But the stressful part does not stop there. On the other side of choosing your vacation destination is making sure that you have the money to spend for your trip, and enough money left in your bank account after your vacation. Nobody wants a week of paradise followed by a week of drought when you are back to the real world. And neither would you want to be skimpy and make drastic changes to your lifestyle before your vacation. Luckily, there are simple ways to save money on little things that we are used to doing daily.
1. Let go of the morning coffee run
Maybe it is just mental that you need coffee from a certain well-known coffee shop every day to make you a functioning human being. Or maybe you really do need it. Whatever the case may be, there are other ways of getting your daily supply of caffeine instead of buying it from the coffee shop where aside from paying for the actual caffeine, you also pay portions for their employee’s wages, upkeep of the shop, rent, and much more. If you are planning a trip and want to save up, I recommend utilizing your coffeemaker that is sitting on your kitchen counter and bringing your own coffee to work. This could save you at least $100 per month.
2. Use couponing or store apps instead of paying full-price
Everyone needs something from the grocery. Whether it be food, toiletries, or decorations, we can all find something in there to use. Why not use apps that could show you what products are on sale at a certain store? Or why not download store apps that you could use for discounts? An example for a store app that can give you discounts on your purchases is the Target Cartwheel app, and the Flipp app for showing you flyers from stores within your location.
3. Bring lunch to work
Eating lunch out is expensive. Especially if you are planning a trip. Not only is it expensive, but you really only have 30 minutes to an hour while at work for your lunches every day. That means you really don’t get to enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant you are at for longer. Also, most of the time, you have to hurry to get to your last spoonful because you are afraid you would be late back to work. So why not just bring your own lunches? This saves you half of what you would normally pay if you buy lunch out. Think of how much this could save you in a month if you do this on a daily basis.
4. Skip on the unnecessary stuff.
They say that you should not go to the grocery when you are hungry because your brain will send you signals to buy every food that you pass by to satisfy your hunger. Or not to shop when you are sad because you will buy a lot of stuff to make you happy temporarily. What I am trying to say is that we always buy stuff that we do not really need. How many times have you bought something only to realize three months later that you have never even taken the product out of the bag or box?
5. Be minimalistic
During this period of wanting to travel, you need to make some small sacrifices to make your dream of traveling come true. Part of this would be to stick with the basics and the necessities. Do you really want three colors of the same shoes or shirt? Or do you really need to order soup before your main meal? Or dessert after? Traveling is an opportunity that we should grab when presented to us. But when it is not presented to us, we need to find ways to make it happen. And the first step is to have enough budget and resources to make it happen.
