How to Vacation On a Budget AND How to Save Money and Make Money too!
Tips for How to Take a Vacation on a Budget, Save Money, and Make Money All at Once!
A springtime (or anytime) vacation on a budget is way more possible than you may think! This post gives some tips on how to plan for a vacation while staying to your budget plus ideas to save money and even make money during your vacay. Read on.
Longing for a spring vacation but trying to stick to a budget? It is possible to travel while keeping to a budget. Plus, you can easily save money while traveling and even make money all at once. So vacation, saving money, and make some money all is possible for that spring vacation on a budget!
And vacations are a great way to get a much needed break so you can return feeling more focused, efficient, motivated, and happier! BUT it does not have to break your finance goals. Here is how.
Read on for some tips for how to go on a vacation, save money, and make money all at once.
How to Take a Vacation on a Budget
Planning here is key… Here are the top things to consider when considering a short trip or any type of vacation on a budget
1. Plan Ahead
Cannot emphasize how much planning ahead helps. And no it does not mean grinding away searching for deals. In fact, it can be done when you have the time – since you are giving yourself the time to do so.
So, this means planning ahead for…
- Booking any travel plans necessary to get and stay at your destination.
- I am not saying book anything way in advance necessarily for this one.
- But, start planning on relevant aspects such as: the destination or the vacation type (beach, city, mountains, short, long, etc.); possible dates of travel; potential hotel accommodations; flights, trains, rental car, or any other transportation you may need.
- What you will bring on your trip, once you have your idea of where and a rough idea of when.
- Activities you will want to do while there.
- Any items you need to take care of beforehand (e.g., bills, work that may need to be done before, petsitting, cleaning up, requesting time off, etc.)
Why is it important?
- You can find great deals.
- Less stress during your trip if you take care of items before hand.
- It gives you time to search around.
- This can be done at your own pace. If you rather look once in a while at deals or promotions running, you can. Or you can search near common times that sales are running.
- Also, signing up for emails can help do the searching work for you and have deals delivered right to your inbox.
- You can get an idea of what dates have better pricing for airline fare or accommodations.
- It is amazing the change in price that may happen if you change your dates by just a week or day.
- While that is more with airlines, for hotels you may notice a drop during certain slower times – after holidays, not considered a popular place for that time of year (even if you will not be impacted but people do not always look at the planned weather or a recent natural disaster may hurt your choice area), midweek versus weekend, etc.
- Also, consider this important bit if you plan to use airline miles: you may be charged a fee with airline miles used for flights if booked less than 21 days before departure (depending on airline).
If you do not like planning, here are some reasons why it can lead to a more budget friend AND enjoyable trip on a budget:
- Great way to take advantage of the best deals, as you are more likely to find some good ones if you give yourself the time to look now and then. You never know when a flash deal may pop up!
- Consider if any holidays are coming up and look for deals and promotions that come around them.
- Bonus: it does not have to be a holiday. Stores run promotions frequently for all kinds of reasons. Keep an eye out for upcoming sales – some are out there for spring vacation season.
- If you do not have much time to take off from work, or prefer not to use it, traveling around a holiday may help. [Makes requesting time off and planning less stressful and easier!]
- OR if you have flexibility to take time off of work, consider traveling during slower periods (weeks after the holidays can be good as can times when students are not on spring break, or simply weather induced downtimes). This can lead to lower prices.
- By planning ahead for what you will bring, there is less stress in packing, and a reduced chance of expensive impulse buys for items you have already.
- Creating a rough idea of some things to do while on your trip will make it more enjoyable, easier to book anything that requires tickets/reservations, and easier to find a deal.
- Check out Groupon, TravelZoo, LivingSocial, and Yelp to see if some of your top picks are offering incentives for going on a cool excursion on a certain day or just for planning in advance!
P.S. check out my travel planner printable I have on my Etsy shop to make it easy to nail down the essentials. And my post on it.
Back to tips….
- Plan out what you need to do before your trip. This means take care of anything that needs to be done before, during and after it (to the extent you can).
