Budget tips

How to save money for travel: Helpful tips!

How to save money for travel: Helpful tips!

You’re probably reading this if you want to go on more holidays and you’re trying to find ways of saving money to do so!

Am I right?

Well, you’re in the right place!

Saving can be a hard task for some people. I have personally always saved for travel, even when I haven’t had trips booked!

I know that somewhere down the line, I will want to go away somewhere, whether it’s in 6 months or 2 months.

Having that extra money already there, saved up for that spontaneous trip, is nothing short of exhilarating!

There’s nothing worse than someone saying, “do you fancy a weekend in Berlin” and you can’t go because you’re SKINT!

If you want to travel more, you’re going to have to make some lifestyle changes.

I’ve outlined the ways that I save money each month for travel, as well as some other creative ways.

Once you’ve read this blog post and you become an EXPERT on saving money (stop laughing!), head over to my post on how to make your realistic travel budget!

Other posts you may enjoy:

Let’s be realistic here, you can’t save money until you establish what your monthly ESSENTIAL outgoings are if you don’t already know.

I’m not talking about your Netflix subscription, because let’s be frank here, you may think you’re not able to live without it, but…it’s NOT essential (in the traditional sense).

I’m talking about your rent/mortgage, bills and, your food- the boring essentials.

You’re probably thinking, “I can’t actually cut these costs down” because, well, they are what they are.

Although you may not realise it, sometimes these essential costs actually CAN BE decreased.

I’ll explain how…

How to cut down on essential costs

Cut your bills?

Let’s take your bills as our first example…

Obviously, there are common-sense ways of reducing your electricity and water bills, like having shorter showers and turning lights off when you’re not using them…but I’m not going to insult your intelligence here!

You are probably already doing all you can to reduce your usage and still, you’re receiving high bills at the end of the month.

Imagine if they could be cut down to allow for more saving!

There are smarter ways to make your bills cheaper, by simply choosing the right provider or switching providers altogether.

It may be worth looking into companies like Octopus Energy which are an eco-friendly energy company that aims to reduce your energy bills at the same time.

I don’t claim to be a financial advisor or a money-saving expert, but I know that there are ways and means of actually saving money on bills to make sure you are paying as little as possible.

I’d hate for you to be paying more than you needed!

Cut your accommodation costs?

Again, I don’t want to bore you by stating the obvious, but have you considered changing your accommodation if your rent is too high, or negotiating a lower rent with your landlord?

Similarly, you could speak to a mortgage adviser and review your mortgage to see if there is a way that you could pay less monthly?

You may find that you could switch to a fixed-term mortgage which has a lower interest rate.

Out of your essential outgoings, this one is potentially the most restrictive in terms of trying to decrease.

You may not be able to actually decrease your rent or mortgage (you may not want to pay less towards it).

This is why you should, where possible, try and cut costs for food and bills.

Other posts you may enjoy:

Save on insurance?

Whether this is travel insurance, house insurance or car insurance, there’s always ways and means to cut costs where insurance is concerned.

The first rooky error is letting your insurance roll on to the next year without reviewing it and finding a better deal elsewhere.

Instead what you should be doing is finding the best deal at the time once your insurance has expired.

The easiest way to do this is by going on comparison sites and finding the best insurance deal.

It’s probably better to go on 2-3 comparison sites like Compare the Market, Go Compare and Confused.com to make sure you’re really diversifying and not relying on one.

Once you ave found a few insurance deals that you like, go to Quidco or other cashback sites to see if you can actually get cash back on your insurance purchase, making it even cheaper!

Save on buying food?

This is the easiest to cut down your overall monthly costs, unless you’re like a food connoisseur.

Limit yourself to a food shop three or four times a month so that you’re not constantly buying, buying, buying.

Here’s a good point…

It will also force you to buy enough food for the week or for two weeks, which will subsequently encourage you to plan your meals in advance.

I will be talking in more depth about meal planning later on, but this is an effective way to save money!

A good way of cutting costs is by making a monthly budget and sticking to it.

You can work your budget around how much you can afford.

For example, I can afford to spend around £100 each month on food. But I may want to try and reduce my monthly spends so that I am not reaching my maximum budget.

I may then try to spend £80 per month on food.

Once you have your budget, you can start to figure out what essential food you need- milk, eggs, bread, fruit etc

You could create a list of your essential ingredients for meals and a separate list for non-essential (treat) food.

When you’re shopping you can keep track of how much your items are costing and how much food you can buy based on your budget.

Obviously don’t starve yourself, be realistic here!

Establish how much money you can save

Once you have established your essential outgoings, you can calculate how much money you can save monthly.

How do you calculate this?

So, calculate your monthly salary and take away your essential outgoings.

Have a little think about how much you can and want to save each month and set up a direct debit from your main bank account into a savings account ESPECIALLY for travel.

That way, you’re not even thinking about it, money is being directly transmitted from your account to your savings account.

Simple as that!

And…another tip, make sure your money is going out on the day that you get paid.

If you don’t see the money sitting in your account, you’re less likely to want to spend it- right?

You may have multiple savings accounts. In fact, it’s a good idea.

You may have one for travel, one general savings account that you CANNOT touch, and one that you can dip in and out of where you need to.

If you’re saving travel money for a specific trip, you may find it beneficial to calculate how much you need to save and how long you have to save it for.

