came up with this idea...thought i would share it.
to help save for our europe trip next year, my girlfriend and i are going to start going out on "dates".
For example: instead of going down to the ice cream shop, we take that $10 we would have spend here at home and deposit it to our trip savings towards an Italian gelato in Rome. Or instead of seeing a movie, we put that $25 in our account towards a play in Venice etc.
Biggest way to save money before hand is to do as much research as you can about where you are staying and what you want to see. That way, you save money while you are on your trip and you also build the excitement.
There is no such thing as too much research!
For me, its easier to save if I have my Italy trip money automatically deducted from each paycheck. It's amazing how fast that account increases! I still add to it if there is money left over at the end of the month, but knowing that every month I am that much closer to my goal is very exciting. We leave for Europe in 179 days!
My partner and I like to do the "end of the pay period" dump into savings. Whatever is left over in checking the day before we get paid, we round to an even amount, and transfer it to our vacation savings account. We've saved $4000 for this summer's trip to Scandinavia since September this way.
I do many of the same things...For example, I figured out that a stop for a cup of tea on my way into work, combined with a tea and a bagel later in the morning was costing me about 4 bucks day-20 bucks a week. Now I make the same tea and bagel in our well equipped lunch room at work. Every week I dont go across to the coffee shop I put 20 bucks in a tin.
Over the course of several months thats a fair bit of money I use for extravagances...like those 8 dollar airport beers while waiting for my flite ;-)
Once we got a high estimate to have our carriage house painted. My husband suggested we do it ourselves. I told him that there was no possible way he was going to convince me to paint something that huge ourselves. Then he said,"What if we do it ourselves, then subtract the cost of our expenses from the estimate and put the rest of the money into our Italy fund." Without hesitating, I suggested we rent a powerwasher and sprayer. Everyone has their price.
Ethan - that's a great idea & very similar to what we do...aside from the massive change jar we save change & dollars in. Each time we want to - go to starbucks, order pizza, get a new webkin...I ask myself & my family....do you want to spend your $5 or your $15 on that or would you rather bring it to Europe? Even my 10 year old has over $300 saved of her own money just by thinking about it before she buys. We've had more fun making pizzas together than we ever would have ordering them! We leave for our first Europe trip to London/Paris/Toulouse/CinqueTerre/Rome in just 44 days!
I have to admit I'm not as systematic about stashing it away, but I have the same thoughts -- I have my one-cup coffee filter that I take to work for fresh coffee instead of visiting a coffee shop. Sometimes I'm tempted to stop for a $3-4 latte or cappuccino, wouldn't I rather have this while sitting in a sidewalk cafe in Paris? Great motivation to go back to work and make a cup myself!
Chris, what a great way to teach your kids to spend according to their values. It's all a matter of choices.
I actually like to make Excel spreadsheets for fun (don't judge), so a couple of months ago, I made myself a budget spreadsheet to figure out how much I can put away for my trip and how much "disposable income" I can spend after I put away that amount & pay all the bills. It turned out I can put away about $300 a month, which should add up to a good sum by October, especially since I've already bought my plane ticket!
Doesn't this make saving fun, when you think do I really need that as much as I need that trip to Europe.
And Anna I completely understand the spreadsheet thing, I have all my budgets on one.
Ethan - For me I put it in the catagory of a bill I pay. Every payday I put aside at least $100 into savings. Also if I have a little extra at the end of the month that goes into savings as well. It helps that She Who Must Be Obeyed is an accountant and keeps me on track.
We also automatically save a certain amount of money every month for the "vacation fund". If we ever get any bonus checks, tax refunds, rebates, gift money, etc., it always goes to the vacation fund. My goal is never to spend it all on a trip. I always want the security of knowing that we are at least 3 or so trips ahead of ourselves. No matter how much money is in the account, I still use Priceline and we stay in inexpensive places so there will always be more trips to come. None of this blowing it all on "The Trip of a Lifetime" for me! Life should be full of adventures. I want to stretch our vacation dollars and travel as often as possible.
wow--that is EXACTLY what my husband and i are doing. for my birthday AND for valentines day, both of which have occurred in the last two months since we began planning our summer trip--i cooked and i deposited $100 each time in a savings account. i also take out at least $20 each time i go to the grocery store (from the debit cash back option) and put that away. we've saved up over $600 since the first of the year!
