How to Save up for Your Next Trip

Booking a trip can be a big hit to your bank account. Even if you’re doing it frugally by tracking flight prices, staying in hostels, and cooking some of your own meals, all the little expenses add up. Here I’ll share some quick tips on ways you can save up for your next adventure.

Brown Baggin’ It

Think about how much it costs to buy a lunch at work. Even if it’s only $10, that adds up! Say you buy a lunch once a week - that’s $520 over the course of a year. Specialty coffees are another sneaky expense. Why not bring a thermos from home or take advantage of free coffee at the office? Take that $5 you would have spent on a grande latte and put it into a savings fund for your next trip instead. You might be surprised at how much you have saved over a few months!

Savings in a year: $780

Ebates

If you’re not already using Ebates to get cash back on your online purchases, you’re missing out on free money. Anytime you shop online at retailers like Amazon, Groupon, Sephora, ebay, and many more, you could be getting between 1 and 8% cash back on stuff you were already going to buy. It’s a win win! I also recently discovered that Ebates comes in useful when booking trips - they offer cash back when you book hotels and activities through Expedia, Tripadvisor, and various hotel chains, so it’s always worth checking before you book. You can sign up now by clicking here (affiliate link).

Savings in a year: $300

Drive for Uber or Lyft

This is a great source of part-time income, and the best part is that it’s completely flexible with your schedule. Only drive when you want to! If you’re not comfortable with taking passengers in your car, you can always just sign up for UberEats and do food deliveries (this is what I do - feel free to ask me any questions you might have!). I work full time, so I only drive occasionally on evenings and weekends and made $800 last year.

Savings in a year: $800

Get a Credit Cards with Rewards

This one might work better for some than others. I use my credit card for almost everything, including recurring bills, and pay it off in full each month. My bank account and credit card also allow me to use them abroad with no ATM fees or added exchange fees, making it ideal for use while traveling. Again, the key to this method is to make sure you can pay off your balance so you don’t incur interest.

Savings in a year: $200

Using a combination of these tips, I was able to save over $2000 in a year - almost enough to pay for my upcoming 10-day trip to Portugal.

With any of these saving methods, the key is to put the money away in a specified account, piggy bank, whatever to make sure you don’t end up spending it on something else.

How do you save up for travel? Let me know in the comments!