Save More Money to Help You Travel More

Last week we talked about managing the money that we already have to help us be able to travel more. Unfortunately, we don’t always seem to have enough money. We talked about creating a budget and looking at everything we spent our money on. Now we’ll look at ways we can save more money to help you travel more!

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Get Rid of Unused Memberships

This could be gym memberships you’re not using or a streaming service you’re not taking advantage of.  When you created your budget before you saw where all of your money was going.  Are you utilizing all of the things you’re actually paying for?  Even if you are, do you need to be?  If not, get rid of them.  Is there a gym membership you have simply because you go and walk on a treadmill, start walking outside or at the mall.  If you are paying for a monthly box service, really think about the items you’ve been getting.  Is it still worth it?  Is it more important than going to Machu Pichu?

Sell Your Stuff to Help You Travel More

The majority of us, especially in America, have more things than we actually need.  More clothes, more holiday decorations, more of lots of things.  Take a weekend and go through everything!  Personally, I don’t use the, if it brings you joy method.  Instead, I think of if it’s something I actually use or something that means a lot to me.  I will also then think, would I be okay not having this anymore if it helped me reach my dream of staying in a hut over the water?  Sure, one shirt won’t get you there, but I’m sure you have more than that in your house.  Plan a garage sale and get rid of it!  Or you can sell it online. And make sure all of this money goes straight into the travel savings account. If you’ve tried to sell things, but still have some things behind, donate them, but make sure you get an itemized receipt!

Get a Roommate to Save Money

Okay, so this is something I’ll recommend, but I will not do it myself.  The only roommates I’ll accept have four legs are covered in fur and bark at the neighbors.  I just love my space too much to do that.  However, if you’ve got an extra bedroom, rent it out! The guy who lives across the street for me has 3 roommates! That’s too much like college for me, but I don’t he’s paying anything towards his own mortgage with that! And another bonus, if you both happen to work around the same area too, you could even carpool.  More savings! And another bonus, you’ve got someone to watch your place when you’re traveling!

Cutting Cable Will Save You Money to Help You Travel More

I finally did this last year.  So now I just pay for wifi at home and have a Roku that allows me access to any streaming services.  Personally, I have Hulu Live and Netflix and that’s been great.  Over the holidays I added in Frndly because they have the Hallmark channel and I’m a sucker for those Christmas movies, but I canceled it come January.  Hulu Live is great because I can still DVR shows.  However, I have seriously been thinking of getting rid of Live and going back to the regular Hulu package again simply because I can easily waste a lot of time just sitting there binge-watching when I should be doing something productive.  However, overall, I thought I would miss cable, but I’ve been absolutely fine without it! It is such an easy way to save more money to help you travel more!

Use the Library for Books

So, I like to read a lot of motivational or professional development type books that I tend to mark up, so library books are out for that purpose for me. However, you should definitely take advantage of this! And not only can you rent the actual paper, hold-in-your-hand books.  But now you can rent audible books through an app! Thank you technology!

Pay Bills on Time

This should be a no-brainer.  If you don’t pay your bills on time, then you have to pay additional fees!  That’s more money away from your dream vacation! Also, check into your different accounts.  Some will offer discounts if you do paperless billing and automatic payments.  It’s such a simple way to save more money to help you travel more!

Save Money to Help You Travel More by Wearing Less Makeup

Okay, so I don’t wear a ton of makeup as it is, but that can all add up!  If you simplify your look for a while, would you be able to save some money?  Maybe don’t buy that new palette of eye shadows?  Also, do you need to buy the most expensive type of makeup there is?  Or can you visit Walmart and get something much cheaper that still works great?  (In my opinion, yes you can!)  Also, if you use those makeup removing wipes, you can tear them in half, or even quarters, to get more use out of them. 

Skip Beauty Appointments

I know it’s fun to get pedicures with your girlfriends.  But could you have a night in and do your own nails and still have a great time? Plus, you can save lots if you start doing your own nails.  And let’s talk about hair.  I used to dye my hair all the time.  I did highlights, all-over color, I’ve had blonde hair and I’ve had nearly jet black hair.  Now that I have grey coming through you would think I would want to make sure I was getting my hair dyed regularly.  However, I decided a while ago that I would much rather put that money towards something else, like traveling.  I do still get my hair cut, but some people will cut their own hair to save.  For me, having it professionally cut is important enough for me to spend the money on, but my color is all-natural!

Buy Generic to Save Money to Help You Travel More

We’ve all heard this a million times.  Buy generic items!  For the most part, I totally do this, but there are a couple of things I’ll splurge on.  Don’t just look at purchasing generic instead of name brand, look at different, cheaper options altogether.  For instance, look at your household cleaners, are there are other options out there for you, you bet!  Do some research, look through Pinterest, there are plenty of other cheap and still very effective ways to clean your house or your clothes!  On my floors I know use a squirt bottle with vinegar and water in it, and a cloth that I can toss into the washer and reuse.   

