How to get the money to travel!

Last updated on March 17th, 2025 at 03:22 am

Little money but with the urge to travel is a common scenario but a lack of riches is no reason to stop you.

People keep asking me “How do you manage to travel so much?”

I also hear “I’d love to travel but….” or “I wish I could travel more but…..”

I think of five key things when this topic comes up

 1. Make the most of what you already have.

 2. Save save save and get spare cash.

 3. Stretch the cash further when traveling.

 4. Live and work overseas as an alternative to ‘travel.’

 5. Make decisions and determine priorities.

Each of these things will help you toward your goal of traveling, or traveling more often or for longer!

1. How to get the money to travel – Make the most of what you already have

You’re working, you have kids, a home, schools, family ties. You can still travel more. Try playing around with this, take shorter trips more often. For example:

• Use your long weekends. Obviously you don’t want to travel on a long haul flight, but there are plenty of places that aren’t that far away that you can get to and enjoy. Add a day or two to make the long weekend longer so you have more time.
• Ask to work remote for a couple of days so that you can stretch a weekend. Ok you have to work a couple of days, but you still get the evenings and another weekend.
• If you go on business trips, and can work it with someone looking after the pets / kids if you have them, get your partner to join you and extend the trip for a few days holiday.
• Go local on normal weekends. How far can you get in a car or train without it being too much travel to get there for the two days.
• If you have time off booked, go where the flights take you. See what cheap deals are around and just take pot luck for your holiday. Or purposefully travel to a place where flights are relatively cheap and where the holiday will be cheap. Check out where you can get to on a train as well!

2. How to get the money to travel – Save save save and get spare cash

It may all seem obvious to many of you, but while you are dreaming, or hopefully planning your trip, think about how you can get some extra money together. Cutting costs is something you can do no matter what your situation. At the same time you can try and make some extra money. It could help you get a few extra thousand for your trip.

a. Open a ‘travel’ savings account.

If its not there, you’re going to find it hard to save.

b. Automatic savings

You have an income, set up an automatic deduction from each paycheck into a travel account (that earns interest). And when you’ve done that, can you ask for a pay rise? There’s no harm in asking, and chances of a yes are real!

c. Stop spending

There are so many ways to stop spending. These are some of the most common ways:

• Stop eating and drinking out – arrange at home pot-luck dinners (all of you bring a dish and its pot luck what you all get to eat) with your friends instead.
• Stop buying lunch at work. Cook extra for dinner – its called Dunch – dinner and lunch!
  cut the coffees
• Ring every utility company you are signed up to and tell them you are thinking of moving to a cheaper company and do they have any better pricing for you. They will have!
• Are there any regular things you pay without thinking about it? Check what goes out and see if you can cut them now? For example, do your nails at home, go to the library rather than buy books or magazines. Put that money into the travel fund.
• Cut out any memberships you are not really using. Consider cutting those you do use, eg netflix (watch with friends at their place), the gym (you can still run for free or exercise at home)
• Absolutely every time you are about to buy something, ask yourself
  
  “Do I really need this, or, can I do without it, or, can I get it cheaper?”
• Every time you don’t spend, put that money into the travel account you’ve opened. If you buy a coffee every day for $5.oo, that’s $25 in the bank per week for starters. Now add the dinners, the clothes you didn’t really need, the netflix subscription……
  You might find yourself quite amazed if you stick to it. Nicely done!

d. Use your accommodation!

It can be a major saver or extra income earner for you.

• If you rent, can you go somewhere cheaper? Can you share for the next six months? Can you get someone in that spare room for the next six months?
• If you own, do you have a spare room you can rent out for the next six months? Would it be good for Airbnb? This can be a great way to make some extra income for your travel fund without too much effort.
• Even better, get local house-sitting jobs and rent your house out now – that’s six months of high level savings just like that! It will also help if you plan to housesit while you travel.

e. Add to your income

Ask yourself, “What other ways you I increase my income over the next six months?”

Can you get a second job? Can you sell some of that craft work you do? How about babysitting – its not just for teens? Could you ask for some overtime?

Any extra income goes straight into your travel account!

f. De-clutter!

Apart from a good cleansing, it saves on any storage you might need if you are going for a longer term trip, and it adds to your funds.

What do you really need and what do you really want to keep? Be ruthless.

Go through every cupboard and ask yourself these questions:

• When did I last use this?
• Do I really need it?
• Do I want to use up valuable storage space with this?

As soon as you say no to one of the questions – sell whatever it is (or if unsellable give it away)! Put the cash into the travel account.

3. How to get the money to travel – Stretch the cash further when traveling

When you are on the road, there are so many ways to save money and cut costs – meaning you can travel for longer!

I cover this in detail in 12 top tips to travel on a budget in those expensive places! Do read it as it applies to anywhere not just the pricey places.

In brief – save on accommodation by house swapping, house sitting, workaway or long term rentals. Save on food and drink costs by eating in or finding the cheap deals. And find all the free things to see and do – in the city and in the great outdoors. Do read the post as there are plenty f tips there to help you stretch your budget.

