What if we broke it down into smaller steps and concentrated on saving just $10 a day? That seems more manageable right?
$10 a day adds up to $70 a week, which is $3640 a year. A considerable amount of money that could pay for a large part of your holiday, if not all of it.
Once you start putting these money-saving tips into practice for your travel fund, you’ll start to see how easy it is and you’ll end up saving more.
35 ways to save $10 a day for your travel fund
1. Bike or walk instead of drive.
2. Car pool or take public transport instead of paying for expensive fuel and parking.
3. Pack your lunch to take to work.
4. Pack the children’s lunch for school.
5. Buy a coffee machine so you can skip expensive take away coffee.
6. Give up cigarettes.
7. Drink water instead of juice or soft drink.
8. Plan your meals in advance and buy only what you need at the supermarkets.
9. Shop at farmer’s markets.
10. Buy groceries in bulk. Cosco is great for that.
11. Eat and drink at home.
12. Have a DVD nights with friends instead of expensive movie trips.
13. Take the children to play at the park rather than places that cost money.
14. Grow your own fruit, veg and herbs.
15. Use coupons.
16. Shop the specials and sales and stock up when you can.
17. Exercise at home or in the great outdoors rather than at expensive gyms.
18. Collect your spare change and put it in the piggy bank.
19. Shop online for bargains.
20. Stop buying magazines and newspapers and read it online.
21. Borrow books from the library instead of buying (just return them on time to avoid fines)
22. Shop around for the smartest mobile phone and home phone plan.
23. Use Skype to make phone calls- it’s free or next to nothing.
24. Give up Foxtel or reduce your channel package.
25. Be smarter with electricity. Turn off all lights and appliances when not in use, throw on a jumper instead of the heater and let your clothes dry naturally.
26. Decorate your home with other people’s trash and turn it into treasure. Find bargains on ebay, Gum Tree, or local second hand stores and garage sales.
27. Take on a second job, or hire out your talents for a small fee to your neighbourhood friends.
28. Have your children mow the neighbours’ lawns. My nephews have started doing this and are saving a nice amount for the travel fund.
29. Use loyalty and reward programs.
30. Spend on the credit card that gives you frequent flyer points (CAVEAT: Only do this if you pay off the balance in full each month. You must be responsible with this)
31. Pay down your credit card. It is amazing how much you will save on interest.
32. Set up an automatic saving withdrawal of $70 a week to be deposited into your travel fund.
33. Shop around for your insurance policies.
34. Combine celebrations if you can into one party or dinner out.
35. If you are going to eat out, eat mid-week, for lunch, or during special happy hour prices.
Make an effort to start implementing at least 5 of these tips today. You’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily your travel fund will grow.
Life is about the memories not the stuff, so put your money towards those precious memories you can create with your family when you travel together.