It really is amazing how all these fairly insignificant little sacrifices that we make (and usually don't even miss) add up. I see so many people around me daily wasting tons of money on things that they don't appreciate, who then wonder why we can afford so many "extravagant" trips. It's all management and priorities.
It's all about trade offs (I was an economics major) so I do similar things. A few years ago I looked at everything in my life and made a few lifestyle choices to support my travel habit. Including: basic cable instead of 100+ channels; Netflix instead of movie theaters; library books instead of buying; meals and coffee at home instead of out; bus to work instead of driving + parking space; grocery shopping every other week and focusing on basics. Turns out this was helpful when my employer implemented pay cuts and unpaid furlough days, too.
(Anna, just keep keeping on with Excel, those of us who can't really admire those who can!)
Personally I would forsake virtually all entertainment spending in order to save for future travel. Unfortunately, my wife still likes to do things here at home so I have to keep her happy too.
I'm often thinking two years out but she seems to only get excited/motivated when it's less than one season away.
Anna, I'm an excel freak too! I have my ck register, budget, daily schedule and Europe itinerary on excel, just to name a few!
We do many of the above listed ideas to save money for our trip...use tax refunds, cut back on eating out, etc. We did the same thing last year when paying for our daughter's wedding. We were able to pay for a $15,000 wedding without using one credit card...and I'm a stay-at-home mom!
One thing I'm beginning to do for this summer's trip (since our savings was depleted from the wedding) is to sell items online. I'm a bookaholic, so I'm weeding thru and selling some on half.com and I have over 1000 rubber stamps that I'm going to start selling on ebay. Maybe I'll even clean out the garage and have a yard sale.
We're pretty frugal already, and use a lot of the tips already mentioned here.
Many of our neighbors use a lawn care service. We don't, we do it ourselves. Up until we delegated that lawn-mowing to our son, I would mow the lawn and think about what I could do in Venice, or Paris, or wherever, with the money that I was saving by doing it myself.
Awesome list!
Here's a few of ours...
Take my lunch to work 4 days a week = $24 / Wk
Quit colas and make ice tea instead = $4 / Wk
Cancelled Cable TV, rabbit ears baby! (Hey, Rick's on PBS, and that tunes in just great!!) = $39 /Mth
Reward ourselves when we make a 'cheapskate meal', like the home-made pizza above, our my wife's vegetarian baked ziti that feeds our family of 5 for $6, by setting aside $10 - done at least once a week = $43 / Mth
Just those I listed comes up to over $200 per month -- and we do a bunch from farther up the page as well.
Keep 'em coming... great ideas!
Whenever possible, we use cash to make purchases and save all the change (put it into the savings account at the end of the year), which really adds up! Also, I "hide" money from myself as I do my checkbook each month. I deduct an extra 10 or 20 here and there (carefully noted), then at the end of the month, I can deposit that into savings as well! Between that and income tax returns, we're usually buying our tickets in March and heading to Europe in May!
Tracy - I love the $20 at the grocery store idea! - I think I'll start that this week - Even though our trip is only 41 days away - eek! - There's still a few more weekly grocery shops to save. - Then when we come back it'll be time to save for the next trip!
These are all great ideas of how we can fund our "habit" :-) Travelling has to be the best habit ever, and I doubt very much we are going to need counselling for it!
We do much the same as far as saving, and I am terribly guilty of putting off some remodelling so we could have the money for our trips. Even my kids would rather do without the stuff their friends have so they could spend a month in Europe.
This is definitely the best board on the web, with the greatest, like minded people ever! I could just hug you all.
We have only been to one movie in a movie theatre in 32 years! We seldom "eat out" when we're home. The money we would spend on those things, we spend on travel! I'd much rather experience another culture, eat in another country, see lovely landscapes or historical sites than see the current release - I can watch it a bit later on HBO or buy the blue-ray/DVD next year.
For our trip to Italy and Greece next month, I made a spreadsheet of every expense that we could imagine. We made the spreadsheet over 18 months before our trip. We saved money for each line item on the spreadsheet and then marked it in green when we have saved enough to pay for that line item. We then moved to the next line item.