4. How to get the money to travel – Live and Work instead of just traveling

A great way to travel is to actually go and live somewhere – then travel from your new home. This is definitely my way to go and gives much more of a feel for the rhythms of daily life. Not to say day-to-day travel is not great too – its just different. This is one of my favourite answers when people ask me how to get the money to travel.

There are plenty of ways to make this happen – these are my top 5!

a. Working Holiday Visas

If you are the right age, that being 18-30 and in a few cases 18-35, you might be super lucky! You can apply for working holiday visas in any country that your home country has an agreement with.

This visa allows you to work for a certain amount of time while you are visiting a country – usually you are expected to work about half the time, and travel or volunteer the rest.

Best off for number of countries you can get a working holiday visa to, are the kiwis – fair enough as it was NZ that invented the system. But if your country is in the list below of countries kiwis can get a working holiday visa to, you will have some, if not as many, options.

Argentina, Austria, Australia
Belgium, Brazil
Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland, France
Germany
Hungary, Hong Kong
Ireland, Israel, Italy
Japan
Korea
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
Malaysia, Malta, Mexico
Netherlands, Norway
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal
Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey
UK, USA, Uruguay
Vietnam

b. House-sit and Pet-sit

Look after someone’s home, and usually their pets too, while they are away and stay for free immersed in their local area. Its a win win and there are so many sites that offer to link you and the homeowners together. Many are country specific but others are international.

A few to mention and get you started are: TrustedHousesitters and Mind My House – both are international
There are often localised ones too e.g. Aussie House Sitters – Australia, House Sitters America – USA, and Kiwi House Sitters – New Zealand. Some of these work together so your membership covers more than one country.
I use TrustedHousesitters personally but have also use Kiwi House Sitters when in NZ.

c. Work for your food and board

Work for your food and board, and really live local life while you are at it. Make friends in the country you are visiting and learn about daily life from a locals perspective.

Sites like Workaway, wwoof, or helpx link you with hosts that will typically ask for 15-25 hours work a week for your food and board. The jobs vary from farm-work, to babysitting, to doing creative artwork, yoga, almost anything you can imagine. I personally use Workaway.

In Australia, you can also sign up for Grey Nomads Jobs for all sorts of opportunities.

d. Work remote or become a digital nomad

If you have a job that you can work remote, and everyone agrees, then pack your bags and your computer, buy your ticket and go.

Alternatively, join the growing number of digital nomads. People are working all sorts of jobs online, from teaching English, to IT based jobs like software engineers and web designers, on-line sales of all sorts of products, writing, and the list goes on.

Do you have any of these skills? Can you set up a website and get going while you are still at home?

e. Work an overseas job – for money!

If you have the right trade or profession, try either Job swapping, or getting a sponsorship / visa for a job in that profession. This works well with people in any kind of medical field, teachers and the like. I know a Dr that has worked on cruise ships to Antarctica every year for a long time just because he loves it.

Other great jobs are chefs, tourism and hospitality – especially if you have more than one language, or anything in a multi-national company that may move you to an overseas post. Of course the military, diplomatic and trade government organisations can be good places for overseas posts too.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), or other languages such as Spanish or Chinese, is another good option. There are numerous in person or online training courses to get yourself qualified before you go. Picking up a teaching job in a country you are enjoying is a great way to extend your stay and get involved in daily life in the country.

If you have a trade like massage or hairdressing, and if you are staying at or near a hostel – put a sign up on the noticeboard for a cheap deal. It could earn you a bit of extra cash as you go.

And, these days a lot of people are dual citizens. So, if you have another passport, use it to live and work elsewhere with no hassles. It can’t get better than that!

5. How to get the money to travel – Make decisions and determine priorities

This is actually the key to it all. All the things above will fall into place.

If you want to travel, you must first make the decision that you are going to travel. This is especially true if you are talking long-term travel.

Then you must decide when you are going. Be realistic – if you have no money and want to just travel you will need to save longer than if you have a small fund already, or you want to work and travel.

Making those decisions and really meaning them is the hardest part done. It really is.

Now you just have to prioritise that above all else and make it happen. All the tips and tricks above are how you make it happen, but the decision and the making it a priority is up to you.

If you have made the decision. Great job – you’re already on the road to travel!

A Quick Guide of useful tools I use – to help you plan your trip

Insurance – Click here for travel cover with SafetyWing – almost any nationality, its ok if you are already traveling, up to 64 years old. Or click here for cover with EKTA – any nationality, any age and its ok if you are already traveling!

Internet – get a highly rated yesim eSim before you go – click here for yours.

Accommodation – book a hotel with booking.com or Tripadvisor, or, a hostel with Hostelworld

Alternative Accommodation – Workaway for living and working with a family and TrustedHousesitters for housesitting. Both of these links will give you a joining discount!

For the best walks in the areas you are going to, get AllTrails so you have offline maps to guide you

Car rental – compare prices and get the best deals with Rentalcars.com

Tours and Activities – find the best tours with GetYourGuide or Viator.

Related Posts

10 vital must-do’s before you rent your house and go traveling!

12 top tips to travel on a budget in those expensive places!

40 fantastic countries for travelers on a budget in 2025

How to travel after retirement – even on a budget!

And for some good examples….

How to travel the Caribbean on a budget

How to visit the Galapagos Islands on a budget!

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