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MAKING YOUR TRIP HAPPEN
Money Tip
Even though waiting for a trip to arrive can be long and tedious, the best tip you can get is to PLAN AHEAD! Take at least a year before your trip to start planning and saving.
Step one: Set up a pre-authorized debit from your bank account bi-weekly (or whenever you get paid) to start the main saving for your trip. This is something that can be set up at your financial institution, so that the money you are wanting to save for your trip can go out of your sight and stay in an account like a TFSA where you cannot touch it. Living without that $100 per pay cheque is setting you up to save at least $2400 without even thinking about it! If you find that occasionally you are getting a larger pay cheque or maybe have three in one month, remember, you survive without that money normally, so go in to your bank and make a larger contribution to your Eurotrip fund!
Step two: To keep momentum going, have twice or once a month meetings with your fellow travelers. This is a great way to slowly pave the way to a itinerary that everyone will be happy with. It also give you time to get to know each other better. Make sure you are traveling with people you know and feel comfortable around. You’ll need to be able to say you need your space and not offend your fellow traveler, so make sure everyone is on the same page. Also, make sure everyone feels important and included in the plans by dividing the duties. If you know you’re going to three countries and you have three traveler, assign each person a country. You’ll all have a say, but this makes sure the work is evenly divided. This also helps with pre-trip costs as you can each buy ONE travel book and share. Make the meetings fun, plan a history lesson, a language lesson, do a calendar countdown!
Step three: If you live alone or with roomates, figure out if you can get a temporary tenant. If you know you will be away a month, why incur another expense if you can get someone to stay in your place. There are so many websites these days for vacation rentals, plus, you may even find a way to swap places so you can stay somewhere in Europe for free!
Step four: BE FRUGAL!! We all love to shop and go out and spend money, but if you know that you’re planning the trip of a lifetime, you need to cut back. Everytime you want to whip out that debit or credit card remind yourself, “Would I rather be spending that $40 on a shirt I may wear once or twice, OR on renting a vespa for a day in Rome?”. The decision becomes easy once your priorities are in order!!
Step five: Take advantage of your birthdays and Christmases! Your family and friends are quite aware that your holiday is coming up, so instead of the normal gifts ask for money. If you’re not comfortable asking for money, think of the items you need to purchase for your trip and ask for them…. like a backpack, compass, maps, travel books, whatever you need, ask!
It’s easy to save and plan when you put your mind to it! Just make sure you and your travelers are on the same page and are there to support good behaviors towards savings. Be accountable but set realistic goal. Once you’re there, you’ll have forgotten how long it took you to get there because its worth every penny!
Have a great and safe EUROTIP!
I really appreciate this article. I have been trying to figure out how to save money for the trip I want to take next year and this has some great tips. I’m pretty frugal with my money anyway, since I never had much of it, but I’ve been struggling to find a job recently after graduating from college and I now FINALLY have one (start tomorrow!!!) so I will finally be able to start saving up for my trip! I am going to take that advice and take a certain amount out of my check every time at the beginning to put in my savings and not even touch it, that’s a good idea!
this is great!!! we have planned a year in advance but saving has been an issue. jobs are also hard to come by where i live. I am hoping to get enough money by the time my trip comes along but i honestly dont know how much to bring. if my travel partner/ best friend and i cut down where we are going ( london, paris, venice, rome) for a month and austria, switzerland, and liechtenstein we are staying for a week or so and that is paid for all by my best friends family how much money will we need to take?? for plane, train, hostels and food and some must see items like the louve, eiffel tower, london castles and italian stuff like the museums and such?? we are trying to do the bare bare minimum as for funds. how much do u think we need?? since you know so much about saving i figure you can help us with how much to have as a grand total
its 2 people, the places i mentioned above, the activities i mentioned above, and trains, and so far i have seen the open jaw flight we need for 12-1400 bucks…can we find any better deals???
thanks so much and sorry this is so long.
I would just like to add
SAVE YOUR CHANGE!!!
it really does add up in no time.
unfortunately living on my own doesn’t allow me much money to save
which is why i’ve given myself over a year to save for it.
but i also keep all my change in a jar, and when it’s full roll the coins when i’ve nothing else to do, and deposit it in my euro trip account.
i’ve filled it up twice in the last 4 months, and have gotten roughly around 500 dollars.
and another tip
roll your coins don’t coinstar
they take away a pretty big percentage when you’ve got a lot of coins.
Great article! Another great way to make and save money for your trip is taking advantage of things you do well. For example, my husband and I are both artists, so to help fund our 3 month trip to Europe in 2011, we are selling artwork. This could work for a lot of different things! If you are a musician, play for tips or at bars for payment. People who are good at organizing could advertise your organization serves around your neighborhood for a set rate. If you love to cook, set up a small catering service for your office, or someone else’s, where employees can choose from a couple of home made items for lunch, everyday. There are a lot of resources out there for you, just be creative and do it!
—Nikki Welch www.artpieceaday.blo… www.helpshopgallery….
In regards to michellekay, my bank has a thing which is pretty much just like a coinstar except it is free to use for members at that bank. I’ve never used it but see people in there ALL the time when I go in. They don’t charge very much for non-members to use it either, maybe like 1% tops.
Also, I’ll just say this article has really helped me save alot of money I started out with about $800 in my savings account in September, and i have over $1600 now! I usually put about $100 a month in, or a little more if I can afford it. I don’t do automatic because I never know when my hours at work might get cut down for a while, but I do take money out every check and put it in my savings as soon as my check is deposited.