Practical Ways To Save Money To Travel: For Broke Millennials

If you prioritize and plan correctly, you can save up enough money to make your travel dreams a reality.

Saving enough money to travel is all about planning and prioritizing your dollars. Perhaps you are spending a hundred dollars that you don’t need to be spending each month on something you could easily go without. With a little introspection, determination, and prioritization, you can figure out where you can cut back on your day to day expenses and put that money towards your travel goals.

Travel isn’t just for Instagram influencers. In today’s world, with the right planning and strategy, anyone can save up to go on a trip. It does require sacrifice, patience, and a strong will. So here are some tips to get you on the right track.

Cut back on unnecessary expenses and put those funds into a dedicated travel piggy bank.

Those Starbucks cappuccinos add up more quickly than we realize. Let’s say you only go to Starbucks twice a week, and a cappuccino costs around $5. You might think, that’s only $10 per week – no biggie. But multiply that times 52 weeks in a year, and you’ll realize you’re spending $520 per year on fancy, frothy coffee. That’s basically the cost of a round-trip ticket to Thailand.

The point is, we spend a lot of money here and there on unnecessary expenses that we could definitely live without, yet we don’t give much thought to these purchases at all because they seem small, but they add up over time. Candy, gas station snacks, take out dinners, and online purchases all contribute, and the list goes on. 

Stay motivated to prioritize your travel goals by putting the money you would have spent each day on an “unnecessary purchase” into a big jar labeled with the name of the destination you intend to visit. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll be saving and putting towards your travel goals in just a few months time! 

Eat out less, and cook more.

Eating out is fun and convenient, but it’s expensive. Cooking at home is not only a cheaper option, but it’s also healthier and a good opportunity to get creative in your own space and to pick up a new passion. Thanks to Google and Pinterest, there are infinite recipes available at the convenience of your fingertips. Calculate the money you’ve saved by not eating out each month, and put that in your travel fund. Get cooking! 

Budget, budget, budget.

When you are planning to travel on a budget, planning and budgeting are everything. Map out your travel plans, research costs, and figure out what kind of timeline and destination is realistic for your budget. By calculating these figures, you’ll be able to make a concrete plan of how much you need to save, and it will help keep you motivated to keep working towards your travel fund goals. 

Prioritize earnings.

Those trendy $200 leather boots might be extremely tempting, but when you are saving and budgeting to save up for a trip, things like that are probably not a priority. It’s all about prioritizing your dollars and figuring out which ones aren’t necessary to spend, which could be put towards your upcoming travels. When you’re wanting to save big for an experience and having to make sacrifices, the memories gained from experiences are much more valuable than material things! 

Track expenses.

Sometimes when we are not keeping careful track of our spending and earnings, we realize that we’ve spent a whole lot of money and can’t even remember where we spent it all. Using an app like Mint, which helps to keep track of spending, earnings, and budgeting in a variety of different ways, is a practical and helpful way to save in order to reach a travel goal. The app even notifies you when you have spent over your budget, and keeps track of specific spending categories like groceries and bills. 

Find passive ways to make and save money on the side.

One of the best ways to save money is to set up a passive stream of income and save it entirely for your goal. Have a spare room you could be renting out?  Do you knit or make handicrafts that could be sold on Etsy? If you have weekends off from your regular job, you could pick up a couple hours doing something part-time and temporary that would help you save towards your travel goals. 

Sell your crap.

Plenty of us are guilty of having more than we need. And a lot of us have things that we never use that are collecting dust and forgotten somewhere in a closet in our homes. Spend a weekend going through your home and finding things that you could let go of that could be sold. Craigslist and Ebay, as well as plenty of other places, are good ways to sell your unused items while they still have value. 

Stop the expensive weekend outings.

Going out with friends and family to enjoy free time is important, but depending on how it’s done, it can really add up. So make a goal to start skipping the bars, the restaurant dinners, or the expensive outings. Instead, suggest more budget-friendly options to the people in your circle.

Quit memberships and subscriptions that you don’t actually use or want anymore.

Haven’t actually used that $15/month audible subscription in three months? That’s okay; cancel it and put that $15/month into your travel fund instead. Try to think if there are any other subscriptions or memberships that you’re currently paying for but not really interested in continuing or could live without.

Reduce your utility bills.

Save money on utility bills by being more mindful about electricity, turn off lights when they are not in use, and reduce the overall amount of electricity used each month by trying to cut back on anything you don’t actually need or use.