We often hear the question how on earth are we able to travel so many times a year. No, we are not rich! Just average earners in Ireland. Living in this country is expensive, but in order to afford several trips a year, we need to cut back and have a holiday plan.
It is possible and took us a while to be really strict. This way we were able to travel six times abroad last year. Started with a city trip to Bordeaux and Hamburg. A sightseeing week in Barcelona. Followed by a Cycle Trip through four different countries. A summer vacation in Malta and finished the year with another trip to Hong Kong. Next year we will start saving for our world trip and hoping we will have enough money together after three years savings.
Let us give you some inside how to make it happen:
Make A Holiday Plan
This is a very important part which we always do end of each year. Not only do we need to be smart with the 20 something holidays we have, but planning early saves us a lot of money.
Ask yourself what you would like to see and how many days you want to spend on each trip. City trips don't need more than two full days. Flying out on a Thursday after work and coming back on a Sunday is plenty of time.
We know things might change. This is part of life, but shouldn't stop you from planning ahead. So now it is the time to start with your own holiday plan.
Book Early
As soon you know where you want to go book your accommodations straight away.
With Booking.com you always have the option to pay later and free cancellation. So no matter if your plans will change you are not going to lose money.
Even with airlines watch out for deals and use Skyscanner. If it is cheap enough we sometimes risk booking the flights early too. Sure we had to cancel a few flights in the past with no refund but also were many times lucky to find offers for below 20€ instead of over 50€.
Shop Wisely
This part was one of the hardest for us.
Only this year we managed to improve that. Our trick? Everything we tend to buy apart from groceries, we ask ourselves first DO WE REALLY NEED THIS? And trust us most of the time the answer is NO!
We are living a simpler life now. Doing grocery shopping once a week. Replace things in the house ONLY when they break and buy new clothes ONLY if necessary. Which doesn't mean we live like poor people we just shop smarter than we use to. Ask yourself what you really need in life? It is even proven that less chunk makes us happier. The less you waste the more you will have for your travels.
Keep Saving
Another tough one. Set yourself a fixed amount each month to save and try not to touch it. Transfer this amount as soon as you get paid into your saving account which makes it easier to forget about it and not spending it.
Control Your Monthly Expenses
Each month we write down our in- and outcomes.
Controlling your expenses and have an overview of your available spending's makes it easier to handle your money. If you know for example 100€ is the budget for the week well then you try not to spend more.
Improve Your English
To avoid booking your holidays through an agency and get overpriced stays in places like Turkey or Tunisia, learn English!
Speaking and understanding English makes things so much easier. Not only is the internet full of information about cheap travels. You also can book everything yourself without wasting your money on agencies.
Sell Some Belongings
This is how we started recently the savings for our upcoming world trip. We sold a bike which was never really used and a wheelbarrow we only touched once. Look around your house and see if there are things you can sell. In Ireland, we have Adverts.ie which you can also use as an app. It is so simple to add pictures, description and price. You might be surprised how much you can make out of things.
This were our tips for you and maybe that way you even manage to have the holiday you always dreamed off. Of course, it will be a long process. Us coming back from Australia 8 years ago we weren't even thinking to spend our money wisely. We lived in style. And maybe it is not a bad thing for a while but you will reach a point where you ask yourself, what is really important? With each thing, we bought less and more holiday we could afford it became clear to us, what are our priorities.