- If you pay bills before, it gives you one less thing to think about while enjoying your vacay, or worry about when you return.
- Plus, you will have a better understanding of your finances. Uncertainty can be a cause of stress and knowing where you stand may help you with that.
- Also, it can help you plan how much you want to save before your trip (tips below).
- FINALLY, it is great to return from a vacation and have everything that may be stressful such as bills, cleaning, errands, catching up on missed time from work, etc. already tackled. You can return feeling refreshed and ready to go.
- Deals, deals, deals – looking for deals can be fun.
- You do not have to even plan where you want to go when you start looking. Rather, you can check out deals various sites that I will mention too many times in this post!
- Also, sign up for your favorite hotels’ and airlines’ email lists, as they will send you special promotions too! So you do not even have to look out for them.
- Tip: you can sign up for emails specifically for promotions or top deals from many sites such as airlines, hotels, restaurants, Travelzoo, budget travel sites (Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline), https://thepointsguy.com/deals/, general promotional sites for nearby events like Groupon (or whichever one is best for your area!)
2. Consider Ways to Travel with Rewards You Already Have to Reduce Costs
You may have reward points you can use and just ignoring them! If you got them, why not use them for your vacation on a budget.
You can get some things free or at a reduced price through reward programs such as….
Reward programs from airlines (typically in miles), credit cards, professional groups you belong to, employer corporate perk programs, hotel reward programs, and more.
By checking some of your options, you may have reward points sitting around that you are not using anyways. If you can use them for a vacation, this can help cut costs.
For example, with using some of the miles I had accrued, I paid $12 to fly to California from DC.
So consider these:
- Use airline miles for any airlines you have a member account with.
- NOTE: you can often use your airline miles for things beyond flights. For example, hotels or items you may want for your trip. There are many categories to shop from with United Airlines Rewards Program.
- Or, if you see an item you can buy with miles that you were planning on buying anyways, and you do not want to use miles to fly, then you can save money by getting that needed item with miles from your mileage reward member account instead.
- Oh, and they also offer deals. See Southwest for example: https://www.southwestvacations.com/deals/
- Think of ANY other reward programs you may have.
- HOTELS: Did you set up one with a hotel but forget about it? Look into it. You may still have some points or may be able to switch them over to airline miles or restore expired points (for a fee).
- Even if you have never signed up to a hotel’s membership reward program, you still can for free and many hotels will offer some special perks or promotions to those enrolled. AND this can be true even if you never stayed there yet!
- Some airlines do this as well. Get perks just by creating a free account. Why not?
- Credit card companies and banks offer some reward programs as well. They may be exclusive discounts, tickets, cash back, promotional pricing, and more. Check with the one(s) you have and see! You may be surprised.
- Cell phone providers. VerizonUp, for example, lets you earn rewards that can be used to get various deals or items by paying your bill.
- Employer Provided Reward Programs. Employers may have programs on their own and/or set up through a popular site – corporateperks.com.
- This gives you some extra discounts, with some exclusive to the employer you work for. AND – don’t forget your past employers as some let you sign up for these discount sites as a former employee or alumni.
- Look into it! You may not have heard of it but it could be in an HR manual somewhere and is worth it.
- HOTELS: Did you set up one with a hotel but forget about it? Look into it. You may still have some points or may be able to switch them over to airline miles or restore expired points (for a fee).
3. Book with Deals (Seriously)
This ties into the above because I talked about planning to have time to find them but also options where you may have better deals.
- Deals, deals and more deals. Keep your eyes peeled for sweet travel deals wherever. They can pop up in ads or emails you get anyways. Some are great and if you grab them quick, almost at a steal!
- Flash sales can happen and if your dates are flexible, you may see a great bargain pop up in your inbox one day.
- TravelZoo.com is a great site and will send you the top 20 deals of the week upon FREE sign-up. Some of these are VERY good deals. they are very good deals.
- Discount travel sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, Kayak, Momondo, and Travelocity may offer great deals as well.
