Money tight but still want to get away? Want to escape to some place warmer but don’t want to spend a lot of money?
Whatever your reason for wanting to travel for less, I think you will be happy to know that there are creative ways to pay for travel and take that vacation that’s on your mind.
The past two vacations I went on weren’t cheap. The first was my honeymoon to a Sandals resort in Jamaica. The second was a cruise around the Caribbean. These trips were absolutely amazing, but they definitely weren’t cheap.
Recently I’ve been looking into new and creative ways to fund travel and, when possible, travel for less. Today I’ll share a few ideas that I’ve either personally used to help fund my travel or that others I know have used.
1) Get free cash and flights through credit card rewards
The easiest way to make money for travel is to take advantage of credit card promotions. This year my wife and I are going to get a free $800 for travel ($400 from two different cards).
Below are the cards that I am using this year to help fund my travel:
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard – The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard will give you a free 40,000 miles when you spend at least $3,000 within the first 90 days of signing up. This ends up being equivalent to $400 that can be spent on any travel-related expense $25 or more. Additionally you get 10% miles when you redeem your miles for travel expenses – an additional $40!
Redeeming is easy as you simply use your card for travel expenses and go to the redemption center and choose travel expenses you want to redeem. Have a significant other or friend sign up and you will have $880 to spend on travel between the two of you.
- Discover it Cash Back Rewards Card – The Discover it Cash Back Rewards card isn’t a travel rewards card but can still provide you with an income source to fund your travel expenditures. This card offers 1% cash back on every purchase; no exceptions. Additionally they run promotions every three months where spending in a certain category will receive 5% cash back. I booked my honeymoon when they were offering 5% cash back on travel spending.
My wife and I are working on our second Barclaycard (already charged $1,000 on mine, now working on the card under my wife’s name). We plan on going on a nearly-free vacation with the $800 in rewards that we’ll get from our two Barclaycards.
2) Create a side income source and set aside the money for travel
I have a few “side hustles” that provide me side income on top of the income from my regular full-time job. My initial goal with side income was to offset my wife and my monthly student loan payment. Now that I’ve passed that initial goal I plan on using it to pay for travel, a new car, and more.
When it comes to side hustles and making side income the options are endless. It can be as time-intensive or as casual as you want it to be. What are some ideas for side hustles?
- Freelance Writing
- Web Design
- Social Media Management
- Mystery Shopping
- House Sitting
- Photography
- Making and selling things on Etsy
- Tutor
- Music Lessons
There is an endless number of things you could do as a side hustle. Most people “over-think” when it comes to side hustles. Keep it simple! Heck, even working a retail job once a week on the weekend can be a side hustle. Anything that helps make money on top of your full-time job.
While making side income and making money from a side hustle may start out slow, you may be surprised how quickly it gains momentum. I didn’t make a dime blogging the first eight months. Then all of a sudden I closed a $700 advertising deal. A few months later things really started to pick up and I’ve been making some nice side income ever since.
You may end up starting your side hustle to fund travel and find out it can fund a lot more than that. I know someone who specifically started a blog to earn money to pay for vacations and ended up not only paying for some awesome vacations but also their law degree!
3) Enter giveaways to win cash and (if you’re lucky) a vacation
I wrote an entire post about funding travel through giveaways. My wife and I have been entering giveaways for over a year now and have won many giveaways. We track all our winnings and trust me, if you win enough you can easily fund a vacation from the proceeds.
Cash giveaways are the best giveaways to win because you can put that straight towards your travel fund. Gift cards are good too because they are usually for places like Target, Walmart, and Amazon where you shop anyway. If you spend it on stuff that you would buy otherwise, you can put the cash equivalent of the gift card into your travel fund.
If you enter enough giveaways you will probably win things you don’t want or need. A car seat, a stroller, a $100 food processor – you name it, there is a giveaway for it. If you win you can list it on Craigslist or eBay and take the cash. I’ve done this with a number of things I’ve won and usually they are bigger items that net $100+.
There’s also a lot of vacation giveaways put on by blogs and various companies. Any given month there are at least a handful that I enter. Winning a vacation is definitely the easiest way to travel for free.
4) Get a job that allows you to travel
If you really want to see the world and are willing to travel often, you may want to consider a career or even a short-term job that allows you to travel. With travel funded by the company you work for you don’t have to worry about saving for travel; it will be part of your job description!
We interviewed Brandy Green a while back who did just that. She was on the show Ghost Hunters International and traveled to over forty countries, literally living out of a suitcase for most of the year. She shares some of her pics from her travels on her Twitter page from time-to-time if you’re interested.
You don’t have to be on a television series to travel, though. My father is a chemist and over the past couple decades has traveled all over the world as he works for an international global adhesive manufacturer. I have another friend who produces music and has worked in far-flung places like the Middle East. Another friend does audits and she’s worked in Europe as well as various locations across the United States.
If you want to see the world but can’t imagine paying for it yourself, getting a job that requires travel is something you should consider.
