to-day life. Most of my kids’ clothes are hand-me-downs from church members, fellow homeschoolers, and then siblings. I rarely buy any new clothes or shoes for any of us.
15. Cutting out nearly all paid extra-curricular activities for the kids. This has saved a ton of money. I have a strong dislike for weekly commitments, so we’ve always been below-average when it comes to extra-curricular options, but we’ve dropped down to practically zero in preparation for this trip. The decision was two-fold. Yes, it saves money because there’s no initial outlay, but it also saves by not wasting money for classes/activities that they would miss while we’re gone.
16. Using our Kindles much more often. I’ve had a Kindle for many years, but I didn’t start really using it until the last 18 months or so. I’m a page flipper, and I want my kids to know and love the feel of an old-fashioned paper book. However, I knew I couldn’t bring many books in my luggage because they’re heavy, and we are a book-lovin’ family, so I began making many new purchases in an electronic version. I can’t promise that this will stick after the trip though because I miss having all of our school books displayed on a shelf.
17. Going to the library much more often. Because of our (tiny) book obsession and my intentional desire to create a literary home full of books, I usually operate with a if-it’s-good-enough-to-read-it’s-good-enough-to-buy philosophy. We’ve always visited the library as a place for fun exploration, but I’ve only been actually checking out lots of books for the past year. It’s been cool. Not as depressing as I once thought {joke}.
18. Purchasing annual membership passes and trading passes to other locations with friends. I want to say “never,” but I may be forgetting about an instance or two, so I’ll just say that I very rarely pay to take the kids to a museum or enrichment facility without buying a membership because it just makes so much financial sense. For most places, my family has to go 2-3x in a year to recoup the expenditure which is extremely easy. Most memberships come with free passes that I swap with friends who have free passes for other places. This way, we get to visit a ton of places for free or a fraction of the cost which is important because field trips are a major part of our homeschooling experience.
19. Eliminating car payments.  Scott turned in his electric car the day before we left for our trip, so we are currently a single-car family as he’s driving my old 2004 minivan while we’re gone.
20. Changing my phone plan. I called AT&T to see what I could do to reduce my phone bill, and they informed me that I’ve had the same plan for 7 years. Ouch! Just switching to an updated plan and dropping a phone line that I forgot I even had saved me $30 a month.
21. Purchasing less “stuff.” This is a general catchall that basically describes my new normal. I simply don’t buy as much stuff. Most of what I do purchase comes from Amazon. It started out that way because I didn’t want to drag a newborn and toddler and preschooler out to the store, but I’ve kept going because I’ve found that shopping online has practically eliminated impulse purchases. I search for what I need, read the reviews, select the best value, purchase, and move on. Then it shows up on my front porch in 2 days or less.
22. Eliminating manicures, massages, and convenience services (valet parking, car washes, etc.). It’s been so long since I’ve paid for any beauty or convenience services that I can’t even begin to add up how much I’ve saved, but it has to be thousands of dollars across many years. Full disclosure: I do have a service that comes to clean our home once a month. I’ll forego international travel before I give that up because it is a GAME CHANGER, folks. See, everyone has their limits.
23. Completing projects & consuming all supplies before purchasing new things. My girls love to craft, and I love that they enjoy such a sweet activity so I’ve always made sure to keep the craft cabinet well-stocked with fun options. Over time, we’ve amassed a ridiculous amount of supplies, and we’re GOOD. Occasionally, I still have to run out to JoAnn’s (with a 50% off coupon, of course) to replenish something they use often or add something they need while learning a new handicraft, but I’ve cut way back in this department. I encourage them to create using what we already have.
24. Using coupons. I want to be an extreme couponer someday, but today ain’t the day. While I admire their ingenuity and the results, I just don’t have the time to invest in doing it well. However, whenever I can conveniently use coupons without sucking up too much planning time, I do it. And I’ve signed up for text promotions and savings programs at stores that I frequent. For example, the Target debit card gives me 5% off every purchase. No strings attached.
25. Being vegetarian. This one helps us save on groceries and eating out. The grocery bill is lower because we don’t buy meat, and meat is expensive. For some people, vegetarian eating has led to a higher bill because they have to add in a ton of fresh produce which can also be expensive, but we were already buying tons of veggies and I try to choose recipes utilizing in-season produce. We’ve also nearly eliminated fast-food options because there are few vegetarian menu items to choose from at those places, and they usually taste awful or are so awfully unhealthy that I can’t even. 

I’m sure there are other ways we’ve cut back that aren’t coming to mind at the moment because they’ve become second-nature, so I’ll be sure to update this list as I think of more ideas.