It’s no secret that traveling costs money, but it doesn’t need to cost a fortune. Long-term travel is easier and cheaper than ever. But learning how to save for travel can still be a challenge at first.
How long it takes will depend on when you’re traveling, your travel style, and most importantly, how efficiently you’re actually saving your hard-earned cash. If travel is really what you want, saving for it just gets a whole lot easier!
We’re masters at saving money on travel, and to help you realize your dream trip abroad, here are our top tips and tricks to get you on the road faster.
making plans
First, you must create a plan. Without a plan, you just aimlessly go through the rest of the action. You may have a vague idea that you want to travel, or that you want to spend a few months in Europe or fly to South America to learn Spanish.
However, without a specific purpose and goal, it is more difficult to preserve. Sit down, decide where you want to be, and make a plan detailing how long you want to be away. Of course, plans can change, but without a plan, you’re not going anywhere.
One great tip I can offer here is to create a shortlist of your most desired destinations. Make that list a minimum of three positions and a maximum of five. With this set in hand, think about the time of year you want to travel.
You’ll find that, through a process of eliminating research, you’re left with only a few places to work for the time of year you plan to travel.
Budgeting
Once you know where you want to go, you can start to develop your plans in more detail. Now is the time to create a budget for the trip of a lifetime. When it comes to how to save money on travel, this is one of the most important aspects of the process.
When setting your budget, it’s important to include all possible expenses you might need for your trip. Break down everything from flights and visas to rough allowances for hotels, hostels, travel, food and even drinks.
Don’t forget to include transportation. Surprisingly, this is such a big problem that so many people show up in one place just to have the extra cost of taxis, trains, and subways, and they forget to factor these into their budget.
Once you know how much you actually need, you have a goal, you have a tangible number to work toward. I recommend going through this process for every destination you are considering.
Truth be told, no destination will cost the same, and one of your shortlisted destinations may be far beyond your budget. That’s why I recommend having a few top-desired places and then thinking about budgets for all of them.
Then, all you need to do is decide which ones fit your desires and budget.
Calculate your income and expenses
Calculating your income and daily expenses may seem like an obvious step when you’re figuring out how to save money for travel, but it’s often overlooked. These things lay the groundwork for your goal of saving money on travel.
As part of the savings process, you might think about your salary and big expenses like student loans or rent, but you’ll need to be more detailed to get on the road faster.
Keep track of your other recurring expenses, whether it’s a Netflix subscription, phone bill, or grocery shopping. But also give yourself a budget for other expenses, like trips to the movie theater or hanging out with friends. If you know what you’re spending, you know where you can cut back to save money.
It can be an interesting experience to really dial in how much and how little you spend each month. Once you know this, it can be a powerful tool for adjusting your spending and growing your savings.
set due date
With your budget and plan in place, you now need to set deadlines. This is the best way to keep yourself motivated to travel, because without a real deadline, you could be putting off travel indefinitely.
Write down the date, but be realistic of course. Make sure you can actually hit your savings goals by that date, and most importantly, give yourself a reason to save. The best way is to book flights in advance, then you really have to work and learn how to save money on travel!
Assess your spending and lifestyle
It’s easy to get bogged down in the convenience of convenience when you’re at home. To help you save money for your travel plans, it’s a good idea to evaluate your spending and lifestyle.
Do you really need to eat out all the time? Cooking meals at home will help you save on expensive dinners, or bringing packed meals to work will cut down on expensive everyday costs.
Saving money can be as simple as buying fewer drinks at the bar or staying longer. It might not be as much fun in the short term, but you won’t regret it when you drink margaritas on the beach in Mexico .
zoom out
If travel is your goal, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find ways to spend less once you’ve reassessed your spending. With momentum and travel on the horizon, it’s time to downsize.
Cut down on nights out, get rid of expensive subscriptions or move into a cheaper apartment. It might be hard at first, but it will be worth it in the long run! Remember, you don’t have to give up forever.
Saving money on travel is all about rearranging your priorities. Do you want to take a dream trip or watch Netflix after getting off work?
sell your stuff
When it comes time to pack your bags and start preparing for a trip, you’ll be surprised how much stuff you actually have. When you’re on the go, you probably only need a backpack, so what happens to all the items you leave behind?
You may want to think about this ahead of time as you prepare for your trip, because as you go through all of these possessions, you may find that there are a lot of things that you no longer use.
Be hard on yourself too. When are you going to watch those DVDs again? How many times did you actually use these weights? Still, what you don’t need, someone else might be looking for. Instead of just throwing stuff away, try selling it to raise some extra cash for your trip.
We were able to fund two years of traveling around the world in a row by selling things that had no purpose in our lives. When you take a closer look, it’s amazing just how many things you have around the house that play a real role in your life.
I highly recommend using platforms like Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace to clear excess money to help finance your trip. You won’t miss a single one, I promise.
Open a separate savings account
A great way to stay on track when it comes to how to save money for travel is to open a separate savings account with your bank. You could even call it a “travel fund” or “dream travel savings,” or whatever motivates you to keep adding.
You keep your travel savings separate from your other savings and accounts, and if you have a regular paycheck, you can even set up a direct debit that gets deposited directly into your savings account each month so you don’t even have to see your stash of money!
This is a super effective step to saving money on travel. You will be able to see balanced growth, which is inspiring in itself. This is a crucial step in the money-saving process that allows us to travel far and wide.
Track your finances with an app
These days, there’s no reason not to use technology, and there are some great apps that can help you keep track of your income, expenses, and finances all in one place.
You can track your spending with the click of a button and see how much you’re saving. The app helps you know if you’re on track. Many apps can be entered directly into multiple accounts, making things easier if your finances are spread out in various places.
Mint and Pocketguard are two of the most popular personal budgeting apps. I’ve also used Quickbooks Free and Wave.
Savings with Banking Apps
Likewise, there are many banking apps you can use to actually save money. With many card providers, such as Revolut, you have the option to round your payouts to the nearest whole number.
That means when you buy coffee for 3.50, you automatically put 50 cents into the savings account. That may not seem like much, but over a year, these roundups add up!
work overtime
You may quit your job to travel, but in the short term, you have to stick with it and make money. If you can, work overtime to save money faster. I know, I know, overtime makes you look like the picture above… at least it works for me!
Sure, you’ll be working longer hours and working more in the short term, but keep your eyes on future goals. Work hard, but hit the road faster, just see overtime as a necessary means to the end.
The biggest rule of thumb for all-around over time, though, is to make sure you deposit every penny you make into your travel bank account. Otherwise, why would you kill yourself for those extra hours?
get a side job
Besides selling everything to travel the world, another great tip on how to save money on travel is to get a side hustle.
If you can’t work overtime, or your job doesn’t allow it, or you simply can’t spend any more time at the same job, then consider finding another job.
You may want to start freelancing in your spare time to save some extra cash, or you may have other skills that you can put to good use in a part-time job.
You can even work in a bar or café in the evenings or on weekends. The opportunities are endless, you just have to be ready to find them.
stay inspired and motivated
But perhaps the most important thing in learning how to save money on travel is learning how to stay inspired and motivated.
There’s nothing worse than not seeing a goal at the end and you need to stay inspired. Book flights early and work towards your savings goals. Before you know it, you’ll be flying around the world.
