Save smart - not hard - for travel

Just a quick post while I’m literally shovelling food in my mouth in between the chaos of packing.

Just 3 days to go! I’ve had a lot of people comment they could never afford to travel like we are.

Don’t get me wrong, saving isn’t the same for everyone depending on your financial and family circumstances.

I do believe though that everyone can save for travel no matter how long or short the trip.

First, set an approximate date for when you would like to leave.

This allows you to create a budget and break down your earnings. We were mid-way through university degrees and renting when we decided to give ourselves three years to save for travel.

Create your budget

Although budgets can be boring, they are actually quite simple to set up, and they’re essential if you want to save.

Decide how long you want to travel for and how much money you want. For example by putting away $100 a week for three years you can save $15,600. When we came into some extra money we put that away too.

Another way is to try and cut down a big expense out of your weekly or monthly costs. For some people it’s clothes, for others it can be an expensive phone plan. For me, the big budget buster was fuel, commuting to university in only a little Honda Jazz still cost me about $50 a week, which over a year = $2600 – ouch. Once I finished uni and started a job two minutes from home this cost went down.

Another way to get your fuel cost down is to take public transport which I also did for a semester to save money.

My partner’s Holden Jackaroo, also only commuting short distances, cost three times as much as my Jazz – so consider selling for a cheaper option.

Get rid of that debt!

This kind of goes with the last one. Your home/rent and car can be the biggest sources of financial drain on your bank accounts.

To solve our rent problem, we moved back home… not something I would suggest as the best option depending on your family circumstances but it’s an effective one. Another suggestion we considered was house sharing which can save you hundreds each week.

Car debt is the second one and easier to combat than your living situation simply by selling up and swapping to something more economical. Both of us were car debt free which was very helpful.

Pick a place

When it comes to currency, size does matter.

We are heading to the US which comparatively to Australia is probably one of the worst places we could be going to maximize our money with our dollar at .65c US cents. Obviously this depends on the economy and when you decide to go and can change very quickly, it’s something you also can’t plan for unfortunately.

A good start is to look at where your currency is comparatively with other countries and consider destinations that could help you make the most of your money.

Friends of mine backpacked Malaysia in the off season and stayed in 5 star resorts for as little as $11 a night – the off season obviously made a difference but the good exchange rate helped them a lot as well.

Sell old items

That old ball gown you wore once and electronics in good nick are a good place to start. By selling my PlayStation 2 and games I only made $80 but that money went towards my backpack. Even old cameras can fetch $20-$50 online – it all counts.

SALES SALES SALES

Anyone looking through my suitcase would think I am being sponsored by Kathmandu. But no, they just have AWESOME sales. And I am really happy with the quality of their products too.

My Kathmandu wheeled travel backpack, the only wheeled backpack I could find with proper straps, on clearance was $650 down to $225. I got other crazy bargains from there as well during their 60 per cent off sale.

Use second hand or clean out and reuse!

For us, travel meant packing up all home belongings to make it easier on family to store our things.

Never too early to start either, I started packing up my room in February and found lots of things to reuse, day bags, handy things from past travels etcetera.

I am also borrowing winter gear.

Buy online

They may be small items but power converters, luggage locks, sleeping liners, additional power cables and other travel items can be expensive at home and buying online can save you 50 per cent or more. Shop around.

Save money from birthdays/special occasions

$20 dollars may not seem like very much but over two years it can save you hundreds that you can put towards something you really need. I used money given to me by my parents for my birthday this year towards my backpack.

We also saved two years of worth gift money from families to buy our GoPro. But remember where you put your money! Cleaning out my wardrobe in February I found $250 in a money bank. I now keep my gift money in the cards I get with them and label the envelope ‘money from XX’.

I was given a $120 Lorna Jane gift voucher from colleagues in February and saved it until just now to buy some good workout/everyday gear to take away.

Ask for specific Christmas and birthday gifts

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need, often people would prefer to know they are buying you something you will get good use out of. If you let people know about your travel plans it will also give them a good idea of what to get you. My best friend bought me thermals, a travel journal and some great women’s earplugs.

Work while you travel, do charity work or summer camps.

While we have enough to last us about six months travel we need to work for longer travel.

To do this we plan to work the winter ski season in Canada – click here for my Canada working holiday IEC how-to for Australian’s ­– after that we would like to work a summer camp in America and will look into building houses etc in remote places.

Although they don’t pay very much or at all, most options include your accommodation and food or some other subsidy.

And that’s it, my quick saving tips to afford travel!

Long or short travel, what are your saving tips for travel?

#travel #blog #saving #budget