BUDGET TRAVEL TIPS TO SAVE MONEY ON VACATIONS

The number one reason people tell me they can’t go on holiday abroad is lack of money.

The second reason is that they don’t have the time off work.  Americans are way down there with Thailand and the Philippines when it comes to our employers’ generosity of paid holidays from work. These tips for saving money to travel may not work for everyone, but these are what saved me the money.

9 Tips for saving money toward travel

1. Organise your current finances

Take a look at your bank accounts, your existing money, your income, your outgoings, and everything else in between. You want to know all of these inside out before you start anything else, as you need to know what you’ve got to work with right from the beginning.

2. Set up automatic transfers to your savings account

If you can find a bank account that puts a little away into your savings with every transaction you make with your checking account, it creates an easy way for you to save without realising it. It isn’t exactly going to make you rich on its own, but every little helps.

3. List and organize

The more you organise, the more you’ll begin to see where you can save money and know where you’re spending more than you need to. Once you’ve got your weekly budget sorted out, make a list of what you’re going to spend it on in the week, and stick to it.

4. Take out cash and spend only that

This is a trick I’ve been doing for years. Instead of using my debit card, I’ll take my weekly allowance out in cash each week and use only that. I work well with a more visual amount of money to spend, so you might too.

5. Stop shopping.

This one is the hardest for me. I fail at this almost all of the time. But when I reality-check myself it is like this: if I am leaving for the fall season, then I don’t need to buy fall clothes. If I’m traveling through winter I don’t need a new coat, boots, or scarf. Now if you really don’t buy those things you just saved yourself a couple hundred bucks! Once you’ve missed multiple seasons of fashion and get over that period of depression, it gets better. When you get back to summer clothes will be in the stores and what you missed will already be out of style.

6. Drive less.

Gas is expensive. Try to spend a day off doing everything in one area then only drive to work and back during the week. This was easy for me because I lived in a city that was walkable. But if you find yourself driving too much to see friends and go out, you need to rethink where your money is going.

7. Go home for the weekend.

This is an oldie but a goodie. You’ll get free food, you won’t be tempted to go out and spend money, and you can spend time with your family before your trip.