If you’re on nearly any social media platform, you have probably been bombarded with images or videos of luxurious looking vacations and wondered to yourself, “how are they affording it”?! I have been there but I have also probably been the poster who people watched and wondered, “how the hell is she affording this?” so I figured I’d share some of what’s worked for me* –
Budgeting Mindset
If you want to travel but haven’t been budgeting for it yet, it’s likely going to take a mindset shift to start. I recommend starting with a spreadsheet outlining your income, fixed expenses (think credit card payment, car payments,student loan payments), savings and investments, and your variable expenses (everything else). This will give you a decent picture of where your money is going and if you see some room for reduction in your variable expenses, that’s where your travel budget should come from.
One practice that helps me here is categorizing my variable expenses; so, rather than outlining every individual expense, I group them by category. For example, in July 2021, I spent $62.50 on fitness classes (not including my gym membership). Can I look into finding more free classes or perhaps a free trial of Classpass so I can spend that $62.50 on travel instead?
Airline and Travel Credit Cards
First of all, if you’re interested in travel and have a decent credit score but don’t have an airline or travel credit card, what the hell are you doing?! Start ASAP. With most airlines offering bonuses of 40K miles and more for new users, it should be a no brainer to tap into this deal.
My first foray into travel-focused credit cards was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. This card offers excellent dining and travel perks and comes with its own travel booking portal that is very handy for planning trips with points. While I love the options with the card, if you plan to fly frequently, I would recommend also considering an airlines-specific card.
Personally, I started with the Alaska Airlines credit card (contact me directly if you would like a referral 🙂 ) and I acquired it in November 2021. Why? Because I had an upcoming trip planned for Portland, one of Alaska Airlines’ hubs, in December 2021, and I wanted to take advantage of credit card holder perks: 1 free checked bag on all flights and a 40K miles bonus offer (which kicked in after I spent $3,000 in my first 3 months).
More recently, I added the Delta Amex Gold credit card to my wallet. I initially planned to get an American Airlines credit card since this airline has tons of direct flights out of Phoenix but I prefer Delta’s international partners, flying experience, and was sold by a 60K bonus mile offer (after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months).
Before getting an airline credit card, I highly recommend doing a flight search for paying with miles on their website to scope out what the value of your bonus mile offer may be!
Here an example of a recent screengrab from a search on alaskaairlines.com
Another travel tip I use regularly for plane travel is to check the seating chart within a few hours of departure if you’re unable with your seat selection. Often, travelers are changing their flight plans day of so I often get lucky and can switch to a more preferable seat just before getting to the airport!
Flight Deals
Aside from booking with points and miles, you can also save on travel by being smarter with your searches. Studies show that the best time to book domestically is 64 days before departures and internationally, 120 days prior. I use sites like flights.google.com and momondo.com to keep track of flight price trends and set price alerts to notify me of any cost fluctuations.
Other websites I have used for flight deals include studentuniverse.com which offers discounted tickets for students and travelers under age 16; and skiplagged.com which finds cheaper routes to your destination with “hidden-city flights”. A hidden-city flight is a flight where you get off at the layover rather than the final destination. For this reason, it is important to pack light if you fly with Skiplagged to avoid risking having to check a bag which will be sent to the route’s final destination, not yours!
Hotel Deals
As a last minute trip planner, I often rely on HotelTonight, which finds last-minute hotel deals at top hotels. With HotelTonight, I booked stays at some of the nicest hotels in Portland and Chicago and found a new room in Portland when a mold issue forced me to leave an Airbnb.
- Use my code MAGINZBURG to get up to $50 back after your first HotelTonight booking. Get the app: https://txt.htltn.com/0fKUV3cD5yb
General Budgeting and Spending Tips
Another budgeting hack that I find my peers don’t use enough are payment plans and cashback rewards programs:
Rakuten is my go-to cash back rewards program and I’ve been using it since 2018. Since then, I have earned a whopping $553.12 total in cash back! The sign-up process is seamless and easy and I have had the browser extension installed for years, making cash back as easy as a few clicks.
- www.rakuten.com/r/MARIYA483 – get a $30 bonus for making a Rakuten purchase within 90 days of signing up
As for payment plans, Klarna has been my go-to for purchases I don’t want to pay in full for now but can afford over time. I downloaded their mobile app to make shopping with their payment plans simpler!
- https://invite.klarna.com/us/et8bceau/default-us-web – get $20 off your next purchase at participating partner stores when you pay with Klarna
Good luck and happy budgeting!
*(As an aside, I feel it’s important that I call out that I am in a privileged position financially due to my education level and career choices but I hope these tips will be helpful for people of all socio-economic backgrounds)