Backpacking Diplomacy Andy's Travel Blog: Travel tips, culture, and more
How to save for a trip
Saving for a trip is much like saving for anything else that you want. You get a ballpark figure of how much the item costs, or in this case how much you would like to bring with you on your trip, and then you work towards it. Depending on the length of your upcoming trip and your current financial situation this can be a challenging task at times. After all, you have the rent, the mortgage, tuition, books, food, and gas all siphoning money out of any potential travel fund. These things make it difficult to save, but with a little plan you can do your best to put a little money on the side to leave with. Here is how you can do it?
- Eliminate useless spending – As you save for a trip, do your best to eliminate any wasteful spending that you have a habit of doing. In turn, use this money as a base for your savings. What constitutes as wasteful spending? Think of things that you really do not need, but often purchase like that $7 coffee every morning, that mile drive you make daily (why not ride a bike), or eating out multiple times a week. These are a start, but certainly not inclusive your life. Do some brainstorming and see what you come up with. It is a good idea to write down all of your expenses in a week and go from there.
- Make good use of your coins – Start a piggy bank. If you do not have one already use it. The best way to do this is to start paying for everything with cash. I know that this is difficult in a digital world, but do your best. Every time that you get change throw it into a jar. You would be surprised how much your coins add up to in the end. Before you turn them in look for valuable coins that you could sell for a little bit more.
- Work a side job – Try and find at least one side job that you can do which will pay you decent cash. Think about things that you are good at. Have an eye for details or organization wash cars or clean things. Maybe you are a good and hard worker, check local labor, or help wanted, postings. Dog walking, babysitting, whatever you can offer.
- Sell things – Perhaps, you are a pack rat or just like to hold on to things. Or maybe, you just have not cleaned house in a while. Look for things that you can get or want to get rid of and have a garage sale. If you only need to get rid of a few things try eBay or a local listing service.
- Become a financial manager – No not an actual finance officer, but for personal finances. This encompasses all of these tips above, but goes a step further to ensure that you do not lose the earnings that you have made. Teach yourself to carefully guard and track your money, if you do not already, and keep in mind that you want to leave for your trip with as much as possible. Realize that the more you save the better, and reflect it on your books.
These tips above are helpful for those looking towards creating an effective budget for their trip. Hopefully, these tips can be used by both people backpacking or just traveling in general.
Please feel free to check out the other articles on budgeting below or contact me personally for more suggestions.