How You Can Save Money to Travel and Why It’s Important
Not everyone has practical money habits and skills of the right budgeting in life. Almost all of us know that it’s important to expand savings, avoid credit card debt, and cut back on spending. So far, travel may sound like a “splurge’ but to others, it’s a necessity. The reality is, vacations don’t need to cost thousands of dollars spent at five-star luxury hotels. People don’t realize that adventure travel on a budget positively elevates your life, develops your worldview and educates you in so many ways.
It’s time to erase that popular myth in your mind that travel is an expensive hobby and rich people are the ones who are privileged to travel. If you want to travel the world for a while, you don’t need to be rich. You just need to be creative about saving money for travel. Here’s how you can do it!
Manage Finances Responsibly
If you want to start travelling, you need to be financially responsible as much as you can. Most of us were not really taught by our schools about financial planning, right? Instead, money management is a learned skill. Most of us don’t master the basics until we’re adults.
And if you want to begin saving money for travel, then now is the right time to revisit those basics, and shake off those negative financial habits that come by along the way. This is an important long-term commitment that’s really going to be hard to stick to. Saving money, in general, is pretty tough on the soul and requires big sacrifice, the reason why so few people succeed. So have the proper mindset! If you really want this, nobody else will make it happen for you. It’s your job to achieve it.
Changing Your Departure Date
You can change your departure date to date further in the future. For instance, you’ll be needing $5,000 for your holiday then you can extend your departure date by about two months to save the extra $2,000.
Know Where Your Money Goes
Having effective money management will help you get away from stress. Money itself isn’t stressful as well. However, not tracking your spending and being hesitant to check your balance, then that’s where all the stress goes into place.
Here’s what you can do, allot a day this weekend, and review all your accounts to determine exactly what your finances look like, down to the dollar. You need to track expenses so you can find out where you can cut back, or even eliminate your spending.
Do this on a regular basis and you will see how it can make so much difference in identifying how much money you spend every month on useless things. Go ahead and write it all down. Include your groceries, eating out, movies, books, tickets, dates, and etc.
Aside from noting your monthly bills such as rent, mortgage, car payment, insurance, credit card, cell phone service, and utilities, what about your vices? Alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee? Sometimes, little things tend to add up. But saving money would be easier if you have the right attitude.
It’s Time to Budget Harshly
For this one, take note that there are two kinds of budgeting you need to do. First one is budgeting your trip while the other one is budgeting your life. When it comes to your trip, work out how much it’s going to cost you. If you are aware of what you’re doing, you can even spend $50 a day for your travel budget.
However, the amount is going to vary wildly depending on the location you want to travel, the hotel accommodation you are staying, and how thrifty you are. An estimated $1500 per month is suggested for a long term budget travel. This means that you can backpack around the world for 6 months with at $9000 in your bank account before you leave.
To budget your life means to make sure that you always know of how much of your budget is left so you can avoid nibbling away your hard-earned savings without you being aware of them. If you’re going shopping, have a fixed amount of how much you can afford to spend, and try to use the calculator on your phone to total everything up as you walk around the aisles. Also, if you’re going out with your friends, just leave your cards and withdraw the cash that you only need so you don’t blow your budget.
Just remember that if you want to save money to travel, you need to develop habits that will save you money. Having complete control of your money will give you the proper confidence that can soar.
Also, don’t fret if things don’t go exactly to plan when you’re travelling. Follow these tips to avoid the messy parts, and as long as you’re committed to saving money, you’ll find a way to get there. So best of luck and have fun travelling!
Author Bio: Ivandrea Ollero is a writer for Holiday Inn Parramatta Hotel, one of Australia’s luxury hotels providing accommodation in Parramatta and great historical Sydney experience for tourists. She is also a content crafter who researches and writes custom content about travel, fashion, finance, business, home improvements, health, and beauty in order to provide helpful information and tips for her readers. Ivandrea graduated from St. Scholastica’s College, Manila, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism in 2016.
Ivandrea Ollero is a content writer who researches and writes custom content about home improvements, travel, fashion, and beauty. She graduated from St. Scholastica’s College, Manila, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism in 2016. Ivandrea provides helpful tips and hacks on various topics for her readers.
