Do you wish that there was an easier way that you could save more money to travel?
When I was in college, I used to ask myself the same question. I wanted to travel to London, but I told myself I couldn’t because it was impossible to travel on a budget to Europe. When my (now) husband and I got engaged, we decided that we wanted to travel to Europe for our honeymoon! I realized that I would have to stop disqualifying myself from travel because of the cost, and instead, find creative solutions to make it happen.
After experimenting with lots of money-saving tips & tricks, we developed an easy-to-follow four-step budgeting process that helped us to save several thousand dollars for our dream trip! Today, I am sharing that exact process with you!
Regardless of your income or travel budget, follow this tried and true four-step process so that you can save more money to make traveling a priority in your life!
1. Prioritize Travel in your Budget
The best place to begin saving money to travel on a budget is your current budget. After you evaluate your monthly expenses, decide what you can eliminate each month to save money for travel:
- Do you eat out every night? Try cooking at home a few days a week.
- Are you subscribed to five streaming services? Consider cutting it down to just a few.
- Do you go to Starbucks every morning? Start brewing your coffee at home.
- Do you have a gym membership you only use a couple of times a month? Cancel your membership and go running outside or workout at home instead.
Be creative! Find the things in your budget that are less important to you than travel, and cut them out.
Then, determine how much money you can afford to contribute to your travel fund each month and commit to it. Treat the payment to your travel fund like a bill, just like your car insurance or electric bill. Here’s an example. If you commit to saving $250 a month for travel, you know you will have $3,000 to spend on a trip just one year from now.
That’s a lot of money just for cutting out some unnecessary expenses!
2. Create a Separate Travel Fund
Money is elusive—if you don’t save it for something, you will spend it somewhere else. If you commit to travel on a budget, create a separate travel fund to help keep your travel savings separate from your regular savings.
I would recommend looking into a high yield saving account so that you are earning interest on your money. The two that I am familiar with and have used before are Wealthfront cash accounts and Ally Bank. Aside from putting your budgeted amount ($250) in savings each month, this is also a great place to deposit any extra income you incur:
- A bonus check
- Cash from a side hustle
- A gift
- That jar of spare change you’ve had sitting around forever
These are all fantastic resources to put in the travel fund. Then, instead of having $3,000 to spend, you may end up having $3,500 to spend, instead!
3. Create a Travel Budget
The most effective way to travel on a budget is to create a budget for every trip you go on (and stick to it!). Travel budgeting can help to prevent overspending while you are on a trip. Once you know the amount you will be able to save for your trip ($3500), you can begin to allocate your budgeted amount to travel expenses. The five most common costs to consider are:
- Airfare – Round-trip, one-way, etc.
- Accommodations – AirBnBs, hotels, hostels, etc.
- Transportation – Public transport tickets, a rental car, bus tickets, train tickets, Uber, Lyft, etc.
- Food – Meals, snacks, drinks, etc.
- Activities – Tickets to theme parks, attractions, shows, tours, museums, etc.
4. Make Adjustments
After you’ve created your travel budget and have calculated the cost of airfare, hotels, food, and activities, you may realize that your trip is going to be more expensive than your budget. Instead of canceling your trip or reluctantly deciding to overspend, here are three adjustments you can make to your travel plans to successfully travel on a budget:
Find a Different Time
If the location you are traveling to is important to you, but you are flexible with the time you visit, either find another time of year to travel that is less expensive or postpone your trip for a few months until you can save up the extra cash. Traveling to popular locations during the off-season is a great way to travel on a budget. You’ll save tons of money on transportation costs and hotels, and also avoid lots of tourists!
Find a New Location
If the time you are traveling is important to you, but you are flexible with the location, research other places that might be less expensive to travel to during the time of year you want to take your trip.
Find a Way to Save More Money
If the location and time you are traveling are important to you, re-evaluate your budget to see if there are any other expenses you can temporarily remove to hit your savings goal. You can also find creative ways to work and travel at the same time, like teaching a language abroad or housesitting in exchange for free rent.
Travel on a Budget With This 4-Step Process
Even though travel planning can be complicated, saving for your dream vacation doesn’t have to be. If you are willing to make traveling a priority, I truly believe that this four-step process will help you to save money for your dream vacation.
Save These Money-Saving Tips Now to Travel Later
