How do people afford to travel so much?!?!

“How do people afford to travel so much?!?!” is a question I see all the time. How about collecting all our tips for making it happen?

My tips for saving money before and while traveling… feel free to comment with more tips!

• Prioritize!!!! A lot of people get to travel because they choose NOT to spend their money on other things. They make choices. They are not blessed by money growing from a tree.
• Sell stuff you no longer need.
• Only buy second hand or on sale, or not at all. Make yourself sleep a night on every new item you want to buy! This prevents a lot of impulse buys of nonsense.
• This also goes for travel items. Buy that backpack or travel towel on sale. Or make do with a second hand one, or buy a cheaper version of a travel towel. I used super cheap tea towels to dry my body and hair for 12 months.
• Get stuff repaired instead of buying new. For example, I paid €35 to have a new battery put in my 6-year-old iPhone and it’s good as a new hope for years to come.
• Critically go over your recurring spendings and memberships and insurances. Which ones can you do without because you barely use them? (The gym (start going for outdoor runs and home workouts yourself)? Netflix? Spotify > swap to free? Magazine/newspaper that you never really read or that you can read for free in a library or cafe?) Which ones can be changed to cheaper options? (Internet provider? Phone provider? Car insurance?) The good causes you support, are you sure those are still your preferred ones and do they have a certificate that proves that a decent percentage of their income is spent on the actual cause instead of on some top manager’s salary?
• Use a bike and public transport to get around instead of a car.
• Don’t go out to restaurants and bars or cinemas so often but have picnics instead, and home game nights or home dinners/beer nights, home movie nights, go for a nice long walk or bike ride with friends and bring your own food, look up the free music festivals and such in your town, etc.
• Do your own nails, cut your own hair, clean your own house instead of paying others to do it.
• Put money aside on a separate account as soon as you receive your salary, this way you will save more. Do not wait until the end of the month to see ‘what is left’.
• Keep an Excel spreadsheet of your savings, and create a graph too so that you literally see your money grow. This makes it harder to spend it on nonsense such as yet another pair of shoes or a new dress.
• Choose countries with a low cost of living, where your own currency goes a long way. For example in Thailand / Laos you can have your private simple hotel room, 3 meals out per day, public transport and some fun outings and cheap massages as well, for about US$1,000 a month. Can you sleep, travel and eat for that money at home?
• Book your own flights and hotels. And also look into bus travel or other means of transport. You don’t always have to fly. How about a bike holiday?
• Have a look at hotels with no stars or few stars, you don’t need 5 stars for a comfortable stay! You can even look into Couchsurfing (do read their safety page).
• Travel off-season, avoid school holidays in the regions you’re visiting and in your own country.
• Work abroad. For example online, or teaching English, of WWOOF’ing, or using a Working Holiday Visa.
• Rent out your home (if you can do so legally) or do home exchanges through trusted websites.
• Airline miles through credit cards
• Airbnb’ing your home to subsidize travel (or house swapping)
• Buying tickets in advance when cheaper
• Eating at home/ bringing your booze to the bar (covertly)
• Shopping at goodwill
• Dumping most memberships and subscriptions.
• Get roommates or see if you can sublet part of your home temporarily.
• When doing more local weekend trips, look into staying at campgrounds rather than hotels.
• Look into car-sharing services like Modo if you don’t need a daily driver.
• Get a side hustle if you have spare time and energy.
• Tell your friends and family your goal so they understand why you’re being cheap
• Earn commission on your own travel too. 😍🚀 That way you can travel more and earn on travel or save money on travel booked 😍✈️ dreams come true ✈️😍
• Balance out eating while traveling. Do cereal for breakfast, sandwiches and supermarket meals, street food and then splurge on a sit-down meal every few days.
• Get a decent education and degree to get a well-paid job; this surely helps to save even more money
• Don’t pay to pick your seat
• Travel lightly to avoid baggage fees
• Pack snacks, buy alcohol from grocery stores
• Use flight trackers to get good prices and look at flight trends to know when to buy
• House sit to save on accommodation costs

Add your tips below!