How To Save Money For Travelling

The Money-Saving Tips and Tricks You Need to Satisfy your Travel Bug.

An Honest Revelation of How We Came to Afford Our Many Trips.

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Growing up, air travel was so expensive that hopping on a plane to another place seemed to be an almost unattainable goal. Luckily, (and unluckily for Planet Earth and the pollution air travel creates), fares became more affordable in recent years. But being slightly too spendthrift for one’s own good can have its downside. In hindsight, we acknowledge the fact that there were multiple products we could have done without, but bought anyway.

But, as always, life teaches us lessons along the way and we learned that if we wanted to make travel a priority, we had to make a few lifestyle changes in order to have a better budget for our adventures. Needless to say, what works for us may not necessarily work for everyone, but hopefully you will find these tips useful when planning your budgeting strategies. So, let’s dive in! 🙂

1. Make Your Own Coffee-To-Go

Most of us find it very convenient to pop into a café and have a hot beverage made for us. However, making your own tea or coffee from home and pouring it into a gorgeous bamboo cup will do wonders for your savings. We have saved on around £12 a week, which amounts to £48 a month – enough for a day trip to a picturesque little village in the countryside, for example! Not to mention how mighty helpful it is to the environment to use your own cup and not a single-use one. There’s that important fact to consider, too. This also goes for bringing your own water bottle and saying no to sugary drinks as much as possible. Then go ahead and check your bank account after a month and prepare to be positively surprised!

2. Skip Dining Out – Here’s What You Can Do Instead!

We LOVE eating out with friends and family! That said, this is something we have taken into consideration as part of our budgeting plan. We became aware of what a fortune can cost to do this frequently, especially when someone would ask to split the bill evenly and we end up paying more than our fair share.

Eating out is so enjoyable because it presents an opportunity to dress up and catch up, but its equivalent and alternative is much cheaper – Dining In! It’s not something you have to do by yourself either – when your friends and family come over, they can bring their favourite dish with them and you could all share the delicious food together.

If you’re the (friendly) competitive type, go ahead and give each other extra points for presentation, flavour, etc. This way, you all get to enjoy quality time together, as well as a (much cheaper) homecooked meal you would have made together with love. Oh, and you won’t have to worry about buying yourself a new outfit for the occasion either, which brings us to our next point…

3. Shopping for Clothes / Shoes / Fashion Accessories

We own enough clothes to last us three lifetimes. Over the years, we developed an unhealthy habit (okay, it felt awesome at the time) of going on a shopping spree as a way of dealing with stress. This led to an accumulation of a whole bunch of outfits we never got to wear, but liked too much and spent too much money on to let go of easily.

What we have learned is this: we DO NOT NEED so many clothes and it’s better to invest in experiences rather than in things that eventually end up cluttering our lives. That said, one does not have to eliminate shopping completely. But we’ve come a long way, thanks to what we learned from ‘Trash is for Tossers’ and ‘Years of Living Dangerously’. We now allow ourselves to the occasional few good-quality items every time we travel, which is a great improvement from the shopaholics we used to be.

4. Embrace Minimalism – Your Own Way!

This process is relatively new to us, but we understand that it is a process and works differently for everybody. Ever since I became aware of it, we have become aware of how many things we have that we could have done without. Apart from decluttering our home and reaping the benefits, we also embarked on the journey of watching our purchases. Our bank account breathed a sigh of relief! Nowadays, we not only keep our home clutter-free, but we also have more money saved up our travel fund! *happy dance*

5. Go Car-Free Whenever You Can

We always felt we could rely on public transport and our feet to get us to where we wanted to go. When we finally gave in to the pressure and the changing demands of life, our stress levels sky-rocketed. We all know that owning a car requires one to fork out a substantial amount of money, if not for the model itself, for the fuel and the regular service of it. Our solution: if possible, walk or cycle to your destination. Saving fuel on the little trips you would have done on foot or by bicycle will result in more money for that public transport fare when you’re abroad. Not to mention all the benefits of exercising!

6. Make / Save Money from Items You Already Own

Got things you no longer need but are still in very good condition? Try selling them second-hand and save that money for your travels. You’d be surprised how much you make from all those things sitting in your cupboard, waiting their turn for a new adventure! If you’re not keen on selling, try swapping – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? You’d be getting the items you really need at this moment in time while getting rid of the ones you don’t – all for “free”.

7. Make a Vision Board

A vision board is made up of quotes or images that reflect your dreams. Think of all the beautiful destinations you want to visit and put pictures of them on your vision board. You can even do this virtually if you do not wish to spend money on craft supplies – just make sure it’s somewhere you can see often – it could be set as your desktop wallpaper. How will this help you to save money? Simple. It’s a constant reminder of what you want and it will help you to work harder to achieve your goals. It will remind you not to splurge on unnecessary things because the trip you want to take is more meaningful to you. This is one project we’d been sceptical about, but over the years it has come to motivate us to chase our dreams. And it’s true what they say about vision boards – they only work if you do!

Here’s a link to Elizabeth Rider’s Guide to Creating Your Own Vision Board. Enjoy!

That’s all, folks! We sure hope these money-saving tips prove useful to you.

• Did you like the ideas mentioned in this article? If yes, which one do you like most?
• How do you save money?
• What’s your all-time tried and tested way of saving up?

Let us know in the comments below!

Best wishes,

Passport & Pathways x

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