The faster you save, the sooner you can hit the road!
Top 8 Saving Tips for Travel
1. Track Your Current Spending
In order to establish a savings plan, you need to understand how much money you make and where it all goes. Keep track of every single quarter you spend for a few weeks or a month.
Here are a few helpful budget apps: Dollar Bird, Level Money, Mint.com and Pocket Expense
(I currently use Dollar Bird to track my spending while traveling.)
2. Make a List of Monthly Bills
Write EVERYTHING down: rent, utilities, cell phone, student loans, Netflix, etc. Separate “needs” and “wants.” The “needs” column should only include housing, food, transportation and healthcare. Everything else, even my MLB.com subscription, is frivolous.
3. Cut Expenses
Where can you cut expenses? Remember “needs” versus “wants.” You NEED a place to live, but you won’t die if you cancel your Amazon Prime membership. Can you share someone else’s Netflix/MLB/Pandora account? Find a cheaper gym/apartment/car insurance plan. Get a roommate. Rent out your spare room. Move into your friend’s spare room. House/pet sit. The options are endless. Get creative. How bad do you want to travel?
4. Sell everything
I admit it. I collected Hard Rock Café shot glasses when I first started traveling. They sat on a bookshelf at my parent’s house accumulating dust for years, while I was living in other places. One day, I put them in shoeboxes. Six years later, I decided it was time to sell them. They were eBay gold and sold instantly.
Admit it, you know you still have your old Troll doll collection sitting in your mom’s basement.
5. Minimalism
Fight Club was right. The things you own, own you.
I believe it’s better to invest in experiences. There’s a new car/iPhone released every year, but there’s nothing that will replace my travel adventures. I’d rather be the old person with tons of cool stories than a house full of useless junk that my nephew will have to sort through after I’m gone.
Set a deadline before your trip. (I suggest a month before a short trip and six months before a long-term trip.) After the deadline, you can’t buy anything that isn’t for your trip. Ladies, this includes cute shoes and home décor items.
The amount of luggage you pack controls you, too. Don’t worry, I’ll cover packing in another post.
6. Make More Money
If you need more money, go out and make more money. It’s really that simple.
Get a bar job, deliver pizza or invest in the stock market. The options are endless. Bartending and waiting tables funded majority of my travels. I loved the bar world and met some amazing people.
Financial guru Dave Ramsey mentions a story in one of his books about a man who delivered pizza to get out of debt. It works the same for traveling.
What pays the bills doesn’t define you. You should always be working toward a larger goal. Who cares if your neighbor judges you for delivering his pizza? When he sees your African safari photos on Facebook, he’ll be delivering pizzas with you.
7. Debt
My ultimate goal is to have no bills while I travel.
If you have debt, I would advise using the above tactics to minimize your debt before a long-term trip or consider working while you travel. Or check out a Dave Ramsey book from the library. I will focus on both working abroad and eliminating bills in a future post.
For student loans, consider saving the minimum payment for the months you will be gone but include a few buffer months when you return. Put this in a separate savings account so it can draw interest during your travels.
8.Set Weekly and Long-term Goals
Now, you should have the following written down:
1. Record of your current income and spending habits
2. List of your monthly bills
3. List of ways to cut expenses and make more money
Now, put the plan in action. Set weekly and long-term goals for how much you will be saving. Give yourself a budget for the week. Personally, I like to save 50% of my income, but I am extreme. Do what’s best for you. The more you save, the quicker you’ll be riding a camel in Mongolia.
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