BUILD A TRAVELING SAVINGS PLAN, WITHOUT DEPRIVING YOURSELF! YOU DON’T NEED TO BE RICH TO EXPLORE THE WORLD!
Do you want to travel the world but are unsure about how to save enough money for your adventures?
Saving for your vacation doesn’t have to be hard. I’ll show you how little changes you can make every day will help you to build up enough savings for the vacation of your dreams.
I was only 20 years old when Dan and I went on our first vacation in Paris. It was so romantic! We were both still at university, and we managed to save enough by earning extra money and side hustles.
So yes! I know what I am talking about!
In this article, I will go over the steps you can take when you’re ready to save to travel the world, including breakdowns to make it easy for you to start and help you reach your goals even faster.
Table of contents
Where to start?
Having your destination and travel dates in mind is great but knowing how to save money for your trip is the most important step. You have to start thinking of this vacation in baby steps – here’s how to do it.
1. Open a savings account dedicated to your travel budget
The entire trip starts with a savings account. Opening the account is a symbol of your commitment to saving.
When your vacation comes around, you’ll have the money you need to do everything you want while also having enough for emergencies. This is one of the easiest ways to reaching your travel destination ASAP.
2. Research
Every great vacation starts with research. Look up what you will do, where you’ll go, and how much all of those things may cost. These numbers will give you an even better idea of the steps you’ll need to take to save to travel the world.
Researching will help you be prepared for any scenario that might happen while you’re on your trip. And it will also make sure you’ll have enough cash to do everything on your bucket list.
3. Set a goal
The most important part to remember when you’re deciding how to save for travel is to set a goal.
Your goal needs to be concrete enough to provide action. It should be reachable but just out of your comfort zone, so you have to push a little to get to it.
This goal should cover:
- Your destination
- Your list of activities
- A date to leave by
- A target sum of money to set aside
How much money do you want – or need – to make? Once you have decided on what you want, commit and stay disciplined.
4. Set a deadline
Picking a specific and relevant timeframe will encourage you to take saving actions. This will give you the push you need while also helping you to maintain a happy balance with your everyday life. save money to travel
5. Decide how much and when you will save
It sounds great to take out $500 from every paycheck and put it towards your vacation budget, but not all of us are able to do that.
That’s where budgeting comes into play.
While it might seem impossible to put money aside while you’re living paycheck to paycheck, a little self-discipline can go a long way. When you’re doing your research and setting your goals, be sure to determine how much you can realistically put aside every pay period.
A cute travel savings plan: color your way to $1,000!
Saving $1,000 is a great starting point for your travel savings plan! And to help you reach your goal I designed this super cute travel savings plan that will help you every step of the way.
Save money to travel: save $1,000 in 10 weeks with this free printable!
How to actually save money to travel
1. The importance of setting a budget
Another important part of any travel savings plan is your day-to-day budget. A budget is a great tool that can be personalized to fit the individual’s needs. And when it comes to travel, budgeting can be the most effective way to get to your savings goal quickly.
Budgeting will include a variety of costs, including:
- Utility bills
- Rent and mortgages
- Car payments and insurance
- Student loans
- Streaming service bills
- Groceries
- Entertainment costs (movies, dinners, trips)
- Gas
- And any other monthly payments
Part of being an adult means having to pay bills on time, and budgeting helps allow you to keep track of due dates and amounts. Consider writing down everything in a spreadsheet or notebook to get a clear idea of your monthly budget.
Or, download a budgeting app.
2. Take an honest look at your monthly spending
Let’s consider all the money you spend throughout the year.
You want to buy Chipotle for lunch every day. Assume that you work 20 days a month and the meal costs you $10 (A low-ball estimate for Chipotle). That’s $200 a month on lunches alone! You can spend 20 minutes at home preparing your meals for a fraction of the cost.
Making your own lunch could save you $100 a month, or $1200 a year.
Are you paying for subscription services you don’t use? Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and other subscription services add up quickly. And many users don’t end up using it enough to justify the cost. You can use a handy app like Trim to find out what subscriptions you can cut!
Every $10 subscription service you cut saves $10 a month or $120 a year.
Take a look at your entertainment prices. It’s okay to go out with friends every once and while – you should always embrace self-care and rewards for hard work. However, you should do this moderately.
For every two beers you buy at a bar you can get a 12-pack from the grocery store. Every $20 meal could be spent on a week’s worth of food for lunch or dinner. While it’s easy to get swept up in the flurry of fun, spending money as it grows on trees will eventually catch up with you.
If you make your own lunches, cut out one subscription service, and pre-game before going out, you can save about $125 a month.
$125 may not seem like a lot, but that’s an extra $1,500 at the end of the year to put towards your next vacation.
If you use your cards to buy everything, you’ll have an electronic money trail that will lead you to your poor spending habits. Take some time to sit down and examine all your spending. You can even download spending apps that will help you track your costs and give you savings advice.
Figure out what you want to intentionally put your money towards, and then cut out the rest as much as you can.
3. How to have more money: side hustle like a Boss
I am a big believer in not wasting money. You really need to decide what’s important for you, spend money on what you love, and save on everything else.
But another great way to put money towards your traveling budget is by making more. Finding a side hustle is easier than you think.
Some of the more popular ideas include:
- Selling clothes online
- Selling crafts online
- Filling out surveys
- Blogging
- Pet sitting
- Driving for rideshare companies
- Delivering food
- Renting space on Airbnb
Starting a side hustle doesn’t have to be complex and it certainly doesn’t have to take all of your free time. Earning a couple of hundred dollars a month selling things online can take a few hours on the weekend, but help you tremendously to reach your goal.
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll find other ways to supplement income. Opportunities are always knocking for those who are looking AND taking action. All of this comes together when you become clear about what it is that you want.
Ready for the holiday of your dreams?
This is your money, your life, and your dreams. Stay focused but remember to have fun. You’re not shorting yourself today to save for tomorrow, you’re disciplining yourself for the experience of a lifetime.
Go out and experience the world.
Now it’s the best time to explore!
READ MORE ABOUT HOW TO SAVE & TRAVEL:
If you are interested in starting your own blog, have a look at my step-by-step guide! I will show you everything you need to do to start a successful money-making blog!
Check out all the best resources for your blog! I find all these resources so valuable and I am sure they will help you as much as they helped me.
Saurabh says
This article showed me how simple it would be to reach my objective after reading it.
Thanks!
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
You got this!
Noah says
Extremely interesting read for budget travellers, thank you so much for taking the time to share this!
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Thank you, Noah 🙂
Tuppenny says
I love your cute travel savings plan! When I create a savings goal, having a deadline and a target amount are key for me. Without those I am likely to not achieve my plans. I also create a separate savings account so I can see my savings mount up – it inspires me to save more.
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Thank you Tuppenny 🙂
Glad you like the travel savings plan! I agree that setting a goal is key!
gursimrat thind says
Hey Sara, your post gave me so many ideas to save for travel. I am planning to go to my home country next January to be with my family. I will start working on some of these things. At present I am saving few dollars every month. But I need to accelerate my travel savings.Thanks for all these tips.
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Hey Gursimrat Thind,
Glad you found this post useful! 🙂
Romani says
This post really made me see how easy I could achieve my goal. Sponsor myself and get my life going. Time to put a plan into action.
Thanks!
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Hey Romani!
Yes, everything is possible if you put your mind to it 🙂