Posted: Feb 4, 2019
Updated: Oct 10, 2024
“I need to get more money to travel”. “I don’t have enough savings”. “I never manage to save enough every month”. “I am a student, and I don’t even have a source of income”.
My dear, you are not alone. Getting more money to travel is one of the main challenges that people face when they try to make better plans to travel. If you feel like you have asked these questions once, keep reading. I am presenting you with two unique steps to help to get more money to travel (or do anything you want).
Table of Contents
Step 1: USE OLD MONEY: Work with your savings
And before you jump to step 2 and complain that “saving does not work for you” or “you don’t earn enough money to save”, here is what I would like to tell you, if you’d allow me to.
The old traditional, boring method to get more money to travel still works: SAVE. Unfortunately, it is also the one that a lot of people struggle with, including the old me (about 5-7 years ago). I used to feel like I did not make enough money to save.
I used to feel like it was too difficult to save when things always come up during the month. During my medical school days, I just felt like living on an “overseas student budget” was just not enough. (Travel who? Girl please. Where are you even thinking of going when you have rent to pay, food to buy, transportation to take care of and just about a few notes of change for any social event that you might want to attend?)
Saving felt like mission impossible to me. And when I started working, every little bit of money I had would just go into something. By the time I would receive my salary and had taken care of all my monthly expenses (such as rent, bills, food, utilities, electricity, phone charges, incidentals, etc.) I barely had anything left to put into a savings account.
Eventually, I started getting tired of living this way.
You’re still reading? Great. I am going to show you how I turned things around and managed to save. But before we dive in deeper, here is why saving should be the FIRST step if you want to get more money to travel.
Why You Should Start with Savings
- If you have from what you have now, you will be better at saving when you get MORE money. Let me explain: the best way to predict the future is to look at the present. So if you can’t save with the money that you have right now, you will not be able to save with the money from your new income. (STEP 2). To summarize, you don’t need more money to save better. You need a MORE EFFECTIVE savings strategy! And this is great, because I will share my foolproof technique that I have used to save for all my trips (and still works today).
- When you save, you have something to start with: it’s always easier to build a travel fund starting with something, than starting from scratch. If you get in the habit of saving money, you will always have a little bit of something to which you can add your next funds.
- When you save, you get bigger sums of money over a longer period of time, if you decide not to use it. And who knows, you might not even want to use it to travel. You might want to use it for future investments, the birth of a child, or an upcoming wedding. Who knows?
Here is my Foolproof Savings Technique that works, regardless of How Much Money You Make.
Whatever money you make on Monday, use it as your savings.
Let’s take the example of John. John recently graduated from the university and started teaching in a community high school. He makes an average salary of 2000 xxx (insert currency of choice) per month. This salary corresponds to 500/week, which can be broken down to 100/day (assuming that John works 5 days per week).
How is John going to get more money to travel and save for his upcoming trip to Senegal, Thailand, Dominica, China, St Vincent, Zimbabwe or Belgium? (Insert where John wants to go). John will use the $100 that he makes every Monday, and kindly drop it in his savings account. At the end of the month, John will have 100 x 4 = $400 in his savings account. At the end of the year, this would be $400 x 12 = $4800 set aside, just for his travels! And if John is super smart and manages to get more time off to travel, he can go wherever he decides to go! Of course, even if you don’t end up planning a full-blown vacation, you can decide to pick one of these amazing things you can do to get away.
You can also choose to reinvest this money somewhere else.
This is how simple it is to save more money to travel. With this technique, I have been able to travel to 20 countries and 40 cities in the past 5 years. I have created unique travel memories in South Africa. I experienced the vibrant culture of Brazil. I touched (and ate) a Kangaroo in Australia for the first time. And I saw the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
What if you are a student? You can do the same thing with your monthly allowance. Whatever money is allocated to you for the month, split it into weeks, then days. And use your Monday income to finance your travel. Keep in mind that you might have to start small and travel to places near you first, until you can build higher incomes and afford more expensive trips. But give yourself time. You can also find more resources on saving money as a student.
Step 2: GET NEW MONEY: Get a side hustle
I love the idea of a side hustle because you can easily get extra cash in hand without this affecting your main job. Got the catch? Your side hustle MUST NOT affect your main job. The money that you would get from your side hustle will help to substantiate your current savings.
Here are 4 great ways to make money on the side:
1. Get a part time job
This is what most people do out there. Either they pick up an extra shift at their existing job, or they sign up for a part time job within their city or local community. It is up to you to decide whatever works for you, based on your schedule. However, remember that your side hustle must not affect your main job/activity.
2. Sell your expertise
What are you good at? What do you do amazingly well? What do people usually applaud you/commend you for? What are you an expert at? Sit down and think. Everybody on this earth came with something that is making him/her unique, and so did you. So use something that you are an expert at, and find a way to sell that expertise. If you want ideas on how to monetize your expertise, feel free to contact me here (write: I want to monetize my expertise).
3. Make money from your hobbies
You might think this is silly, but hear my story. Last year, I started photography as a new hobby. I wanted to improve my photography skills in order to improve the quality of my pictures on the website (And I have gotten better! Check this gallery of photos taken on Iles de la Madeleine in Senegal, or these gorgeous pictures I took in Barbados!) By the way, I taught myself photography by checking out YouTube videos and practicing on my camera.
I happened to attend a wedding over the Christmas period, and I was only supposed to be singing. However, my sister asked me to bring my camera, just in case. I reluctantly obeyed. On the wedding day, it turned out that they actually needed an extra photographer to capture the moments, and I turned out to be the only one with a professional camera. I was extremely nervous to be the one to have to do it (for God sake, you can’t mess up wedding photos!) but I owned up to it and with the little training I had, did it voluntarily. Afterall, I was doing it for friends. You want to know the reviews that I got? “We could not have asked for better pictures”. And they decided to pay me, even though I was doing this free of charge.
So, here you have it. Become an expert at doing your hobby, and start monetizing it, and get paid to do it too? If you love dancing, set up a dance course (perhaps, you can focus on a specific type of dance to better define your market). Can you design amazing shirts? Set up either a workshop to teach people how to do it, or offer to do it for party bands and others! Can you play a musical instrument? Head over to bars, bistros and hotels, and prepare a proposal to play for them every Friday! Can you sing? Do the same!
4. Become a Freelancer
A freelancer is someone who sells specific services independently of a company. In other words, it encompasses points 2 and 3, and you have a huge advantage because you can work both on side and online. Freelance work is becoming more and more of a trend all over the work. In fact, according to Wikipedia, 30% of people around the world are working as freelancers.
Benefits of freelance work include the fact that you don’t have to work from one location, and all the money that you earn goes straight to you. Freelance work can be as simple as document writing, voice-overs, tutoring, teaching a language or a skill to someone else. You can also work in categories such as Graphic Design Photography, Mobile Phones and Computing, etc. The possibilities are endless, and there is something for everyone!
If you want to learn more about Freelancing, I am happy to give you a free workshop on how to get started, and share with you my top 10 websites to find freelance work online!
I truly hope that you found this information useful, and that this marks the start of your financial freedom.
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