Then you can set up your direct transfer for that specific amount each month.

Find ways to save money:

So how else can you cut down your expenses so that you can save more money for travel?

1. Substitutions

Can you substitute an activity that you are already paying for, for something free?

Gym:

Can you cancel your gym membership and go running in the park instead?

If you do weights at the gym, you could invest in some of your own and turn your garden shed into your very own gym.

Instead of taking a pilates or yoga class, you could still do this at home on Youtube for free! 

I can recommend Yoga with Adriene– so good!

I know you’re going to say, well going to the gym is different, it gets you out and adds a sense of accountability.

But, if you’re strict with yourself, you can allocate a specific time to do your exercise.

Remember, this is all for the greater good!

Hell, you could even do it at the same time as you would normally go to the gym if you’re already in the routine!

Invite your gym buddy round!

Think about how much you could save!

Work:

How about your travel to work?

Can you walk or get the bus instead of a car?

How about car sharing with a colleague?

Although it may take some extra thought, you could make the effort to walk or cycle into work, if possible.

You may have to wake up a bit earlier, but again, you could save a lot on transport, to and from work.

Entertainment:

Do you normally buy books and DVDs?

Go to your local library and borrow the books you would normally buy, and rent the DVDs.

You could also go to your local charity shops and buy books there for a fraction of the cost.

What to do with your substitutions?

Put the money that you WOULD HAVE spent on the gym or transport straight into your travel saving pot.

You won’t miss the money because you would normally spend it on these things anyway!

If it goes directly into your travel savings, you won’t even notice!

Then after a while, the money will accumulate.

2. Meal planning

Meal prep is probably the most effective way of saving money.

If you stick to it each week, you will see that you actually do save money.

So, how do you actually meal prep you ask?

Ok, so take a pen and paper and write down all the meals you want to have that week.

Or if you want to go food shopping every two weeks, write down your meals for two weeks.

Write down all the items you will need, in order to make each meal.

Try and think of meals that you can make in bulk and freeze, like bolognese.

Also, buy ingredients that you can use to make multiple meals. For example, if you buy mince, you could make bolognese, burgers, lasagne, chile.

Don’t buy a pack of six onions if you know you’re only going to use one for a meal that week.

If you think you’re not going to use something, like for example onion, think about whether you can freeze it, or use it up in a meal.

Staying on the topic of onions…if you have too many of them, chop them up into pieces and freeze them in a freezer bag.

Also think about your lunches.!

Try and get food that you can use to make lunches for when you’re at work.

It’ll save you a fortune!

3. Second hand

Rather than buying brand new stuff, you could look at buying more second-hand things.

I know that some things you buy have to be new, but sometimes you can find decent quality stuff for second-hand prices, or for free!  

I have recently moved house, and instead of buying all my furniture brand new, I looked at alternative options.

I first went onto Facebook marketplace, which has some great second -hand furniture for really cheap or for free.

I also told everyone I knew that I was moving house and I found that a lot of people had spare things to give away.

In the end, I managed to accumulate all the furniture and items that I could possibly need and literally spent £100!

That was starting from scratch too!

I got some items off Facebook for free which I upcycled, some furniture off the side of the road which I also upcycled, and the rest was donated to me by friends and family!

There is so much stuff that people are buying and then throwing away, sometimes there’s no need to buy new!

4. Get cashback

A quick way of getting money back from the things you already buy is by signing up to cashback websites.

Also, some banks provide a cashback service too if you use your bank card to purchase from certain retailers- so, maybe worth checking!

Websites like Quidco have loads of retail companies that you can get cashback on if you’re buying online.

Also if you’re from the US Rakuten is another cashback site that you can sign up to for free!

You can end up racking up a fair bit when you use these methods.

But, make sure you’re not buying online just to get the cashback- it defeats the object!

You’re far better off not shopping online as you’ll save more.

But, if you happen to be purchasing, it may be worth seeing if you can get cashback on items.

5. Get a side hustle

Having the income just from your day job may not be sufficient enough to be able to save substantial amounts of money each month.

You may need your main income to pay for your essential costs and any debts.

Then, once that is gone, you have barely enough to live off to actually enjoy yourself!

I hear you!

Maybe it’s time to get a side hustle?

What is a side hustle you ask?

It’s basically an extra job on the side of your main job.

This can be anything from a part-time job, to selling your things on eBay or making products to sell on Etsy or teaching English online.

If you find something you enjoy, it won’t seem so much like an extra job.

You can use your main wage to pay for your essential costs and living expenses and your side hustle income for your savings.

Here is a great blog post which talks about all sorts of side hustles.

6. Cut your direct debits

One last thing to push you in the right direction to saving more money is reviewing your direct debits.

Go onto your online banking and have a look at what you are paying for monthly.

If there is anything in there that you are paying for that you don’t need to be, get rid!

A bit like decluttering, but for your bank account!

To conclude…

If you want to save more money in order to travel more, you need to get your thinking cap on!

How can you change your habits or tweek something in your life to save money for travel?

All of these saving suggestions can be started RIGHT NOW and you will see results.

Just watch your travel money pot build up and you’ll be on your dream trip in no time! 

Once you’ve saved your money, come up with a travel budget. Check out my post on the 50:30:10:10 method here.

Yours,

Holly

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