There are a million articles out there on how to find a budget that works for you, and a million more on how to budget for travel.
Whether you decide to create a zero-based budget or set a certain amount aside each month for a travel fund, here’s a few ideas I’ve used to make sure that I can keep traveling, even while paying off debt.
How to Budget for Travel When You’re Not Making Much Money
Let me make this clear: In my first job out of school, I was making about $3000 a month before taxes. I chose to live very frugally and worked hard to make bonuses and work my way up. I had over $50,000 in debt between my car and my student loans. In other words, I didn’t have much wiggle room to budget for travel.
While I acknowledge how much privilege I have, it’s important to note that I worked hard to be able to balance paying off debt, sustaining a lifestyle, and saving for future goals – all while traveling regularly.
I paid off all that debt in 3 years and traveled to about 20 countries in that time as well. And I was SUPER lazy about it. How did I do it?
Lazy Budgeting Tips:
- I’ve always paid myself first. This one is my favorite because I hate budgeting. Paying myself first allowed me to avoid the ‘b’ word completely by forcing me into a spending habit. I’m not good at sticking to a strict number and always feel like I’m ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ as my grandma used to say. In other words, if I overspent on groceries, I would feel like I was taking from the entertainment funds I set aside for myself.
So, I just set up two checking accounts for my direct deposit: one for my bills, one for my ‘fun’. (Bills = rent, estimated utilities, insurances, investments, car payment, student loan payment, $100 of extra in case of miscalculation). All my bills were on direct deposit from this account.
Then, I paid my credit card out of my ‘fun’ account. Whatever was left in that account at the end of the month either went to next month’s ‘fun’ (travel, etc.) or to make extra contributions to my debt payments. - Getting crafty with my budget. At this point, I just did my best to keep that ‘fun’ bill at the end of the month down. Whether it was carpooling to work to decrease my gas use or packing eggs and beans for lunch (about a $1, super filling meal that won’t win any culinary awards), I cut corners wherever I could. Even when traveling, I’d couch surf or stay in hostels to decrease my overall spend. I grew food in the backyard of my house, packed snacks to avoid buying food while out, and spent my free time running or at the work gym rather than joining a pricey studio. Most of my clothes to this day are secondhand from friends or thrift shops. Additionally, I made it a point to travel to places that are inexpensive to be in. I also prioritized places that are inexpensive to get to. If somewhere was expensive to get to, I leverage credit card points.
- Credit card points. If you’re new to credit card points, check out some of the blogs like GodSaveThePoints or ThePointsGuy. If not, then you know that by paying off my credit card every month and leveraging sign up bonuses, it’s easy to accrue points pretty quickly. This is true even as a small spender. I’ve probably purchased about half of my flights in the last 5 years due to having points to leverage.
So there you have it: save money, spend what you do have wisely, and spend free money whenever possible.
More questions? Drop them below and let me know!