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Steps to saving money for your dream trip
26

Steps to saving money for your dream trip

Nov 29, 2021

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Travel

Richard Baxter

Ahh, dream trips. We all have them. The ones that we escape work with only to be hit with the harsh realization that we are actually still at work and that we could possibly NEVER make it to dream island. Dreams trips are usually marketed at luxurious and adventurous, but also EXPENSIVE AF and with a gal whose goal at the moment is to simply make it to the end of the month with a bank account that isn’t negative, these dream locations can see quite impossible to reach. Unless. Unless we come up with a few tips where you can actually have money in the BANKKK, save up and actually make it to your dream location. 

Welcome message from author
All in all, make saving fun, make it a game you want to play over and over again because you’re constantly winning (and traveling). Don’t be afraid of hard work and remind yourself it’s only for a short period of time.
Transcript
Slide 1dream trip
Overview
Ahh, dream trips. We all have them. The ones that we escape work with only to be hit
with the harsh realization that we are actually still at work and that we could possibly
NEVER make it to dream island.
Dreams trips are usually marketed at luxurious and adventurous, but also EXPENSIVE
AF and with a gal whose goal at the moment is to simply make it to the end of the
month with a bank account that isn’t negative, these dream locations can see quite
impossible to reach. Unless. Unless we come up with a few tips where you can
actually have money in the BANKKK, save up and actually make it to your dream
location.
goal
Whether it’s a city break in the South of France or an open-ended shuffle around
South America, your first step is deciding what kind of holiday you’re after. Next, you
need to estimate the costs: research travel fares, food, accommodation, sightseeing
… the whole shebang. Doing this step first gives you a clear goal, and will help you
stay motivated while scraping together the cash.
Hunt for
discounts
Any way you can lower the price will make it easier to save up, so look for ways
to pay less for your holiday or stretch your money further. If you’re a student, an ISIC
card (international discount card) can save money while travelling. Not a student? Try
the International Youth Travel Card instead.
Have a
monthly
target
Divide your total trip cost by the number of months until you go away. This tells
you how much you need to save or earn to be able to afford your holiday. You can
adjust the figures – i.e. save less each month over a longer period – if you need to.
Assuming you don’t have an ATM tucked down the back of the sofa, there are two
prime ways of scraping together the cash every month: cut back, or earn more.
Stop leaking
cash
Start by writing down the details every time you spend money. Coffee on the go?
Outrageous gas bill? Fined for going too deep into your overdraft? Get it all down
and review your spending at the end of the week. Then – and this is the crucial bit! –
change what you do.Turn down the heating, get organised about repayments, make
coffee at home. Look for spending you can do without – and then ditch it.
Downgrade
it
You probably do this already – for instance, choosing supermarket value brands
instead of the premium products advertised on TV. Well, if you’ve got big-money
travel plans, find ways to downgrade everything. Switch bill suppliers to pay less,
consider walking to save on bus fares – you could even commit to only buying pre-
loved or reconditioned stuff and see how much you save.
Don’t use it?
Sell it
Clutter can be a goldmine – we’re talking clothes, old phones, the roller skates
you’re using as a door stop… The golden rule is, if you haven’t touched it in 6
months, get rid: list it on eBay or advertise locally via noticeboards or a bootsale app.
Next, look for other people’s clutter to sell, via freecycling websites as well as store
samples and online giveaways.
Don’t shy away
from investing
Investing your money is one of the easiest ways to save up without feeling it break the
bank. There are many apps that help you start with small investments, or that invest
all the cents from your card purchases. Start small and watch your money grow
itself.
plans a priority
Put it on your calendar, set a daily reminder on your phone so that you don’t get
distracted with day to day splurges that you could be saving instead.
Change your
traveler
mindset
Remind yourself that if you work hard, you can travel again. Use this mindset to go
on mini vacations instead of long ones because you know you’ll be back. Shorter
vacations also means less time off of work, so you can go right back to saving for
your next adventure.
before
Purchase
Every now and then we need to purchase many household things or some other
things. Before you purchase anything shop around for the best price and best offers
available. Suppose you need to buy a mixer grinder for your kitchen. Before
purchasing from any particular shop, go different e-commerce portals and look for a
