Usually, traveling is a long-awaited moment, after all, it is when you can rest, discover new places and new cultures. Traveling is often an investment: the cost goes far beyond flight ticket and accommodation, there are also expenses with food, shopping, tour, travel insurance and others.
When there is no proper financial planning, this amazing experience can turn into a problem in the future. Thinking about that, Her Campus has put together 5 tips to help you save money for travel.
Organize Your Finances
The most important first step is to analyze your finances and define a plan.
Start by writing down how much you earn and how much you spend on a spreadsheet, for example. Therefore you will be able to identify where your money is going to and even if you are spending more than you earn.
Eliminate Your Debts
Usually, debts can get in the way of your entire goal, as you don’t have a “slack” in your budget, so you can’t save money. Ideally the first step is to pay off all your debts and, after you’ve paid off, you’ll be able to take control and reorganize your financial planning. Then, you can allocate your money to your biggest goal: travel!
Change Your Habits
If you manage to make some unnecessary cuts in some areas of your life (as far as possible, of course!), you will definitely have a little extra money left over, which can be used for travel.
Some ideas would be: start making more meals at home, avoid unnecessary purchases of things you don’t need, use public transport more and most importantly: be careful with credit purchases, which can end up getting out of your control and putting a hole in your budget.
Decide How Much You Can Save
Now that your situation is in order, it’s time to sit down and analyze how much money you have left over each month that you’ll be able to save for travel. This will not only save you money, but it will also help you not take on new debt.
The ideal would be to have a separate place dedicated only to money (from a piggy to a bank account) for travel. This way you will be able to track your progress, and it will be harder to fall into the temptation to spend the money.
Keep Focus
Always keep in mind that you are saving money to make a dream come true. This makes it easier for you to stay motivated and focused. All your effort will be rewarded.
A tip to facilitate this process is to set goals and deadlines, which in addition to motivating you will be rewarded for your effort. Start by setting small goals, like start traveling somewhere closer to you – which you can go by car, for example – and then start dreaming bigger: travel within your own country by plane, until you arrive on trips to another country or continent!
The task of raising money can be tiring and difficult at first. But once your planning is done, finances organized and goals set, it will become a habit in your life. You will definitely start to see results and no destiny will be impossible for you!
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The article above was edited by Laura Enchioglo.
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