Because it takes more than just will power to travel.
Make traveling a priority
Nearly everyone wants to travel, but just wanting to isn't enough to make it happen. You have to make traveling a priority. Saving for your next trip (or for a yet-unplanned-trip) has to be a part of your budget. If it's not something you regularly save for, you'll never have enough money saved for the trip.
Have a specific goal
Figure out how much your trip will cost (approximately) and figure out how much you need to save daily/weekly/monthly for that trip.
If it's a $2,000 trip in 4 months, you have to save $500/month, $125/week, $17.86/day.
Having it broken down like that can make it seem more feasible. When I'm saving for a trip it helps to remember that the cost of a movie or dinner at a restaurant is all I have to save for the day to meet my goal.
Don't have a specific trip to save for yet?
I always use $1,500 as my starting point for a trip. Some trips are less expensive, of course, and a lot of trips cost more. $1,500 is a safe goal for when you don't have a goal; it gives you something to work toward until you plan another trip.
Do side-jobs
Now that you have a specific goal, and you're making it a priority to save for, you need to find the money to save.
Whether you have a job or not, doing side-jobs can be easy and can make it seem easier to save.
Find an extra babysitting job once a week, tutor someone one or two hours a week, or become a dog walker. There are so many options for small jobs that can help you save so much more. When I'm in a crunch for money, I use Care.com to find people who need one-time babysitters. When you get these jobs you're guaranteed the amount they post, plus you'll be in their contacts if they ever need a babysitter again.
Put 100% of the money from these jobs into your trip savings. It can be enough to meet your goal for the week if it's profitable enough.
Crowdfund
So I've never done this one personally, but I have seen it done. If you're going on a volunteering trip, or a big trip to Europe, or somewhere else educational, this may be ideal.
Write a little bit about your trip, why you need the money, and ask your friends/family to give a little money to help you pay for it. You probably won't get 100% of the funds you need, but it's better than nothing!
Couponing/ finding discounts
It's fairly easy to find discounts on things you buy on a daily basis. You can you RetailMeNot.com or similar sites to find discounts. You can also sign up for the Starbucks Rewards Program to get a free drink after you purchase 12 (once you become a gold member).
The discounts can add up fast. Use whatever money you save with the discounts you find to put toward your trip. You won't save for the whole trip this way, but it'll definitely give you a good start!
Cut out the fluff
It's easy to say, difficult to do.
Cut out one thing per day/week that costs you money. Do you go to Starbucks everyday? - replace that with the new Starbucks K-Cups to save yourself some money. Do you go out for lunch everyday? - take your lunch to work once a week. Do you have a weekly date night at the movies? - get a movie on your computer to watch instead!
Just one thing per week can save you more money than you might think! I used to go to a movie about once a week- it's $10.50 for the ticket, which I always factor in, but I never thought about the cost of popcorn and drinks. It can end up costing about $30 just for a movie- that's a lot of money.
Save your $5 bills
This is a weird trick my roommate started using. She was talking about how no one really values $5 bills (I'm not sure how true that is) and declared she would start saving every one that ever came into her possession.
She used a card more often than cash, but she still saved a ton of money by doing this. She ended up with about $200 at the end of the semester. She said she barely thought of putting the bills away as her saving money or losing spending money; it just kind of became a habit.
I've started doing this (along with saving all my coins) and have saved a ton already. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who uses cash.
Do you have any weird tips/tricks you use to save money?