- However, do check the prices for hotels directly through the hotel website as sometimes, it may be cheaper there. [Also, it can make checking in much easier].
Special Notes on Travel Websites
Priceline is offering spring break savings now! Go here:https://www.priceline.com/partner/social/springbreakoutevent
Travelocity lets members unlock an extra 10% or more off of hotels. And sign up is free! Only enter in your email. Head on over to their homepage to sign up for member discounts.
Expedia also offers extra discounts (10% or more) by signing up for free as a member. Just enter your email address over at their homepage.
Orbitz too similarly offers 10% or more discounts to those that enter in their emails at https://www.orbitz.com/.
Kayak price watch makes finding airline fares at nice prices a breeze. Sign up to get email alerts so you do not have to monitor constantly. www.kayak.com
Momondo is a site to check out. ESPECIALLY with their flight day-by-day comparisons and NOW the new deals page that you can find here. I love this site!
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Double up with MORE savings
PLUS, do not ignore the cash-back and savings apps before booking through these sites, as they often include cash back deals for many travel sites!
See my post on How to Easily Save with Chrome Plug-in Extensions since many use a few of these. Also Ibotta is great! And, see these posts for resources:
- My master list of saving money and time for an overview.
- Save with apps through cash back on things you buy anyways
- How to Save Money with Apps and Websites
- How to Save with Summer Deals and Savings
- More on Cash Back Savings – Easily Save with Cash Back Deals and Summer Savings
4. More ways to plan a vacation on a budget
- Consider alternatives for accommodations such as Airbnb, staying with friends or family, house sitting, or renting a car for mode of transport.
- House sitting.
- For example, some dog walking apps have services where you stay at the dog owner’s house and take the dog owner out for an agreed number of times.
- Of course, you should check with the terms of the platform, and the pet owner – always be respectful of their place.
- There are other house sitting jobs out there where people need someone to watch their house while they are away. Check around for those and let me know if you know of any.
- But do not forget that you can post your services yourself – even on social media. So you could even make a little money for finding a free accommodation!
- For example, some dog walking apps have services where you stay at the dog owner’s house and take the dog owner out for an agreed number of times.
Renting cars…
As for renting cars to travel, this is good for trips that are not too far from you. Especially if you do not have a car or if it is older. It can save you money on other modes of transportation, such as via plane or train. Plus, it makes it easier to get around while you are at your destination.
To save money on gas, check out my master list of posts on saving money and time. I have mentioned apps that give cash back for gas such as the app GetUpside.
Also, some cash back apps will give cash back or discounts for booking a rental car through participating companies if you open the rental car service within their app.
Oh wait, I’m not done yet?
More tips:
- Ask for advice from friends and family and coworkers. There may be a great trip right near you that you had not considered.
- Look at nearby places to go. You may be surprised at what you find in a few hour drive that gives you an affordable mini and cool, new vacation.
- Once you decide you want to go on a vacation, start trying to spend less on other leisure activities so as to help save towards the vacation. Would you rather go out to eat a lot or put that money away for a nice, relaxing spring vacation? See this post for fun ways to save.
- Never ignore big holiday deals. And, do not forget that these holiday sales can last a bit past the holiday! Or occur for any other reason (like spring break vacations).
- MOST IMPORTANT TIP: when you start planning this and find some good deals, figure out some ideas for what you may do, find options on how to use reward points towards your vacation, and see all the deals out there. So then you will get more excited and want to save up for this. Leading to…
How to Save Money While on Vacation on a budget or Otherwise Traveling
- Use cash back apps. See this post on cash back with apps , receipt cash back apps post, and how to easily save with websites and apps for more.
- Easy way to save on restaurants and purchases you make while you travel. Some without even thinking about it.
- Take advantage of deals for activities. Groupon and Travelzoo are both good places to look for local deals when you are there. See above for other ideas.
- Consider staying at a place where you have the option to purchase food to cook from a nearby grocery store. This can save you quite a lot.
