Travel is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I hear about my friends and extended family going on amazing summer vacations, and I’ll admit it – I’m a little jealous.
I’m still here living the day-to-day grind to pay off my debt and I know that’s important, but I’d rather be saving money for travel.
Other than attending a conference across the country, I don’t have any travel plans for quite some time. But I’m already starting to think of ways I can start saving for and planning my next trip. If you’re looking for simple ways to save money for vacation some of the below tips should help.
Open a New Savings Account
While opening a new savings account for travel won’t yield you any more money for your trip, unless there’s an account opening bonus, it will help you keep track of how much money you have saved up and how much further you have to go to be able to afford your trip. That being said, there are online savings accounts that will earn you better than what can be found at your local bank – like Discover Bank that’s currently paying out .95 percent on new accounts.
I have several savings accounts just for this reason. I name them things like “Travel Account”, “Emergency Fund”, “Tax Savings”, etc. This helps me keep myself on track with saving and it reduces the temptation of seeing all that money in one lump-sum savings account.
Cut Your Budget
The first step to actually finding money to put aside for travel is to find things you can cut out of your budget. Right now there are not a lot of things left in my budget that I’m willing to cut, but once I get my consumer debts paid off that money can be put toward other things like my travel fund.
If you have things you can cut from your budget, do it and re-allocate that money toward travel or some other cause that gets you excited. Put it in your new savings account right away so you aren’t tempted to spend it foolishly instead.
Earn More Money
Since there’s not a lot left to cut in my budget, about the only other option to find more money to save for travel is to earn more. Taking on a side hustle, asking for a raise, or working overtime are all great ways to earn extra money so you can reach your savings goals. Just make sure you don’t work so much that you spend extra money on convenience items, like fast food or delivery, because you don’t feel like you have the time or energy to cook.
Sell Your Stuff
Depending on how serious you are about finding money for traveling, or how much stuff you have, you might be able to come up with some serious cash by selling some of your stuff. Having a garage sale or posting valuable items online can yield a pretty nice return on some of your unwanted or unneeded items.
Just remember the time it takes to pursue this money. You also need to make sure you don’t continue buying things you don’t need and selling them later. Most of the time there isn’t any real profit in selling your used stuff.
What are some other ways you save money for travel? What trips do you have planned for the rest of the year? Do you use targeted savings accounts or just one for everything?
Photo courtesy of: Moyan Brenn
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