Originally posted on March 31, 2017 @ 3:58 am
Traveling is a great way to see the world and experience places and things that you otherwise couldn’t at home. However, these types of experiences can also be quite expensive depending on your destination, your planned activities, and the way you travel. Knowing this, most people have to spend some time saving their money before they’re able to take a trip or vacation. So to help those of you struggling with how to gather up enough money to make your traveling dreams come true, here are three tips for saving money for your next travel adventure.
Cut Back On Daily At-Home Spending
If you take a look at your daily, weekly, or even monthly expenses, you’ll likely find some areas in which you can cut back. Even if the amounts are small, if you’re able to eliminate a handful of these small things, that money could really add up over the course of a few month. Teri Cettina, a contributor to BankRate.com, shares that some of the things you might be willing to give up for a few months before your travels in order to afford the experiences on your vacation might include fitness classes, children’s extracurriculars, a weekend hobby, or your weekly night out. And while you might feel like you’re having to sacrifice your current happiness for future happiness, your financial freedom while traveling will make it all worth it.
Use Your Credit Card’s Rewards
Depending on the type of credit card(s) you use, there’s likely some kind of reward system in place that could make saving for traveling expenses a little easier. Some of the most common types of rewards available through credit card companies are cash back, travel points, hotel accommodations and more. To truly tap into this pool of resources, Jon Lal, a contributor to U.S. News and World Report, recommends looking into the reward system your credit card has and trying to use those rewards to lighten the load of your travel costs. You could use your cash back to add straight into your savings account, pay for your flight with your airline points, or get discounted hotel rooms that will add to your total savings amount.
Look Into Travel Grants
While not exactly a technique to help you save your own money, there are a number of travel grants available to people who are choosing to travel in order to gain a larger purpose. Ed Hewitt, a contributor to Independent Traveler, shares that although travel grants won’t generally pay for all of your travel costs, that money can help to offset costs and require you to save less of your own money. You could also consider getting an advance or loan to pay for the rest of the costs if you plan to use your travels to further your career or education in some way.
If you’ve been looking for ways to save more money or limit the costs of travel, use the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.