- Consider free activities. These can be better than ones you pay for. For where you are going, look at what it offers via searching the internet (top places to visit for [insert city], top romantic sites to see at [insert town]), asking friends, visiting forums (LonelyPlanet.com), checking out the tourism website for the place you are visiting (which is usually great at offering a huge variety of things to see), TripAdvisor.com can give you great ideas, social media forums on that area (Reddit), etc.
- There may be nice hikes, free museums or other attractions, upcoming free events (concerts, exhibits, fairs, markets), gardens to explore, monuments, hidden treasures, picturesque views or local neighborhoods in unique styles, gardens, historical points of interest that may be hard to find.
- But if you look them up you may be surprised, local offers for free tickets to see events or places being promoted, a beautiful beach or hidden cove, a place featured in a movie (like the exorcist stairs), and so much more.
- Don’t believe me? See some pictures below.
- Having trouble finding cool things to see or exploring the city? Some scavenger hunts are offered in certain areas and for free if running a promotion. You can even try looking for one on the internet and printing it out to do for yourself! How fun.
- Also, post on forums and boards and read travel blogs. People can be very helpful!!!
- Use miles and reward points (if you can) towards excursions and activities.
Pictures of free things I saw
I put some in this post: California Dreaming.
Here are a few more:
Make Money Easily While Traveling (Bonus while you vacation on a budget!)
- Small tasks for money. Check Out my microtask apps post for some ideas that are easy and fast.
- One I used a lot was JobSpotter. I racked up a bit of easy points for some Amazon gift cards. Plus, I love that it helps people find jobs and helps businesses find workers. A win-win!
- Gigs. Also, look at my gig apps post which, depending on preference, you may only want to do if they are quick or you are at that place already.
- Get rewarded for all of your moving as you visit the sites! See my apps that reward you to move post here.
- Use those pictures you took. Try selling great pictures from your vacay on stock photo sites – see this post.
- Share your opinion. Check out market research platforms such as dscout (app), methinks (app), and respondent.io. Plus, field agent (app). See the gig post and this other post for more.
- I have seen all have potential studies for people traveling to certain places, hotels, or airports. They come and go, so you may not find one. But it is worth checking out!
- Secret Shop for Perks and Pay. Secret Shopping Jobs can pay you to go to restaurants and other fun events. They may even pay for your hotel. See this post for some platforms. So you can make money and save at once.
- And see some suggestions on activities like bowling or visiting the zoo.
- Tip: I would do a few of these before your vacation to get the hang of it. If you do not enjoy it, then try something else. Enjoy your vacation first.
- Scan those receipts! Scan your receipts for everything with cash-back apps. See this post on receipt scanning apps.
- Have fun with it. Consider side jobs as a way to meet people and learn the area as well.
- They could be small and I would recommend ones you are already used to using the platform.
- Find the ones that work for you and then make it enhance your vacation!
- Surveys to Pass Travel Transport Time: Sitting on an airplane bored? Use the downtime to do some surveys. See these posts for some to try out:
- Volunteer for changing your flight if it is booked. Find yourself on an overbooked flight? Do you mind waiting for the next one? Well, you may get paid by the airline for that! If flexible, why not? See if you can extend it long enough to take advantage of heading out for an hour or so to see a bit more of where you are at – and extend your vacation!
- Blog about it. Want to dive into blogging or have one already? Consider using the vacation as a way to start or add to your blog. This can lead to ad revenue and possibly sponsored posts (and perks for travel!).
- Read my post on my Bluehost review if you are considering starting a blog and want a host.
- Use packing and unpacking as a way to declutter (OR sell your impulse buys you do not want when you return home). See this post for more on selling your stuff.
- Rent out your home while you are away on Airbnb, HomeAway, or other sites that let you earn by renting out your home as a place for others to stay at on a vacation or trip. Visit Airbnb’s site here. Find out more on HomeAway here.
Final Thoughts
Taking a vacation on a budget is so much easier than I would have EVER expected. Try some of my tips. But let me know if you have more! I would love to hear them. Contact me here with any thoughts, tips, or questions on how to vacation on a budget.
Happy traveling.
