Travel Tips

7 Ways to Painlessly Save for Travel

Daydreaming about vacation is one of our favorite pastimes. One minute we'll be thinking of the paintings in Rome, the next we'll be pondering the view in Paris. We say, let your mind drift away, but then take action. Pick a place and do your homework about how much cash you'll have to shell out, including flights, hotels, food, and entertainment. Make a budget and tack it up on your mental dartboard as the goal. According to TripAdvisor, vacationers are planning on spending more on travel than they did last year. To help, we rounded up some creative and efficient ways to save for that next trip on your bucket list.

1. Make Saving a Game

Saving can be fun. Seek out tools like Level Money, an app that tracks your everyday budget and shows the amount of money you have left to spend. Unsplurge is another helpful app that tracks how close you are to reaching your goal. It even displays what other people are saving for and how much, which can serve as great motivation. Turn it into a game and compete with yourself to beat your weekly goal.

2. Create a Vacation Savings Account

Don’t have time to pull every nickel out of the couch to pay for a flight to Milan? Open up a vacation savings account that will automatically divert nickels (or a bigger percentage) from your paycheck. If you don’t see that money sitting in your checking account, you’ll be less tempted to spend it. Let the account accumulate and turn to it when you need it. Tip: Disney has its own vacation account with perks for saving with them.

3. Set Up Automatic Transfers

If creating a dedicated vacation savings account is too big of a commitment, opt for setting up a weekly or monthly transfer on your bank’s website. If you don’t want to see the money in your checking account at all, ask your employer if they can divide your salary payments between savings and checking accounts.

4. Pay Off Bills Earlier

Don't wait to pay your bills. With late payments come unnecessary service fees. Take the plunge and set up automatic payments. If you need inspiration, add up all the fees you’ve incurred over the past year and think about what you could have used that money for -- a night at a beach hotel, perhaps?

5. Sell, Sell, Sell

Listing and selling things you no longer use or want -- either on Craigslist, eBay, or another auction site -- can be exhilarating and a great way to make some easy cash. Turn a five-year-old laptop, old clothes, and unwanted gifts into money you can spend on a hiking trip in the Andes.

6. Stop Eating Out Often

Home-cooked meals can be a lot healthier than ones you eat at restaurants. They’re a lot cheaper, too. If you’re serious about making it to that beach in Goa or the Great Wall of China, then it’s time to cut down on the take-out. Scale back on coffee trips as well. Believe it or not, it's easy to spend $20 or $30 per week on a cup of Joe. DIY at home, instead.

7. Tax Yourself

The concept of a swear jar (in which you’re forced to pay a fee every time you curse) can be applied to plenty of other habits. Want to stop yourself from spending too much time on Snapchat or Facebook? Or binging on junk food? Charge yourself every time you catch yourself indulging. You'll save a little money along the way. It's a win-win.

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