How I Afford to Travel So Much

Disclaimer: I am still in the early days of my traveling and I learn and experience more every day. I turned 18 right smack in the middle of the pandemic, so my travels have been mostly local and the tips below reflect that. I can’t wait to re-make this post in a couple of years when my passport is full of stamps and I know a whole lot more:))

I am a broke college student who fell in love with traveling. I travel as much as I possibly can and both friends and strangers always ask how I can afford to travel so much.

Here’s the short answer: I work hard, save most of my money for traveling, and make my travels as cheap as possible.

Here’s the long answer:

I worked… a lot

There are ways to travel cheap, which I will get to, but no matter what, you need some money to spend. I have been working and saving nearly every penny since I was 14 years old.

The summer before my freshman year of high school I got my first job at my local climbing gym. I taught kids climbing classes, worked in the childcare center, and was a summer camp counselor. I loved it. I taught rock climbing- something I love, worked with some of my best friends, got a free membership to the gym, and of course, I got paid.

But, of course, like anything, there were some sacrifices I had to make. 14 is young- I was working long before most of my friends which meant sometimes I was working while the rest of my friends were hanging out. I worked after school, the days I had off of school for long weekends and breaks, and on weekends as early as 7:30 AM.

But it was so worth it. I worked there all throughout high school and saved almost every dollar I made. I got raises and built up my resume.

I Use Care.com

After I graduated high school, I decided it was time to move on from that job so I quit and hopped on care.com. My lord, that was the best decision I could have made. Within a day, I had multiple job interviews lined up.

Not only was I reaching out to families and getting positive responses, but since I had built up my resume and experience well, families were seeing my profile and reaching out to me for jobs. In other words, I would be going about my day when job opportunities would come to me. I would get a message from a family offering a job, and I could review their profile, how much the job would pay, what hours they were looking for, and decide if I wanted it.

Securing jobs with care.com could not have possibly been easier, and because of my experience and good reviews, my hourly rate was about 1.5x what I was making at my climbing gym job.

I have had incredible experiences with all the families I have worked with so far. At the moment, I have one family that I work with for a few days a week. That is my regular job, then on top of that, I take occasional babysitting jobs that come up.

If you are over 18 I would highly recommend using care.com. Even if you don’t love kids, they have plenty of other care options like pet sitting and housekeeping.

It’s great because you can find jobs anywhere and decide your own hourly rates. You can choose your ideal schedule and find a family that’s a great fit for both of you.

This is in no way sponsored by care.com. I just truly love the company and the work opportunities it has given me.

Let’s Talk About Saving Some More

Alright so as I have mentioned, I work a lot and save most of my money. But what does this really mean?

By the time I had completed high school, I had thousands of dollars saved.

When I get paid, it has always gone directly onto my debit card. I then log into my bank account and move the majority of it into my savings account.

When I was in high school, my rule was that I always kept $100 on my debit card, and anything else went to savings.

Let’s say I had $100 already, and got paid $250. I would move $250 into my savings. Say I got gas and maybe bought a coffee so by the time the next pay cycle came around, I had $50 left on my card. Then maybe I got paid $250 again so I would move $200 to my savings, putting me back to $100 on my card.

Just in those two pay cycles, I would end up with $400 in savings.

And this is how I have always managed my money. If I wanted to buy new clothes or spend extra, I would keep more on my card, but I never ever touched the money in savings.

I keep a little more on my card now, but otherwise, I follow the same rules. I continue building my savings, but I am a little bit looser about taking money out of the account.

Since I created my savings account specifically with travel in mind, I allow myself to take out money to pay for trips. However, since I had the “no-touch” rule for so long and I know how hard I worked to save it, I am very cautious about how much I take out and spend. My goal is to spread these savings over as many trips as possible.

It’s About Priorities

Think about the last time you shopped online and ordered some clothes. What was the total? Maybe you bought a new pair of jeans for $60. Shirts are generally anywhere from $20-$40.

I am willing to bet that there has been at least one time where you have spent over $100 on clothes at one time.

During my most recent trip to California, I flew in and out of LAX for $98 round trip.

In September I flew out of Las Vegas on Spirit Airlines for $22.

Travel can be expensive, but it really isn’t as much money as we’ve been taught to believe.

If you prioritize travel over other purchases beyond the necessities, travel can be easily affordable.

We’ve all heard the coffee example. Where if you buy a $3 coffee every day, you end up spending $21 in a week and $1,095 in a year. It’s an example we’ve all heard countless times within the conversation of saving money, but it is so true. Even if you buy a $3 coffee just once a week, that’s $156 in a year, which is more money than I’ve spent on any of my recent plane tickets.

Now Make It Dirt Cheap

Like I said before, I buy the cheapest of cheap flights. I cross-check every website and app to make sure I’m paying the least amount.

I never pay to pick a seat. Sometimes this means I am sitting in the back of the plane in the middle seat, but I don’t think I could care less.

Some airlines make you pay a fee to bring a carry-on. I don’t do that. I pack everything into a backpack- or my personal item that fits under the seat in front of me.

On road trips, I camp only in free sites when possible. I primarily camp on BLM, which is free public land. There are no designated campsites, you just go and camp wherever is available.

I use the app iOverlander to find places to camp. All of these show paid campsites, free campsites, BLM, and more.

I live off of instant coffee, oatmeal packets, peanut butter, and microwave mac and cheese that works *mostly* well if you just pour hot water over it.

I avoid spending extra money whenever I can and in general, I just make my trips as cheap as possible!