10 tips on how to save for travel

How to save money to travel is a question I get asked often. I don’t have a super high paid job but I choose to make travel a priority meaning I can’t spend as much money on other areas in my life. It’s easier to do this when you know you have a super exciting trip coming up.

Here are my top tips for saving money to travel. This advice will help you whether you are going on a week’s holiday or planning a 6 month trip around the world.

Create a budget for your tip

Create an excel spreadsheet with costs for your entire trip. Use Skyscanner to find the most affordable flights, also if you can be flexible with dates then you can go for the much cheaper options. Sometimes it is cheaper having a stop off when flying so this is a good chance to tick another country off if you decided to stop a few days. In the spreadsheet you should include hotel costs and rough costs for food each day. To find out more about how much you’ll need in different countries, check out this detailed travel guide. 

Set a savings goal

Once you’ve created a budget for your trip you’ll have an idea of how much you need to save. Break this down into monthly saving goals, I do this with my Nationwide app by creating a savings goal and this breaks down how much I need to save daily, weekly and monthly. It’s also worth looking out for a bank account that you can get rewards from. We use Tesco for all our bills to collect clubcard points which we then exchange for meals and days out, it means you can still have fun even being strict with saving.

Limit spending

This seems pretty obvious but it can take a great deal of restraint especially when there’s so many sales on or you want to buy a pretty outfit for your next holiday. The next time you go to buy something ask yourself if you really need it, most likely the answer is no. However, when you do need to buy things try and buy them secondhand, take a look on Ebay or Gumtree for cheap second hand goods. If you are buying stuff online you should also use Topcashback to get some money back from items you purchase.

Find the best interest rates

Do some research to find the best interest rates. Moneysavingexpert has great guides to the best accounts to use. If you are planning a long trip it might also be worth getting a travel card so you can get cash out whilst abroad and not have to pay ridiculous exchange rates.

Transfer money to your savings 

When you get paid transfer as much as you can into your savings. Try and figure out a budget for the month so you have money for rent, food and bills then transfer the rest into savings.

Create a food shopping list 

Plan out your meals for the week and go shopping with a food list. I always do this so we stick to our weekly food budget and don’t end up buying lots of random things that we don’t need. Stock up on things like frozen chicken and vegetables as these normally work out cheaper and won’t go off.

Find the best foreign money exchange rates

Never exchange money at the airport as they always hike up the prices there. Before you go abroad keep an eye on exchange rates way before you go so you can exchange money at the best rate.

When you are travelling abroad use the app XE currency converter, the app has all the different currencies and can convert back to pounds or your most used currency. This helps you know how much your spending.

Get rid of subscriptions and memberships

Get rid of any subscriptions you can do without. Instead of going to the gym go for a run, swim or do a YouTube workout.

Join a frequent flyer program

Earn points towards cheaper fares and upgrades. It may take a while to accumulate points, but once you’ve saved enough they can pay off big time.

Spend less on eating out

Buying lunch each day can get quite pricey so try and take a packed lunch to work each day. Regular coffees can also add up, if you are addicted to coffee like we are in our house then sometimes it is worth purchasing a coffee machine but use eBay or Amazon to find a great deal. Ultimately, it does end up working out cheaper than always going to your regular coffee shop! After a long day at work it can be really tempting to go out for food or get a takeaway but if you have some quick and easy recipes this will help you stick to your budget. We tend to use Buy a Gift or Groupon where you can always find great deals on eating out and days out, they always have sales or voucher codes too so you can still enjoy yourselves but pay a fraction of the price.

*This is a collaborative post, all opinions remain my own*

What are your top tips for saving?