5) Set up automated monthly savings
Okay I lied – clearly setting up automatic monthly savings isn’t creative. You could argue it’s even a ‘boring’ way to fund travel. But in all honesty, when you start to physically separate your savings into different buckets you are much more likely to reach your goal.
Let’s say you need $2,000 for your next vacation. If you automatically have $200 taken out of your checking account each month and moved into a specific savings account, you will have $2,000 in 10 months. Even better is if you can combine your automatic savings with credit card bonuses or side income.
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These are just a few ways you can get creative about how you pay for travel. While travel is a luxury, vacations are great for recharging your batteries. Don’t let finances get in the way of travelling and taking vacations.
Which of these ideas have you done yourself or which will you give a try?
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1st Photo by tiarescott
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Great ideas DC! I think we’ve done all but #4, although haven’t done a whole lot with #3 either. We have been doing #5 for years but now that we’re churning we’ve seen that we can fund travel largely on it, so maybe we can do something else fun with the cash. :)
FrugalRules Yeah if you can fund your trips through rewards it allows you to set aside money for something else. We’ve used this concept with giveaways and couponing. The money we would be spending on food can then be used for savings or something else.
Great tips here, DC. Rick and I are hoping to take at least one short family vacation this year, and will be using tips 1, 2, 3 and maybe 4 to make it cheap. :-)
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer 4 isn’t a bad way to go, especially if you do some sort of side work that will allow you to write off some of the expense : )
The only problem with getting a job that has you traveling is that you don’t get to choose where you travel to. Travel to Cancun, Europe, and Hawaii? Sign me up. Lebanon, and Antarctica? I’ll pass. LOL.
DebtChronicles Haha I hear you Travis. A guy I know who works in IT for Lawson Software has been to Hawaii a few times, but he says he spends almost all his time in windowless basements when he’s there!
I actually use side hustle money for my travel and if I want to travel more, I just know I have to work harder, but I also love the idea of automated savings. For my clients who love to travel, I have them set up a separate savings account just for travel. They always like knowing what they are capable of doing based on the size of the fund.
blonde_finance Very smart to have your clients set up separate savings travel accounts. For people who love travel, they likely will be more motivated to save if they know that every dollar they put into a specific account will go towards travel. I know I feel that way with giveaways – we even set up a spreadsheet to track how much we’ve won and how much we’ve transferred so we know exactly how much we have saved specifically for travel.
I’ve been winning giftcards to use on our vacation. I figured with the store cards I am winning I will go and buy visa cards with those.
Melissa M Hmmm I like this idea because it directly translates into vacation ‘spending money.’ We currently just use the gift cards we win for groceries and other things, but doing that allows us to save more for vacation so it still comes full circle.
My current job requires quite a bit of travel. I was able to earn the companion pass on Southwest Airlines for this year. It’s rare that I have to pay for a domestic flight, but I’m interested in taking a trip to Iceland this year, so I signed up for the Barclay Arrival Mastercard. With the bonus, I’m already up to almost 50,000 miles ($500)!
CashvilleSky Companion pass? Awesome! Great job on getting up to 50k miles, I know I’m somewhere around 43 or 44k miles, though I shifted my spending to my wife’s card so she can get the initial promo. A trip to Iceland sounds fun.
Haha, we’ve been using #5 forever. It doesn’t actually save you money on travel, but it definitely makes it more available.
Matt @ Mom and Dad Money #5 is the best way to go. When you combine that with some other ways to save money for travel (or save money ON travel) you can take some great vacations that stay within your budget.
#2 and #3 are the options that I am currently using to pay for travel.
TheButlerJournal.com Nice, best of luck winning a trip – or at least some cash for your vacation.
I love all of these tips. I was able to fund my husband’s study abroad trip from my side hustles, and it felt great to be able to do that for him without dipping into my paycheck money!
BudgetBlonde I remember that trip – so awesome you could pay for it with side hustle money! Also seemed like a great trip for him to take, something he’ll never forget.
I have not stayed at the Sandals resort in Jamaica but we did at the one in Turks and Caicos twice and they are so great. Love them! But no, they are not cheap. :) I don’t churn credit cards but we definitely use the reward points we earn our credit cards to help offset the costs of our travels. Other than that we simply save and set aside bonuses, etc for our vacations.
ShannonRyan Nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned savings! By the way I agree that Sandals is amazing. The sticker price may come off as expensive, but for what you get for your money – so worth it imo. Loved every minute of it.
Where are you going on your next vacation? I would love to be somewhere warm. I would love to be able to fund a vaca soley from side hustle money. I’ve got a long way to go but hopefully someday : )
BudgetforMore Not sure yet but hopefully some place awesome ;) I think you are a lot closer to making some solid side income than you think!
I’m afraid I fall into the boring and uncreative camp, so I like #5. :) We simply save for our summer vacations setting aside a bit each month. After we take one, we start saving for the next. Always seems to work out that we have enough every summer. Best part is that we don’t go into debt to travel.
Brian @ Luke1428 Hey, nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned savings! It’s something I need to do more intentionally for travel, cars, etc.
I’m paying for FINCON14 with side hustle money and credit card rewards. Love these tips!
fitisthenewpoor That’s awesome! I still haven’t bought my ticket but I really need to just commit and make the purchase.
