It's happening!

As it begins to warm and our Country opens up I thought this would be a great place to share some tips on how we incorporate travel into our busy lives.

First, friendly disclaimer, we are a family of 5 and do not focus on budget friendly travel options, while I’m all about finding great deals, we focus on up leveling our experiences and so I don’t have many tips on where the best deals are. What I do have to offer though is how we incorporate travel into our budget and get away often as a family.

So you wanna get away but think you can’t afford to travel? Let me tell you why you can.

1. We don’t eat out often.

Yep. We rarely do. We cook almost every meal at home and I’ve streamlined our grocery budget too. I pull out cash at the beginning of the month and when it’s gone it’s gone. It helps us also use up what’s been hanging around in our pantry and keep our kids snack consumption in check. If the average family of 5 eats out 3 times a week they spend approximately $100-200 a week and that’s not counting groceries. That’s $5200-$10400 a year.

2. Coffee is a necessity but SO expensive!

We buy things like morning coffees, nutrition shakes and energy teas occasionally and again make at home instead. The average person spends $7-15 a day on drinks. Multiply that by a family of 5 thats $35-75 a day or $12775-$27375. Crazy right?!?

3. Charge it!

We put all of our business and personal expenses on credit cards. Now please don’t get yourself into trouble. We pay them off each month and stay within our means. This nets us $3000-10000 a year in free money and we put it all towards travel.

4. Savings account interest.

Again, this is just what WE do but you have to find what works for you if you want to travel. We pull all of the interest earned from the previous year and put it into our vacation savings account. On average that’s another $5000-8000 a year.

5. Speaking of savings....

We have a complete separate savings account that holds our travel funds. I don’t tap into it and we don’t book trips until we have the money to pay for it. When it’s time to book I again use our credit card (more points duh) then transfer money from the vacation savings to pay for it.

6. Extra money.

Sell some crap you no longer need? Get a surprise refund check? Birthday money? Bonus? We put 90% to savings and 10% to vacation every time we receive something extra. It’s also good for our kids to learn to save too because they use theirs for all those souvenirs they love.

7. We plan travel in advance.

We vote on our next adventure and whether it’s a long weekend away or a weeklong trip, once we know where we want to go we begin researching the area, finding things to do, and get the best selection on the kind of place we want to stay. That’s also a great time to shop deals. I’m getting better with semi last minute trips too and now is a great time.

Figuring out your why

So these are just a few ways we incorporate travel in our budget without stressing our funds or booking trips we can’t truly afford. It also gives us zero excuses to not travel because we can. It all comes down to what you want. My biggest WHY is to show my girls the world, enjoy new experiences with my husband and those I love. If that’s not for you, that’s ok. But so many have asked so I thought I would share how we do it. 

The small sacrifices are worth it

On that note, life wasn’t always like this for us. We worked really really hard to pursue financial freedom which meant a ton of sacrifices, long hours, hard work, including zero extras. Those sacrifices and time focused on that got us into a position where we could live within our means, have no debt except for our mortgage which will also be paid off soon, and the opportunity to travel more. Our family also doesn’t buy a lot of stuff. Our kids have small a Christmas and we don’t do elaborate birthday parties because we like to make memories instead.

I don’t remember very much about gifts I got for my birthday and Christmas growing up but I remember every single trip we took. Travel is in my blood and it’s where I feel the most free and happy.

Find your happy and if it’s travel, find a way to go for it! You’ll never regret the trips you take.

I hope this was helpful for y’all! And if you want more content like this drop me a comment below! I’m an open book. You can also find me easily in our amazing Facebook Community!  

Xoxo,

Barb