Let’s be honest. The NUMBER ONE question I’m asked about my travels is, “How do you afford it?”. People want to know if I am funding my travels myself or if I’m sponsored. And the nosey people want to know how much I spent, how long I saved for, and if I’m independently wealthy. Listen, I get it. Traveling isn’t free and often it isn’t cheap. As a result, I think the number one objection I hear about traveling is “I can’t afford it” and my response always is, “If you really want to travel someplace - you will find a way.” So, not only am I here to help you find your way, but I sat down with a finance expert to help create a plan of action to support you affording and achieving your dream vacation.

Like me, financial advisor Jaqilyn Graff is extremely passionate about empowering women to feel confident and secure with her finances. She wants women to have both a high level of comfort and understanding about her money, where it is and how to use it. So we combined my travel experience and planning with her day to day money matters expertise and came up with the following steps to help you check your bucket list adventure off the list.

12 Steps to Save Money for Your Dream Vacation

1. Know where your money is

The first step in accumulating the money to travel where and how you want to is knowing where your money goes every day. Pick a day and time of the week when you feel clear-headed, gather all of your financial statements - savings, checking, credit cards, investments for a 3-month window and start mapping out average spending on all categories in that time frame.

2. Make your vacation goal reasonable and concrete

Now that you know how much money you make and how you spend it, research the costs to get to and what you want to do during your getaway to start effectively planning for the trip. Once you have a clearer understanding of how much your dream costs you can feel more enthusiastic about your savings plan and expense cutting to make it happen.

3. Be willing to be flexible with the trip

Before being set on the destination and itinerary, consider different ways of looking at it to make it more attainable. For example, look at shoulder season - a time of year when tourism is less intense and costs go down in a destination. This may be in the rainy season or when there are fewer holidays, but depending on the destination a little wet weather may be alright. Another example, instead of heading to a city like Barcelona or Santorini, maybe consider a lesser-known European city or countries like Sofia, Bulgaria or Lake Bled, Slovenia. The perks will be the cost and fewer tourists to crowd your photos.

4. Work the travel deals

If you need to be conscious of the costs, there are multiple platforms on the market competing for the best deals for your holiday away. Sign up for alerts from sites like Scott’s Cheap Flights, Skyscanner, Groupon, and hotels.com for example. These alerts may also inspire you to travel to places you hadn’t considered before and get you the best deals possible.

5. Use travel rewards wisely

Consider signing up for a credit card that offers awesome and flexible travel rewards for accommodations and flights. If you can use your credit card monthly and pay everything off in the next billing cycle, those points can add up quickly and your money can work smarter for you. Perhaps it’s a week’s hotel stay covered or giving you the flexibility to upgrade to a higher class on your flight. This can also help you build credit wisely.

6. Make your travel dream known

This may sound strange, but you are probably more likely to stick to your plan once you have gone public with it - especially if you’re engaging other people to join you on the trip. Whether you want to go at your dream vacation alone or share with loved ones, start sharing your goal and you’ll find yourself more likely to achieve it.

7. Start cutting expenses

It’s amazing how easily money can go. From a pack of gum to impulse shopping at Target, swiping a debit or credit card is sometimes too simple. Now that you have a birds-eye view of how and where you spend your money, start looking at which categories are NOT bringing you joy. In other words, how badly do you want or need to spend the money you’re typically spending? Do you need a latte every morning or do you want to put $70 a week towards seeing the Eiffel Tower?

Here are 20 creative ways to cut expenses and save more for your travel

Zakynthos, Greece - Don’t try this at home

8. Find ways to increase income

Sell stuff you aren’t using and loving anymore with sites like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark. Have a yard sale. Find a part-time job or put a little more passion into your side hustle. You may increase income and help reduce spending.

9. Open a high yield travel savings account

Separate your savings plans for this. Look for savings accounts that may also offer no foreign transaction fees. Ensure that it isn’t super easy to access so you don’t find yourself dipping into it frivolously.

10. Start saving and automate your savings plan

Now that you know where you spend your money, how much your trip costs and where you can cut spending it’s time to put your money away. Once you know where you want to go and when, plot out how much money you need to allocate into your travel fund. Is $200 a month OK? What about $50 a week? Do what feels manageable. Chunk it down. Put the savings on auto-pilot. Make it simple. Have it automatically withdrawn from your account when you get paid. Out of sight - out of mind.

11. Monitor your monthly budget

Now that you have your expenses in order and your savings plan is underway, enroll in a money monitoring program that can help you see how you are tracking against your spending goals. Apps and sites like Mint.com can provide you with structure and alerts about your spending.

12. Hold Yourself Accountable

Number 6 above suggests making your travel dream public. But that may not be enough. Set up a savings plan goal with friends. Plan to meet regularly to discuss and review it. Mark the goals down in your journal or planner and check it off.

Good luck with your new vacation plan and please let us know how it goes!

To consult with Jaqilyn Graff’s financial services, you can find her here.

Jaqilyn Graff | Financial Advisor

11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90025
P: 310.460.7133 | C: 760.220.8557

License #0L44409

PIN to SAVE for LATER