It seems like the age old question: “How can I save money so I can afford to travel the world?”. With Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites regularly showing the positive sides to our peer's lives, it can often become quite frustrating and discouraging. Often we do not see the struggle and the dedication these people exert to travel. For myself, travelling is not only a choice but a priority. I often forgo certain luxuries to save money to travel. Here are 7 more ways I save to travel the world:
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Meal Planning
I’m going, to be honest, I don’t always follow through with my meal prepping. Life sometimes gets in the way, and there are times I just want a friggin burger and chips. Anywho, the times that I am able to meal prep, I save heaps of money! Depending on how I’m eating, it usually costs about $75 for the week of my groceries. That may seem high (Australian prices are a wee bit outrageous), but if I ate out for lunch and dinner each day, I would be spending a minimum of $140 for the week. The money saved adds up quickly.
Digit
This handy little app is quite amazing. It is linked to my bank account and rounds up every purchase I make to the nearest whole dollar. That money gets transferred into my digit account. I can set it to withdraw a higher amount if chosen to be able to save more each month. I tend to forget that I have this savings account which is really nice. By not remembering it’s there, I’m not tempted to withdraw money from it. Since opening my Digit account, I’ve managed to save over $500 (That’s almost a roundtrip ticket home)!
Similar to Digit, Acorns is a micro-investment app that sends small amounts of money to a savings portfolio any time you use your debit card. This app has made me much more conscious about my spending. You can choose the type of portfolio ranging from conservative to aggressive, depending on how aggressively you’d like to invest. I’ve been able to save heaps thanks to this app!
Daily Budget App
I used to be amazing with budgets. Growing up, we had a spreadsheet that we needed to input where our money that we made would be allocated. Not sure when it happened, but I got piss poor at keeping a budget. This app has helped tremendously! I am able to input my income and my monthly bills, along with what I would like to save each month, and then it tells me how much I’m allowed to spend per day. It’s been super eye opening and incredibly helpful to keep me on track and on a budget.
No Spend Days
On my weekly calendar, I’ve literally started writing in days where I’m not allowed to spend anything. One these days, if I need to leave the house, my money gets left out of my purse. This means I have to plan ahead with all my purchases. Groceries, topping up my myki card, and gas are all examples of things that need to be prepared within my week. Because I have a daily to-do list that stays near my weekly calendar, I’m able to easily navigate my no spend days. Every week, I will be trying to add more and more no spend days.
I’m so happy I stumbled upon this app. This has been particularly useful when signing up for the obstacle course races I enjoy doing. Honey automatically scans for discount codes when you make online purchases. It has saved me heaps! Which is fantastic because I can still do the things I love and save money to travel the world.
This is another website that has been incredibly helpful. It’s definitely not a site that will make you rich, but you can earn small amounts every day that will eventually add up. I try to do enough surveys to make $5/day. You can also earn money back when you purchase goods from the site. I have not yet bought anything via Swagbucks as I tend to stick to the surveys and videos. It’s not a lot of extra money per month, but it is enough to cover a few bills every now and again which leaves more money for travelling!
I Know the Pilot/Scott’s Cheap Flights
I’m not even sure how I functioned as a human being before I stumbled upon these websites. They seriously have been a godsend. As an expat, I’ve opted to receive emails for both. If you’re Aussie, I Know the Pilot will be the emails you never knew were missing from your life. If you’re from the USA, Scott’s Cheap Flights is your new travel bread and butter. I notified anytime there are insane travel flight deals via email almost daily. This is how I found a roundtrip flight to the US for $550! I’m not even joking! The most recent getaway that I had to fight myself not to purchase was about $485 round trip to the Maldives….Visa first, then travel….Visa first, then travel...Visa first, then travel.
Travelling isn't the cheapest of hobbies, however, if you make it a priority it is totally obtainable. What are some of the ways you save to travel the world? Have you tried any of the ways I suggested? How did they work for you?
And until next time...
Stay Curious!
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