Reduce Energy Bills

Our electric company sends a report out showing how efficient your home is and what it seems like you’re spending the most energy on.  If you get something like this, pay attention to it.  You may be able to request something like this from your company if you don’t already get it.  If not, just use your head.  Unplug things you’re not using.  We’ve all heard it before, just because something is off doesn’t mean it’s not pulling some energy.  The only way to make sure it’s not is to unplug it.  Especially if you’re leaving town, unplug as many of your electronics as you can (definitely make sure to keep your fridge/freezer plugged in).  Also, if you have outlets on exterior walls, put an outlet cap in them.  Cool air can sneak into your house through them. 

Wear a sweatshirt at home and keep the temperature a degree or two lower in the winter, or use ceiling fans more and blackout curtains in the summer to help keep it cooler.  BTW, yes, those curtains work great.  They’re not just for keeping the light out, but they can help keep the heat from the sun out during the summer, or even cooler air in the winter!  Of course, if it’s winter and you get a good sunny day, open those up and let that sunshine in!

Skip the Starbucks to Save Money to Help You Travel More

So, I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t relate, but you rarely see a post/article about cutting costs that doesn’t include skipping those expensive coffee drinks.  So do it!  Again, if you bought 3 $5 coffees a week, that’s $60 a month! What else could $60 get you?  It’s only $5 short of being able to do a penguin encounter at the Georgia Aquarium!  Give up coffee out for a month to see and meet a penguin, to me that’s a no-brainer!

Plan Your Meals to Save Money

Sit down and plan out your meals for the week.  This has many benefits!  First off, during the day at work, I have to make many decisions.  The last thing I want is to have to try to decide what sounds good for dinner when I get home.  This eliminates that problem! Secondly, if I plan my meals I’m less likely to eat out for a meal.  I do allow myself one lunch out a week.  This doesn’t count if I have work lunches or something, because those wouldn’t come out of my personal budget anyways.  And lastly, it helps me with my grocery shopping. 

I make my meal plan, usually, based on any items I might have at home.  If I don’t have the items, I know exactly what I need to get.  The tricky point can sometimes be making sure I stick to that list!  At the top of my list I write out my budget for groceries for the week so I have that to remind me to stick to the list.  And, if there’s a week where I don’t need a lot of groceries for the meals I planned,  I will take advantage of that to get some extra items I know I will need down the road.  Stock up on toilet paper, dog treats, laundry detergent, etc. 

Grow Your Own Food to Save Money to Help You Travel More

If you use a lot of herbs or vegetables for cooking, grow your own to save more money to help you travel more.  It’s much cheaper to get a plant and take care of it yourself than it is to keep going back and getting tomatoes every week at the store. However, it does take some time to get this going, and you may need a few plants to produce what you would like.

Cut Back on Purchasing Clothes to Save Money

I know I told you to give away some of your clothes, but you weren’t wearing them anyway.  But, now, since there’s room in your closet, that doesn’t mean you should go on a shopping spree.  You don’t need new clothes all the time.  If you’re bored with what you have, then get creative mixing it up with accessories and such.  If you need to get new clothes, can you skip the brand names here too? 

Research Before Purchasing

Before you make any big purchase decisions, make sure you’ve done your research!  I’ll admit, I probably spend too much time doing this, but I like to be thorough.  Don’t just compare prices, compare warranties, compare expectant life, compare customer reviews.  Take it all into consideration! This will not only help you save more money to help you travel more, but you’ll also be making smarter purchases. 👇👇

Don’t Sacrifice Quality Over Price Tags to Save Money to Help You Travel More

So when you do need to purchase something, cheaper isn’t always better!  You’ll figure this out when you’re doing your research.  If you spend just a little more money on something, will you get a longer life out of something?  Better quality shoes so you don’t have to replace them as often?  Better built lawnmower to get more summers out of it?  Notice how I didn’t say more expensive.  Yes, better quality may mean more expensive, but don’t just buy something because it’s more expensive so you assume it’s better.  Remember, do your research! 

Use Rakuten

I have Rakuten and Honey installed on my browser.  So if I’m online shopping it will automatically search for promo codes for me for instant savings.  And with Rakuten, I can earn cash back from my purchases.  Since I try not to shop too much, I don’t use these too often, but when I do shop online I do what I can to make sure to take advantage of this. 

Get a Side Hustle

This could be anything from waitressing on the weekends to starting your own blog. Do something to make a little extra money, money that wasn’t already accounted for in your budget. Then, when you get the money from this, make sure it is going directly into the travel savings account you set up!

So, these are some of my ideas to save more money to help you travel more. What things are you doing to get extra money for your dream vacation? Where are you saving money to visit?

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