Saving up travel money only requires a few steps. First, save money. Then, spend it on a vacation! I'm here to teach you my tricks and tips for maximizing how much money you save so you can go on that vacation faster and have a larger travel budget.
It's important to always know how much money you have in your account. This way, when you spend money you know how much you can spend without going over budget. You can spend while keeping in mind how much money will come out of your account in the near future to bills and planned expenses. Then, you can start planning and setting money aside for your travels.
Here are some methods I've used to keep track of my spending and keep an eye on my accounts:
Mint: An app to keep track of and categorize your money.
With this app, you don't have to do any work! It keeps track of your bank totals and spending for you.
Keep Track: With Mint, you have to link your bank accounts for it to accurately read your totals. Any time you spend, the cost will come out of your bank account and easily reflect on the app.
Categories: Mint is different than most apps that keep track of spending because it shows you what "categories" you are spending money in, and allows you to set limits for how much you spend in each category (see image below). For example, you can tell the app that you want to spend $50 in clothing each month. The app will keep track of how much money you've spent in clothing and warn you when you are reaching your budget. If you go over budget and spend $100 in clothes, note that the app will not stop you from making this purchase (it does kind of guilt trip you, though, by telling you that you went over budget).
Visuals: The main difference between just using a bank app versus using the Mint app are the visuals. Mint uses a circular graph to show you how much you're spending and how close you are to your limit. You can see the circular graph get more full when you spend more money. As a visual learner, this made much more of an impact than just looking at the numbers in my bank account.
Checkbook: An old-fashioned but accurate method to keeping track of your spending.
You can pick up a bunch of checkbooks for free from your bank - just ask! They're there to help you with your spending.
The purpose of a checkbook is to keep track of everything that comes into and out of your checking/savings account. Here are the steps to using your checkbook:
1) When you first start your checkbook, write down how much money you have in your account right now in the "Debit" and "Total" section. Debit = Money in, Credit = Money out. Use different checkbooks for different accounts, if you have multiple.
2) Every time you spend money, write it down. Write where you spent the money (i.e. Trader Joe's, Target), the date, and how much you spent in the "Credit" section.
3) Change your "Total." Add money to your total if the entry is a "Debit," or subtract money from your total if the entry is a "Credit."
By using a checkbook, you can see how much money you have in your account at all times. This way, you are more conscious of how much money you have and how much you have to spend.
Google Sheets / Excel: Keeping track of general spending and bills
I have a Google Sheet that shows all of the bills that I will be spending on each month. You can use Excel for the same purposes. The first column indicates the bill type or company (i.e. SoCal Gas), and the second column indicates how much money I will spend on that bill. I like using Google Sheets for this purpose because a lot of my bills are consistent from month to month (i.e. internet, phone, Spotify, student loans, electricity), and it's an easy place to store and remember how much I'll be spending.
After the bills, the next rows are designated with the following:
-Credit Cards
-Savings
-Investment
-Retirement
These items have their own rows because the amount of money I put in each row will vary every month. They are also organized like this because I have the most important on top. After seeing how much money I have leftover from bills, I will make at least the minimum payment on credit cards. More often, I will put much more money into my credit card payments to keep a good credit score (to be discussed in an upcoming blog post). Then, I will move money into the next categories based on how much I have leftover.
In conclusion, you know you're going to need money to travel, so start saving up now! Pick which of the methods above work best for you and start applying that to your every day life. It'll transform your financial wellness instantly.
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