I looked at the spreadsheet everytime I wanted to purchase something that we really dont need.
Using this system, we saved enough money for our April trip by January 1st
I've been living economically for years in order to have money to travel. Some of my "tricks":
1) drive that car until it won't go any more.
2) use the library for reading material and movie DVDs.
3) eat out only occasionally.
4) buy some of my clothing at thrift stores.
5) think it over a few days before making any purchase of significant size; I often lose my enthusiasm for the item after a day or so.
6) consider going without some of the new gizmos; I use the internet and a pre-paid cellphone and have not invested in GPS navigation devices or the more complicated and expensive devices. I'm still considering whether I "need" one of the new fancy TVs.
7) save travel money by combining tasks when out driving; I can grocery shop and get my hair cut in the same trip, maybe even combine this with a medical appointment.
8) occasionally I put cash into my safe-deposit box to save for travel or other purchases; I am now saving for some much needed furniture.
9) give gifts, but on a modest level and only when I really feel like it; I skip most Christmas gift-giving.
10) donate selectively to organizations I know and believe in. I throw away most of the mail I get from charities.
11) make and drink coffee at home, mostly. Only occasionally I treat myself to a coffee at one of the shops.
12) give up soft drinks. For me, drinking a soft drink daily was a habit that I easily gave up.
13) find stores for less expensive groceries; I buy coffee, cheese, and cases of canned foods at Costco.
14) stating the obvious; I don't smoke and spend very little on alcoholic beverages.
15) I spend money on things that are important to me. I rarely feel deprived for "going without" a lot of these things. When I'm traveling, I know my economy is really paying off. I'm economical there, too. But that is another topic.
The public library saves me a good chunk of cash every year. There is a terrific inter-library loan system I can access online and pre-order new materials that the library down the street may not have in stock. Instead of going to the movies or paying for premium cable, I can borrow all the latest DVD films and HBO or Showtime series on DVD. Instead of buying new music online or at a store, I borrow music CDs from the library and burn them onto my computer to load onto my iPod. Why pay $20 for the latest hardcover fiction when I can borrow it? They also have lots of the $4/issue magazines I like to read.
another vote for the library saving money - We're going to London, Paris, southern france, cinque terre & Rome - & there was no way I could afford to buy all those guide books - SO I borrowed the RS books from the library, read them cover to cover and then decided if I still needed anything to purchase. I did end up buying both paris & rome, but saved on the other 3. I also rented his dvd's and watched them for free!
Actually, the Canadian government is paying for my next trip to the continent. Anytime after 60 years of age, Canadians are eligible for a pension ( and supplement) from the government, it automatically goes into my "passport workout" account.
Hi Ethan, My sister's co-worker actually came up with this idea but now my sister and I are both doing this for an upcoming trip to Germany and Austria. Start a "fin" account. Everytime you have a five dollar bill, don't spend it, put it in your "fin" account (somewhere safe in the house)until you have enough that is worth a trip to the bank to deposit. You'll be surprised how fast this adds up and on the rare occasion that I have to spend the five dollar bill, well, it just breaks my heart!
Hey everyone thanks so much for using your Library! I work at one know firsthand how much money you can save by using your Library. And the interloan department really can get you what your Library doesn't have -- ours has even brought books in from Ireland for our customers.
If your Library has an advocacy group such as the "Friends of the Library" they may hold a booksale that includes discarded Library books. I've purchased guidebooks from the sale for only 75 cents and they are only a year or two out of date (my Library orders all new every year). You can then sign out the new ones to double check specific facts but mostly they are the same year on year.
And check the programmes on offer, we have had plenty of travel related programmes to attend.
I love our library and use it regularly. The travel section of our library bookstore is the first one I check each week.
My co-workers wonder how I can afford to go to Europe every year and it's just a matter of setting priorities. I do many of the things already mentioned as well as don't spend on "beauty" products, get $15 haircuts, don't color or perm my hair. I eat out rarely and if I do, it's usually for lunch when it's less expensive than dinner.
Thanks to all for the great ideas. Just have to feed my travel bug once a year.
