How to Travel More While Working a Full-Time Job (Budget Tips & Time Hacks)
Learn how to travel more with these five super effective tips. If you’re like me, someone who loves their 9-5 job, but also wants to save money and travel, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article I am going to share the ideas that I am currently using to be able to save over 25% of my income without giving up life’s ultimate goal. Travel and happiness.
#5. Use Travel Rewards & Credit Card Points
If you don’t have a travel credit card. Get one right now. I mean it. Right now. Here are some of the best beginner friendly credit cards with low annual fees.
- Chase Sapphire
- Chase Preferred,
- Capital One Venture Card
- Discover It Miles
I have the Chase Sapphire and I love it. Typically these cards have promotions if you spend a certain amount of money in the first three months, you get 60,000+ points for free. If you really want to know how to travel more, you NEED to take advantage of credit cards.
I just booked a trip to Portugal this summer and I got my flight completely free because I used my points and booked on the Chase website. Using it for everyday purchases can make the points really add up over time. Just make sure you pay your bill every month/
#4. Start a Vacation Fund
If you’re serious about maximizing your travel game, then starting a travel account is an absolute must! Open another savings account with your bank and treat it as an automatic investment just like you treat your 401K or Roth IRA. Put in $25 – $50 a week, or whatever number you like, and have it automatically transferred over to it.
Watch that account grow and by the time your vacation gets here you will have your plane ticket paid off, and you can use that money for activities, food, accommodation and whatever else you are spending money on for your vacation.
You won’t have to dip at all into your checking or savings accounts. The allocated money for your trip is already there, just waiting to be spent on the trip of a lifetime.
That’s why it’s so important to start a vacation fund, track your spending and stick to a budget. For more budgeting tips click on the article here for ways to afford Travel.
#3. You can Utilize PTO
Whether you get two weeks, three weeks, five weeks or even unlimited PTO, you can still utilize it to travel! You should never feel bad about using your PTO. It’s there for you to use and enjoy. You don’t need to uproot your entire career by quitting your job so that you can travel. You can still travel while reaping the security and benefits of your 9-5 job.
Want to know how to travel more for less? One of my favorite strategies to utilize is PTO stacking along with weekends and holidays.
By utilizing weekends and holidays you can extend your trip longer without using up all your PTO time! For example, I took a trip at the end of May to Banff and I am stacking the trip on top of Memorial Day and utilizing the weekend. So I turned my 4 days of PTO into a 7 day trip! Strategies such as these can really make your PTO stretch and allow you to travel all year long!
Don’t waste your PTO, go on a trip, long or short, experience new places! You can make this possible all while keeping your 9-5 job with the correct planning! Check out my eBook on how to travel with a 9-5 job by clicking HERE
#2. Automate Your Savings
Ignore the “You can’t save money and travel” bull shit. You absolutely can! If you’re paying yourself first by saving and investing for your future into a Roth IRA, company 401K with a 401K match and other retirement accounts and index funds, you will continue to build wealth over time and still be able to travel.
Automating your savings is the best thing you can do to make sure you don’t fall behind. Make you sure you get your company 401K match, it is automatically taken out every week and directly invested.
Have money automatically invested into other investment apps such as Vanguard, Fidelity, Robin hood or Acorns. That way you’re savings is taken care of and you can use the rest of your money for essentials and towards your vacation fund
If you use the leftover money for your essentials and put money away every week for travel, by the time your vacation comes you won’t have to dip into your checking or savings account much at all and you will still be investing towards your future!
#1. Be grateful For Your Life
A lot of people would kill to have a steady 9-5 job with weekly income, insurance and other benefits. Instead of looking at your job as some sort of monotonous hell hole, look at it from an outsiders view. You have steady income, you have stability, routine, consistent paycheck, benefits, PTO etc.
Look at how grateful you are and lucky you are to have this in your life and use it as a tool to build the life you want to live. While you are using it to fund your life and put food on the table and a roof over your head, it can also be used to fund your travel.
I have taken many big trips with my 9-5 job and I have several more lined up. None of them would be possible without my 9-5 job. Be grateful for the grind and use your 9-5 to fund your travel dreams!
