Whenever I decide that I want to make an international trip, I always begin saving at least six months in advance. Because international travel is expensive, and not to mention the increasing airline flight charges, a vacation itself can be a big drain on the finances. I thus came up with different ways to save enough money for the trip in advance. Here are four ways I made a substantial amount of savings for an international trip.
Sacrifice Now, Have Lot of Fun Later
The first thing I did was mutually agree to cut back on expenses for six months with family so we could afford the trip and be able to have fun on the trip. This meant no eating out, no family weekend time, and no plan to do different things every weekend.
Additionally, we sacrificed on many little things – no junk food, making grocery bills cheaper; no unnecessary travel to save on gas expense; downgrade cable station channels like HBO, Cinemax etc.; downgrade cell phone plans to cheaper ones; no movie rental; no special activities for children like dance lessons, piano lessons. They also agreed for no allowances for six months.
Open a Vacation Savings Account
Each week I would deposit the money we saved by eliminating family weekend activities, all the different cut down we gave up.
Everyone should collect loose change in a big jar
Any loose-change found or left over from purchases was placed in a big jar kept in a special place for the family trip savings. If the jar got filled before vacation time, I would empty it and take the amount to my bank to deposit it in the vacation savings account.
I set a budget and checked airlines web sites
I sat down and put in place a one year budget to know how much income was coming in and how much was going out. Then I began shopping airfare with different airline websites. Booking tickets in advance and buying directly from the airline can eliminate transaction fees charged by third party sites.
After having the best time on my international trip I would recommend every family to visit another country if they can afford to. I also recommend you do research as I did to find out the best rates and also follow my different ways of saving money. This way when you decide to visit another country you will have memories, as I have, that will last for many years to come. You will also be able to afford a visit to another country because the vacation savings account alone brought me eleven hundred dollars. Let me share a small piece of advice – if a family can save at least $1.36 in one day, it only takes $1.36 a day to get to $500 in a year’s time. With proper budget, planning and determination just imagine how much a family can save for a fantabulous trip abroad.