I think the easiest would be to make use of appropriate credit cards to maximize rewards. I have Priceline that gives you extra points for travel. Has worked quite well for us.
moneycone Even as a relative noobie at travel rewards, I’m going to have to agree with you. It’s much easier than some of the alternative options and only takes some research and planning to capitalize on.
Great ideas! In the end, it always comes down to increasing income and decreasing expenses, right? ;) There are new ways to travel more cheaply too, now that the Internet allows people to safely share resources. For example, vacation rentals can be cheaper than hotels and home exchange is free accommodation.
NomadWallet While I haven’t tried home exchanges, it definitely has help bring down the cost of accommodations across the board. Because of that, I’m all for them!
These are all great ideas. We are currently trying out the rewards card angle. Hoping this will help defray the costs of travel a little.
Green Money Stream Same here, and I definitely think it will pay off over time. I can’t wait to cash in my $800 (+$80) Barclaycard promotional cash.
Wow, I sure wish I had done what Brandy did before I had kids, what an amazing experience! Good tips as usual David.
Kyle James Yeah she has some awesome stories, sounds like it was an amazing experience.
I’ve only ever done #5 for my vacations. Although I haven’t been on a real one (not visiting friends or family) in about 5 years. Just planned a trip to Jamaica with my boyfriend for May!! So excited. It was a little pricey, but I’m sure it will be worth it. We just saved up for a bit for this as well.
I really want to get into the CC signup bonuses though to help fund travel in the future!
BoldButtercup Oh you will love Jamaica! You should definitely check out some of the credit card promotions being offered. I wasn’t sure when my wife and I would go on our vacation next, but with our credit card promo $ it’s really looking like a possibility.
While I tend to go with strategy #5, #4 is my dream! I’d love to have a job that allows me to travel like my father did. #1 is something I’m pondering for something to do in 2014. We’ll see what happens!
BrokeMillennial I’m so glad I got started on #1 this year because we will have $880 for a vacation plus two flights for $70…you can’t beat that. I will probably set up auto-deductions for travel as well, just because we both have a lot of places we want to see.
The best job I had in my 20’s was working for a cruise line. I got to work in the theater, gained great experience and saw tons of different countries. It was pretty awesome.
brokeGIRLrich When I went on the cruise it seemed like the people working in the theater really enjoyed it! One guy LOVED it and couldn’t get enough of travelling all over the place.
David,
I have nice travel perks for my job so the upgrades are nice. Im using the Chase Sapphire Rewards because I can convert 40,000 points to miles which is worth more than a credit. We’re flying from Hawaii to Boston for 45,000 miles and the ticket cost is $1050 ( I always pay for mine so that I can rack up status) Under Barclay I would only get a 400 credit.
Travel Hacking is definitely on my list of things to accomplish for this year. I appreciate you sharing these cards, because I’m looking around for the best ones. Unfortunately, my job doesn’t have much opportunity for travel, and I like to use my savings to fund some pet projects.
ImpersonalFinance I don’t travel for my job but I actually am not a fan of business travel. Some don’t mind, but when I’m traveling I want to have control over where I go and what I do. Hopefully you can make use of the cards I mentioned!
Just be careful with that Barclay card. Apparently they have gotten really strict lately and are denying a lot of people. They have gotten hip to a lot of the travel hackers and people following Frugal Travel Guy. I tried myself and despite having a good credit history and credit score over 720, they still didn’t want to approve me. But I did manage to get a Citi Aavantage and an Air Alaska card so I’ll get points towards travel.
Paulette Mensah Are you serious? Both my wife and I got approved without any issues. We haven’t opened new cards, though, for years.
I’m actually not a fan of the Citi Aadvantage card. I have it and have had it for years and the miles accumulate very slowly. With that being said, they may have changed policies recently but in the past it accumulated very slowly.
I’m boosting my side income in the first half this year in part to fund our travel to the United States in July/August. It helps to have such an exciting goal to look forward to.
Nell Casey I’ve always thought it’s easier to accumulate side income when you have a goal attached to it – best of luck!
Reward cards are indeed a popular way to collect miles, points, or cash that can be used for travel. If you are earning cash back, use an automatic transfer to your travel savings account as you recommend. Dedicate those funds to your next big vacation.
My travel savings recommendation is to pick one airline and stick with them. This is easier if you live near a hub for a major carrier like San Francisco for United Airlines or Philadelphia for American Airlines (formerly US Airways). Then sign up for the credit card for that specific airline, preferably one without an annual fee. As you fly that airline you’ll accumulate frequent flier miles plus the miles earned for spending on everyday purchases with your rewards card.
Since an airline ticket is often one of the most expensive parts of a trip, the combination of an airline branded credit card plus being a loyal frequent flier member is a smart way to save for travel. Remember too that the major airlines are all part of global alliances. That means you can earn free flights on their partner airlines which helps with international vacations. For example you’ll be able to fly Lufthansa to Germany with United miles or London via British Airways with American miles.
-Scott, VacationCounts – Take More Vacation Time Off