Easily Save for Your Next Vacation

Are you dreaming of traveling this year? Many are as 2024 is expected to be another active year for the sector.

However, you’re well aware of how expensive travel can be which is why so many people abandon plans to visit their favorite country or city and enjoy a great adventure.

What most lack is a plan that cuts spending, makes saving a big priority, and builds confidence that it’s going to happen. The solution is focus, some ingenuity in planning/spending, and being resourceful.

Despite the high cost of housing, taxes, utilities, transportation, food, and clothing eroding the amount of savings and discretionary income you have, you can strategize and afford that trip to Mexico, Thailand, Spain or Switzerland or other incredible destinations.

The truth is, for most people, they could save the money for a trip to their favorite destination. If it’s just a long driving trip across the country in your car, you should be able to do it via camping sites occasional hotels, keeping an electric-cooled food cooler in your vehicle, and taking your bicycle along to explore the cities you visit.

Visualize Being There, Enjoying a Peak Life Experience

Switzerland Train Tours. Image: Unsplash.

Consider how valuable a trip could be for your mental/emotional/physical health. That will help open up your creative mind to finding paths to financing solutions. It’s always wonky at first, but month after month, with savings starting to build, you become more certain it’s going to happen. And any doubts or detractors will disappear.

It’s advisable not to tell anyone about it. You don’t need discouragement. Keep it to yourself and make a pact with yourself only. This is about you, and you being committed to you — the essence of self-esteem and good mental health anyway. Focusing on your commitment to yourself and growing your confidence is the best, helpful advice at this early point.

It Does Start with a List of Savings Tactics

Maldives Resort — Maldives Image: Hawk Haasan via Unsplash.

Before you set some sort of budget for the trip, consider all the ways you can stop spending and save for it. You’ll never keep to any budget if your bad spending habits aren’t curtailed.

What most don’t do is list all the ways they could stop spending, and squirrel away some cash every month. I’ve got a good starter list for you here below. If you used every one of them, you’d save plenty over only one year.

Once you realize you can do this, and you begin the process of carrying through with each one, and your confidence and willpower will grow.

My advice is to build a bad attitude toward spending, especially on expensive items and events. Stop eating so much and lose some pounds. It’s good for you. And start building a positive attitude toward going on this trip. Visualize it more, make it a priority, and research the most desirable places you want to see. Keep reading travel blogs, connect with travel bloggers on Linkedin/Facebook, and watch some YouTube videos. They did it, and you can do it.

Feel positive about saving, and planning, and making preparations to do it. The more active you are in this, the more likely it’ll happen.

do a no-spending week (buy food beforehand)
stop eating at expensive restaurants
advertise yourself for working on the weekend
set aside and protect a specified amount every month first before expenses (e.g., $350) to ensure you have the necessary funds one to two years later.
park your car for 6 months (save on insurance, gas, oil change)
put money into a tax-free account to lower your taxes payable (you can withdraw as you travel)
stop using your car so frequently; once per day max
shop only once a week (to control food spending), and buy fresh food from a supermarket on the way to work
stop drinking alcohol and expensive coffee
stop buying the most expensive items on your food list
shop at the lowest-priced supermarkets
buy clothes online or at low-price outlets

More Creative Boosts for Affording the Trip

travel with a friend(s) to save 30% to 50% as costs to some countries are simply too expensive (Switzerland, Dubai, France, Norway, USA, Indonesia, Japan, etc.)
buy venue/experience tour package deals
know where the cheapest camping sites or hostels are
fly into the cheapest airport in the country, or nearby, and take a train ride to it
join a travel club for travel deals
plan ahead for food stores that carry cheap nutritious food
choose a backpacking travel adventure
choose countries that are cheaper to visit
look for travel deals online
finding inexpensive accommodations
traveling during non-peak periods
book flights well ahead of time to ensure the lowest prices
use your airmiles credit to pay for everything that’s allowable on it

Travel Management Tips

There are many travel software sites that let you help you plan your trip, and include key details so you don’t forget. Some are more formal travel management software applications that focus on business trips and itineraries via plane travel. For your trip you’ll be looking for leisure or Bleisure-focused apps that might help you with emergencies or unstructured travel challenges.

Try these planning tips too:

Use a spreadsheet to list the items you’ll need to take with serial numbers, etc. and take pictures of any of them
List your airfare, hotels, campsites, gasoline, toll payments, food cost projections and their costs.
Ensure you have a good GPS device and that you can pay for remote data via your phone if necessary.
Get to know Google Maps really well so it can give you all the help you need. Become an expert with it, and consider using other apps like Rome2rio, Tripit, iExit, and RoadTrippers depending on how you’re travelling and to which countries.
get your appropriate vaccinations and get your health in tip-top shape before your trip
Ensure you have cash, credit card, Paypal, Google Wallet, refillable credit card, so you’re never caught without money.
Use Google voice translator app so you can ask anyone questions and understand their answers.

Know someone dreaming of travel? Share this post with them. Could be the start of a great period of their life.