Iceland

How to Prioritize Travel in Your Budget

At not every point in our life have we been able to take big trips.  We are small business owners so our financial life naturally ebbs and flows.  We try to keep our living expenses at a minimum though so that we can use any extra money we get, like tax returns, to take a vacation.  There is a fairly common misconception that you have to earn a lot of money to be able to afford a trip abroad.  I am passionate about debunking that myth in order to empower more people to realize their dream of travel.

If you are able to afford anything extra outside of your monthly expenses, taking a vacation is attainable with some small changes.  I’ve compiled some tips on how to make these changes in your spending and lifestyle so that you CAN afford that beautiful trip of your dreams.

1. Cut the Cords

..Cable and phone that is.  With streaming services, like Hulu, Netflix and Discovery +, there isn’t as much need for pricy cable subscriptions anymore.  We ditched cable about five years ago and have never looked back.  It saves us a minimum of $60 per month, equaling $720 per year. 

We did the same with our home phone about eight years ago since we all now have cell phones, saving us another $500 plus annually.  Those two moves alone pay for at least two flights each year.

2. Banish the Beverage

Buying coffee and drinks out each day doesn’t seem like a lot, but add that up over a month or a year and you could have bought a plane ticket with your caffeine addiction.  I’m not saying you have to stop altogether because I love my local coffee shop, too (and I still buy their beans to brew at home – supporting them, yet saving money at the same time).  I’m just saying cut back some.

Instead of making a pit stop every morning or afternoon, try making your own coffee two to three times a week or buying a 2-liter of soda if that’s your vice.  Even alcohol is marked up a crazy amount at restaurants, so pre-game at home with an Old-Fashioned at a fraction of the cost before going out to eat.

Changing that habit alone could add up to over $500 through the course of a year so you can be drinking a cappuccino in Rome instead.

3. Trade-in for a Vacation Trade up

For a few years, we didn’t have a car payment on either of our vehicles.  this was wonderful because, when we got our tax refund check, we could use it for travel instead of having to put it toward our monthly budget.

International airline tickets can start as low as $200-300 depending on your destination, so think of all of the places you could go instead of paying $400 for your monthly car payment.

I’m not saying you don’t need a nice, reliable vehicle, but even cutting back your payment by $50 per month would give you an extra $600 each year.  Saying goodbye to high car payments could mean saying Bonjour to Provence!

4. Refinance the Ranch

This one is super timely since interest rates are crazy low right now.  Refinancing your home could lower your monthly payment considerably, putting more moolah in your travel budget each month.  Many times there are closing costs, but it can still be financially beneficial in the long run.  I love this one because it doesn’t require any lifestyle change at all!

5. Sell your Stuff

With Facebook marketplace, online garage sales, and countless apps to sell items, it is easy to make some extra income while decluttering your life (which is an added bonus!)

It is worth having a basement or attic full of stuff that you never use or a closet full of clothes that you couldn’t possibly wear in one lifetime?  Or could you let some of that go and put the money away for a Spring trip?

My favorite app to use for getting rid of old CDs, books, DVDs and electronics is Decluttr.  When Toby and I got married, we had so many of these combined, some dating back to high school.  With the Decluttr app, you just scan the item and it gives you the value that they will pay you.  They send a free shipping label and, voilà, you get paid to clear all of those CDs from 1992 that you can now stream on Spotify.

6. Ban the Busyness

Kids now lead busier lives than I did growing up.  There are more opportunities (and pressure) to get involved in school and extracurricular activities, but that doesn’t mean your child has to be involved in all of them.  It will make you tired, stressed, and likely cost a lot of money between sports, music lessons and dance practice.

I’m not advocating that kids don’t get involved.  These activities can be integral to their development and can possibly even lead to a career path.  All I am saying is let them choose one to two activities at a time that they want to do.  If they want to add an activity, let them choose which existing one they will discontinue.  This will save your money and your sanity, but more importantly it will teach your kids to prioritize what is important to them in life and how to let the rest go.  This is a great lesson for us as adults, too.

This allows you to not only spend more time with your kids at home on a regular basis, but also to be able to take them on trips that they will remember for a lifetime.  When I was younger, my parents took us on a two week cross country road trip from Indiana to California and back.  Those are still some of my fondest and best memories as a child.

7. Earn on What You Spend

I had this tip in another blog post, but it’s so valuable and applicable here, too.  Let your money work for you by getting a credit card that gives you airline miles for every dollar you spend. There are many out there, so you can research and pick the one that works for you (and flies to the places that you want to go). Most have a sign up bonus where they give you, for example, 10,000 miles when you are approved.

My parents usually fly free using the miles that they earn on a domestic airline. We have a card that gives us two airline miles for every dollar we spend, which is one of the best that I’ve seen.  We can use it on any airline’s flights, hotel or rental car companies.  The important thing is to pay off the balance monthly to avoid interest charges, which can cancel out the cost saving benefits.  We have changed our utility payments, insurance premiums and anything else we can to these cards.  This year alone, we have earned enough miles between our two cards to buy three international airline tickets.

8. Investigate your Insurance

You know that Geico saying that 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance?  Well, it’s actually true.  Each year, take that 15 minutes to call or email insurance companies to see if there are better rates out there for your car, home, renters, life or other insurance policies.

Saving even $25/month could pay for travel lodging for a few days or a weekly rental car.  If you do find better rates, call your current agent to see if they can match or beat them to save you the time of having to switch companies.

I especially love this one because it requires zero lifestyle change but can add a decent amount to your annual travel budget.

9. Eat at home in order to Eat Ramen in Tokyo

We are the absolute worst offenders on this one.  We love to eat out and we spend a decent amount of money doing so.  As chefs, having someone cook for us is such a simple pleasure.  Sometimes though we have to purposefully cut back to save for a trip (or other budget items).  Whatever you are spending per week on dining out, try cutting that in half.  If it is $100, cutting back $50 each week could be an extra $200 per month or $2,600 per year that could be put toward a vacation.

10. Ditch the Delivery

Oh, how I adore delivery services like DoorDash and Instacart.  I really hate shopping in general and food shopping especially; having to wade through crowded stores, backtracking through the aisles for something that I missed.  I would rather be at home folding laundry while watching House Hunters International and pay the extra surcharge to get food and groceries delivered straight to my door.

It does add up very quickly though and many times the delivery service charges more for each item than the restaurant or grocery stores does (DoorDash is notorious for marking up menu items).  If you are on a tight budget but are wanting to squeeze out some travel money, try picking up your own carry-out or groceries.  $20/week savings = $1,040/year = you hiking the Andes.

The only caveat on this one for us is that we still save money on having our groceries delivered because then we don’t spend it by going out to eat when we are too tired to go to the grocery store.

If this blog does nothing else, I hope that it has convinced you that traveling abroad is within your reach!  Try this week to be aware of what you are spending and see if you can cut any of it out, even partially, to make room in your budget for your dream trip.  It might take one to two years to save up that money, but it will be totally worth it when you are laying on the beach in Fiji. 

Happy travels!

~ Melanie

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