One of the most expensive things that you could do is travel. If you’re somebody who is itching to grab a backpack, turn your phone on to airplane mode, and roam the globe, then you know that trying to plan your travel itinerary can be difficult when you run into the constant need to pay for things.
You’ve got to pay for visas, you’ve got to pay for vaccines, you’ve got to pay for accommodation, travel modes of travel such as flight tickets, trains, hire cars and more. That’s before you’d even considered how much you’re going to spend when you get to each destination, including food. Now, many people like to travel on a budget, or they take working holiday visas where they can and experience working and living in some place new, but in reality, affordable travel is all about how you prioritize.
For example, if you skipped that daily Starbucks, you could save almost $600 in six months. If you sold your phone you could earn a good few 100 bucks and buy yourself a dumb phone to continue with. You don’t need to have the best of absolutely everything if you’re trying to save money. In fact, the opposite is true.
Living on a budget while you save for your travel is going to get you accustomed to living on a budget while you travel. For instance, opting for budget-friendly accommodations, such as affordable hotels in Salt Lake City, can significantly reduce your travel expenses. If you’re looking to prioritize travelling this year, then here’s how you can save money and stretch out your budget for affordable travel the right way.
- Buy used. If you need to upgrade anything in your home or you need to upgrade your clothing, buy used things, go to thrift stores, visit garage and yard sales, and go to consignment stores where possible. If you desperately need new clothes, then getting new blouses and pairs of jeans at discount stores is going to be the best place to start. Sure, it’s lovely to have a great quality pair of jeans, but you don’t need to spend $50 when you can spend 1/5 of the cost.
- Just spending on TV and phone services. Do you really need to have subscriptions to five or six different services on TV? Probably not. If you like to be able to save money, look at how many subscriptions you’re paying for and cancel the ones that you do not use. You’ll be surprised just how much money you’ll be able to save doing that. You don’t need to have six subscription TV options plus phone options at the same time. Instead, save yourself some cash.
- Don’t pay to rent movies. If you’re paying for Netflix, start looking at the movies that you would normally skip across. You’ll be able to dig out some great treasures there where you won’t have to pay for a movie or pay to even go to the movies because you can create your own movie night with homemade popcorn at home. Start saying yes to the films that wouldn’t always look appealing, and don’t judge a movie by its thumbnail.
- Use free trials where you can. Whether it’s a free trial of HelloFresh or a free trial of Homechef, you can find so many different options for free trials at home where you can get food or drinks for free without having to pay, and you can cancel that particular trial before you have to start paying out for it. You’re going to save a lot of money this way, and it’s really going to be helpful for you to be able to see your savings account grow because you’re not spending out where you don’t need to.
- Pay off your credit cards. If you’re looking to save money to achieve affordable travel, use your credit card to buy things, but make sure that you pay it off the moment you can. This way, you never have to worry about paying interest charges. Paying off the full balance every month can make a big difference to how much money you have to spend.
- Take on some mystery shopping jobs. Whether you’ve completed chops for car washes, restaurant audits, or grocery store audits, you can earn a little bit of cash. You’re not going to make tons of money, but if you’re going to be going shopping there anyway, you’ll be able to get something for free that you would have needed to buy, and you get paid a shop fee on top. There are plenty of options out there to take on some mystery shopping jobs to help and that can help to boost your travel budget.
- Shop online. A good way to save money is to not actually go to the shops, but to shop online. You’re less likely to spend and you’ll be able to avoid the chaos. Those end of the aisle tempting savings aren’t going to be tempting you any longer if you can’t see them. Have a shopping list armed and ready to go, and you’ll be able to shop online with confidence that you can save.
- Only book hostels. If you’re going to be traveling, make sure that you’re only booking hostels rather than swanky hotels. Save the swanky hotels for the locations that you really want to visit and make sure you stay in one on your last night. This way you can save a lot of cash and make sure that you are still getting a bed.
- Try camping. A good way to save cash while you travel is to wear everything you need on your back. From your clothes to your bed. You can camp your way around certain countries. As long as you are making sure that you do it safely with repeatable campsites, you should be just fine. As a backpacker, you’ll be able to save a lot of cash this way, and if you’re working as you go, you can keep your money for the things you want to enjoy, not just having to live.
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