How to Save Money for Travel: 13 Travel Bloggers Reveal Their Secrets

I recommend taking a very logical approach when it comes to figuring out if you can afford to travel.

Search for recent budget breakdowns for specific destinations on travel blogs and use the figures to calculate how much you’d expect to spend on an upcoming trip.

Whether this is a week in Spain or a year around the world. Once you’ve worked out how much you can expect to spend on your trip, research the cost of flights and travel insurance. Then add 20% to the overall amount to ensure you won’t go over and struggle to do everything you dream of doing.  

Not having enough money can be a real problem and, as I’ve found out in the past, really affect a trip as you have to pick between certain activities.

For a short trip, it’s not always a problem, but for a longer trip, I’d advocate getting creative to get more cash in the bank before your adventure, as I did.

A couple of ways I did this was by taking up a second job in the few months before leaving to travel. A couple of new night shifts might be a tiring pain, but the extra money will really help, and you can catch up on sleep away. Selling off any stuff you don’t want can also quickly add up.

When we first started travelling, we thought the only way we could do it was to save up enough money to pay for our daily expenses. It wasn’t until we were on the road for over 2 years that we finally realized that there are so many ways to travel for free and earn money on the road. That’s why my recommendation is to plan to seek out these opportunities so that you can travel longer.

Number one should be to start a blog but even if you don’t want to be a blogger/influencer, there are so many other ways to make money.

Working out how to save money for travel isn’t easy. Most people think they need to have thousands of dollars to travel.

But even small weekend trips can be a great start.

Airbnb rentals are much less expensive than hotels, and hostels have changed over the years and are now more like boutique hotels.

Recommended by Ayngelina, Bacon is Magic 

The small things add up when you’re saving money for travel. So, instead of buying a coffee every day on the way to work, make your own and take it in a Thermos, for just one example.

Little changes like this can make a huge difference in your funds. Also, when you do travel don’t buy bottled water; it’s much better for your budget and the environment to simply refill one.

Try to walk when you can. If you get to a train station in a new city, see if you can walk to your accommodation (not always possible, but great if it is).

When it comes to how to save money for travel, I recommend setting up a separate bank account.

I have an account that is just my travel fund, money that I won’t be tempted to spend since it doesn’t sit in the current account. 

A lot of this money comes from freelance projects, but I’d generally recommend eating in and shopping less. Think about it: you can do that travelling, as a reward for saving up!

Recommended by Pola, Jetting Around 

When you’re saving for travel, don’t do tours as organising everything yourself saves so much! I’ve never honestly found a tour that’s cheaper.

For example, all these group trips I see in Bali are like 2k and above excluding flights. I have spent 2 months in Bali and spent nowhere near that much. I literally plan everything myself.

Following blog itineraries would be a tip as well, as that’s how I plan some of my trips too. 

There is always a cheap way to do stuff just make sure to put the effort into research.

One of my top tips for saving money to travel is to be flexible. That can mean a lot of things, but what it aims to do is focus your budgeting mindset on how you can work around the money you DO have and adapt what you want from it.  

You could MAKE yourself a little bit of extra cash with a project or hobby you enjoy. If you’re clearing out your wardrobe, why not resell some once-loved items to someone else on eBay? Or if you’ve got a passion for being creative, sell prints or designs on sites like Etsy.

It might not look like much, but a little can go a long way if you stick with it.

The most significant expense for many vacations is the flights. And unlike hotels, the prices for a seat on a plane swing wildly for the majority of airlines.

Choosing the right time to book the flight and having the flexibility to travel on shoulder seasons can make all the difference between an affordable getaway and being broke afterwards.

This can vary between destinations and airlines, so I use Flightlist.io for inspiration on where to fly on a shoestring budget.

Working out how to save money for travel is definitely tough, especially if you’re on a budget. When I was still at university, I didn’t have a lot of disposable income to spend on travelling, but I did manage to save up for my trip to Japan.

Every time I got paid from my part-time job or freelance work, I immediately put some money towards my “travel pot”. It just felt like paying another one of my bills, but in reality, it was for travelling. 

For example, if I got paid £700 – I’d pay my rent, my internet bill, and my water bill AND put £50 into my savings for travelling.

My number one tip for saving money on travel is to plan your trip during the low season. Most destinations have a high, low, and shoulder season. The low season will almost always be the cheapest time to visit.

Hotel occupancy rates are way down making it easy to find fantastic bargains on accommodations.

As an added bonus, crowds are thinner during the off-season, lines at major attractions are shorter, and you’re more likely to have an intimate, local experience. On the downside, the weather may not be ideal so do your research and pack accordingly. 

One of my top tips for saving money for travel is to use the Mint app to track your spending! It’s impossible to save for travel without first understanding where your money is going, and Mint makes that very simple.

Even small, recurring purchases can be huge saving opportunities. Using Mint, I saw that I was spending way too much money on coffee every month. So, I got a Nespresso machine (for my latte addiction) and a Chemex coffee maker (for my husband’s pour-over addiction), and we have saved about $1,400 a year. We can take an extra yearly trip for that money!

Before you start to save money to travel, it’s good to set yourself some travel goals for the year. By knowing exactly where you would like to travel in a year, you will then be able to work out how much you need for each trip.

You should work out an approximation of all your expenses, e.g. accommodation, transport costs and spending money.

From this, you will know how much you will need to save each month, allowing you to see how realistic or unrealistic your goals may be.