I have come up with another way to save money for travel that I started implementing a couple of years ago. Twice a year I will go on a “financial diet” for a month. The two months I pick will be months when there is not much going on – so never in the summer! Usually November and January work good. In November there are not any weekend activities typically, and in January it’s too cold here to want to leave the house! So, lots of reading – free ebooks or library books. This January I will have to cut it a little bit short, as I am leaving for Hawaii at the end of the month.
My financial diet consists of not spending any money that is not absolutely necessary. Food, gas, pay the bills, that’s about it. No eating out, movies, buying “stuff”, etc. for a month. It’s not exactly fun, but it is very rewarding when my credit card bill comes the next month and it is very low, and my checking account balance is higher than normal!
Doing this just twice a year, depending on your budget, may get you a nice weekend away somewhere, or maybe even an out of state air/hotel vacation. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Another way to save for travel is using a credit card that earns you rewards points. I use the Delta American Express card. The following link is an article about the different types of credit cards with rewards programs. It’s a worthwhile article to read. The author makes his money by referrals to the credit card companies.