1. Don’t buy gear

It might be tempting to spend those 40 silver on a new weapon once you hit level 10 and get to the major city for the first time. But it’s a trap! You will most likely replace it with a quest reward in a couple of levels. Every little you save along the way helps getting the gold together for that level 40 mount.

2. Don’t learn abilities that you won’t use

Learning your class abilities is a big money sink. A mistake many people make, especially new players, is to learn everything they can, even if they don’t use the ability. Some examples for this is Track beasts and Track humanoids. Think to yourself what you actually need to keep killing enemies at your level, and only learn those skills. You can learn everything else once you get your mount.

3. Use to Auction House to sell things

One of the first things you should do when starting out in classic wow is to create a bank alt. You don’t have to walk him to the city right away, you just want someone you can mail you items to. You should try to sell any greens you are not using on the auction house. Even white items like cloth and meat can sell! Profit is profit, right? Many people will try to upgrade their gear for cheap, and if you can get 20 silver for a level 10 green item that would vendor for 3 silver, that’s a massive profit for you.

4. Do quests that reward bag

You might be tempted to spend your gold on large bags early on. While bag space is important, there is no need to spend the gold the buy expensive bags from vendors. There are quests in the game that reward you with bags, here is a list of them:

5. Get your discount

Having exalted reputation with your home city faction will give you a 10% discount on the mount. You should try to do quests that award reputation with it while leveling, so you can save 10 gold on your level 40 mount. Another thing that grants 10% discount is the PvP Rank 3, and these two bonuses do stack, so you can get the price down by 20% if you can get both of them.

6. Every little helps

There are a lot of little things you can do to keep your money together. Ask mages for food and drink when you see them. The tip will most likely be much cheaper than buying food from a vendor.
Sell white items on the Auction House. In world of warcraft, there is a use for everything of White quality and above. Meat is used by cooks, cloth by tailors, and so on. You could even ask a tailor to make bags out of the cloth you loot, or even get it yourself.
If you do all these things, you should have enough to afford your Mount at level 40. If you are close to level 40 and notice that you are quite far off that amount you need, you can always grind mobs for a level or two. Grinding mobs around level 35-37, especially humanoids, is very viable and can earn you anywhere from 5 – 10 gold per hour.

If you are still having problems getting the gold together, check out my low level farming guides here =)