10 Ways to Save Money for Travel
Travel can provide amazing experiences for your family, but it’s not cheap and the cost can add up quickly! Our family of six loves to travel, but we don’t have a money tree (bummer) so we have to find ways to save up and make it work. I’m giving you my top 10 ways to save money for travel. Let me know if you have other ways you save money! I’d love to hear them.
1. Airbnb
If you’re looking for a way to make some extra money WHILE you’re traveling, consider putting your home on Airbnb. Listing your house is easy and free. You can make it available for the times you know you will be away. Your house will be empty anyway, you might as well make a few extra dollars to fund your trip! We’ve had our house on Airbnb for 2 years now and have had a great experience so far and have loved having the extra money! Here is a guide to hosting your home on Airbnb. If you want to give Airbnb a try here is a $40 off coupon. To Learn more about using Airbnb read my 16 Rules for Airbnb.
2. Save your Fives
To save some cash without breaking the bank, take all the $5 bills you get and hide them away in a drawer, envelop, jar, etc. You’d be surprised how quickly a few Lincolns can add up!
3. Acorns
Sign up for Acorns. It’s an easy app that connects to your bank account and rounds up your purchases. So if you’re spending $40.75, Acorns will deposit 25 cents into your Acorns account. You can also set up routing deposits into your account. Acorns invests your money, so you can also make a little money off your savings. I opened an account about 3 months ago and have $250 in there that I didn’t even notice left my possession! It’s not a whole lot, but it’s easy and something I don’t have to think about! Set up an account HERE and get $5 invested for free!
4. Secret Bank Account
If you get paid with direct deposit, split your deposits so part of your paycheck goes into a separate savings or travel account. Even just a little bit each pay period will add up! Be sure to send it to an account that you don’t have access to with a card or check or an easy transfer! Better yet, don’t even check your account until you need to!
5. Cash Back Credit Cards
Use Cash Back Credit Cards or cards that accrue points. We like Capital One for Cash Back or Chase Sapphire for points. We flew 6 of us from London to DC on points and had leftovers for hotels! Read more about how we get cheap and free flights using our points here.
6. Ebates.com
Sign up for Ebates.com and earn money when you shop online. I do the majority of my shopping online (I can take 4 kids on a plane by myself, but not to Walmart) so I have plenty of opportunities to earn money here! You can install an extension on your browser and hit the button any time you shop online and get paid instantly through Paypal! Get your first $10 free by signing up here.
7. Manage Your Food
I find that where we waste a lot of money is on food! Eating out is incredibly expensive for a family of 6, so we don’t do it often, but we spend so much money on groceries! We’ve found a few ways to cut costs on the grocery bill:
- Plan a Monthly Menu and stick to it
- Do your grocery shopping online. This way you will know exactly what you are spending and be able to stay within your budget. You will also avoid impulse buying (which is where I get into trouble)! You can get your groceries delivered or pick them up at the parking lot. We were even able to do this at a lot of places in Europe. And I got out of dragging 4 kids to the store! Win-win!
- Have a pasta night! We have a pasta night once a week. A bag of pasta and a jar of sauce costs me about $4 for our whole family of 6. That’s $10-$20 that we save once a week.
- Have a leftover/snack/fend for yourself night. We also do this once a week. It helps us waste less food. I usually take out all the leftovers, fruits and veggies and we go to town! Another $10-$20 saved and less food waste!
8. Limit Clothing
Limit your clothing and your family’s clothing to 3-4 quality outfits. I love Primary.com for basics that you can mix and match and Mini Boden for high quality classic children’s clothing that actually lasts! And guess what…less clothing means LESS LAUNDRY!!! Win-win!
9. Make Conscious Decisions
If you want to buy something and then decide not to, reward yourself by putting that money into savings. If you walk by a Starbucks and really want a coffee, think about the next trip you want to plan, and put the amount of money you would have spent on coffee into your special savings account.
10. Give the Gift of Travel
You want to travel more, and you want to save money…instead of spending big bucks on toys or parties for your kids, gift them a trip or an experience! It will be more meaningful and the memories will last longer than any toy ever will!
I hope this helps you to achieve your money saving travel goals! I’d love to hear what you do to save money for travel. Leave a comment below or on Facebook and be sure to PIN this article on Pinterest!
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Such a great list! Love number ten!!! And great tips on the groceries – my biggest struggle!
I agree 100% The groceries get me every time! Always trying to be better!
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