better price and offer. Do this for each and every item you need to purchase. This can
help you to save a lot.
Cut down your
coffee Houses
Frequently dining out and going to coffee houses such as CCD and Starbucks is the
new trend. But have you realise that the amount of money you spend on one time
meal in a restaurant, you can eat whole week homemade food in that particular
amount. So when you are planning to save money for your dream trip. You have to
do this as this can increase a lot to your savings account.
Spend less
on lunch
It may be as simple as not getting a $2.50 drink (tap water is highly underrated as a
beverage!) but make a point of spending less than $8 on your lunch. Those savings
will add up. Say you go out to eat five times a week. Just trimming your lunch cost
from $12 to $8 saves you $832 a year! For even more savings, pack a lunch if you’re
able.
often
Restaurants put more holes in a saving plan than a woodpecker on amphetamines.
Plus, learning how to cook for yourself is ridiculously gratifying.The Food
Network and Recipes.com have a near limitless repository of delicious recipes to
start you off. Even in the United States, you can comfortably eat on $40 to 50 a
week cooking for yourself. Simple unprocessed foods like rice, beans, chicken,
pasta, potatoes, and vegetables are healthy and cheap.
Reduce or
eliminate your
car usage
The easiest way to reduce your car usage is to sell it, but that’s only feasible if you’re
about to leave on a long-term trip, or happen to live in New York City. Uber and
Lyft are great options for daily car sharing if you need to go long distances. But even
if you can’t totally live without a car, bike and walk more and shop as close to home
as you can. Every little bit helps!
Kill the cable
TV dead
You’ll be surprised how fast your savings add up when you ditch cable TV.
Several friends of mine pay up to $150 a month for their cable. That’s insane, it adds
up to $1,800 a year. Even a more reasonable rate of $99 (the average monthly cost of
cable TV in the United States, as of 2016) still ends up being $1,188. That could fund
an entire trip to lots of places in the world! Besides, there are plenty of free and
cheap ways to get your entertainment. Netflix is $10 a month. Books are cheaper
than movies.
Reduce your
utility bills
Put a sweatshirt on and keep the heat on low. Open the windows to catch a breeze
instead of using the air conditioner. Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Shorten your showers. Some areas of the country have more moderate temperatures
than others, but even a few bucks a month pile up in your travel savings account. The
average utility bill in the US ranges from $90 to $140 a month. If you can trim 15%
off by being more efficient, doing fewer loads of laundry, and conserving energy, you
could add around $225 to your savings, annually.
Quit smoking
This one’s a no-brainer. Not only can stopping smoking save you $2000 in a year, it
can save your life! Can’t do it on your own? Get someone you know to help you
keep accountable.
Cancel your
gym
membership
Instead of that hefty gym membership, exercise in the great outdoors, run in the
fresh air. Swallow your pride and utilize those strange public fitness things in the
park. The world is a cardio machine. Watch the calories burned outside turn into
greenbacks in your bank account!
Skip the spa
Luxury feels so good, but spas are a serious expense. Massages, peels, and mani-
pedis will cost you your hard-earned cash, and they certainly won’t help you get
on the road any sooner. Skip out on the short-term luxury of self-pampering and
save more the life-changing luxury of long-term travel.
Get fewer
haircuts
If you get a haircut or cut and colored once every two months as opposed to once
every month, you’ll save 50% and probably still look just fine. Considering the cost
of hair care, over the course of a year this could really add up. Of course, stick to a
simple style that a friend can trim for you for free, and you’ve got 100% savings.
Buy second-
hand clothing
New clothes are expensive and passé! Thrift stores and vintage/second-hand clothing
shops are the new cool. You can usually save the greater part of 75% over their new
counterparts and still look cute. When you need to dress well for business or formal
occasions, scope out the bargain/reduced racks or shop online rather than in the full-
price sections at expensive brick & mortar stores.
Do Free Things
•Get University educated –The website Open Culture has assembled a giant master
list of free online courses on everything from Art History to Quantum Mechanics
from great schools like Stanford, UC Berkely, and even Oxford!
•Get non-university educated at Khan Academy orTedtalks.
•Check out the online repository of videos of academic courses at Ivy League schools
like Yale, Harvard and Stanford at Academic Earth. The only thing it doesn’t have
is Skull & Bones.
•Play sports: you know, cycling, tennis, basketball, soccer, etc. Find recreational teams
in your area.
All in all, make saving fun, make it a game you want to play over and over again
because you’re constantly winning (and traveling). Don’t be afraid of hard work and
remind yourself it’s only for a short period of time.