Because I travel a lot, many people tend to make assumptions about my background – they assume that those who travel frequently are somehow loaded. However, if you’ve been keeping up with my articles, you know that I did not come from money, and travel was not a part of my upbringing. Instead, my ability to pull together the funds to travel comes down to how I manage my finances and stick to my budget. I recognize that, depending on your income, it might be hard to save a lot. But trust me, every dollar adds up.

Here are five obvious and not-so-obvious ways to boost your travel funds:

Obvious

1. Automate Your Savings

Most people can use some help to manage their finances. Make your life easier by automating your savings! The app Qapital is a useful automated savings tool. My friend was able to save $600 on there in 2 months! Also, consider opening up a high-yield savings account to help your money grow faster.

Not So Obvious

2. Increase your Free Fun

Being social is vital to our health, but it can get expensive. Here are some tips to help you manage this expense:

• Conduct a fun analysis: Many things that used to be fun for me just don’t cut it anymore. For instance, my party tolerance was high during college and a few years after college. I could party every weekend without hesitation. Now, fun to me is watching movie nights with friends, getting kickbacks at someone’s place, attending performances and cultural art shows, and watching Netflix binges.
  
• Set your social monthly budget: Knowing what you like to do makes it easier to say no to other things. In my example above, I already surpassed my budget for my stand-on-club-couches fund. Make sure the paid activities you are saying yes to are things you want to do.
  
• Google free activities in your city: You will be surprised by how many cool free things there are to do! It’s essential to provide some alternatives when you say no.
  
• Keep your friends informed: At one point, when my social budget was a little lower than usual, I sent out a PSA to my closest friends, saying that to get my money right, I would only participate in free activities. They were all receptive to this.
  
• Monitor your money: An excellent free service is Mint- you connect all your accounts,

  and they monitor where your money is going. This is a fast way to identify potential ways you can save. You may think spending $10 on lunch three out of five days of the week is not bad. But in 4 months, that adds up to $480. You can easily find flights for this amount or less on sites like The Flight Deal and Airfare Spot.

3. Accumulate Frequent Flyer Mileage

Sign up for frequent flyer programs and collect mileage on your travels. Over time, this can be useful! My friend booked all her flights for a seven-country global excursion using miles from the United Mileage Plus program. Her mother, who travels for work, also donated miles to her daughter’s trip.

4.  Use Credit Cards with Rewards

I have a Capital One Venture Rewards Card with 1.25 miles on every dollar purchase. Upon signing up, most credit cards give you a large amount of miles (20k+) if you spend a certain amount within three months. I often make large purchases on my card to get the points and pay them back ASAP. Last year, I upgraded my life and got the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. Using points from my Sapphire Reserve, I booked five flights totaling $2,000.

5. Get Paid to Take Surveys

E-rewards

E-rewards is a market research survey company that rewards you for your opinion. It is by invitation only, but if you email one of their partner companies, you will more than likely receive an invitation. Surveys take about 20 minutes, and you can get up to $5 in currency (which sounds like an excellent lunch break activity). I just started doing this, and I’m excited to accumulate currency because they offer a variety of travel rewards.

UserTesting

UserTesting is another reputable company that pays people $10 per study to test websites!

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is an online rewards website with gift cards and cash for things you already do online. My favorite way to earn SB is by taking surveys and shopping at my favorite stores. I’ve already gained some Amazon gift cards from simply having the Swagbucks plug-in and activating it when I shop.

As you can see, regardless of your income, there are many ways to increase your travel fund! Happy Travel Fund building!

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