16 Ways To Earn More Money For Travel

We know from all the emails we get from our readers that “lack of money” is one of the biggest things holding you back from having more travel in your life.

If you want to travel more it’s time to start thinking about your finances and channeling what money comes into your life in the right direction.

This can be easier said than done and everyone has different financial challenges and backgrounds, but there are simple ways and more creative ways to add to your bank balance.

16 ways to create more money for travel
Image: Dreamstime.com

As we’ve mentioned over and over again a lot of it comes down to your priorities. If you want more travel in your life you have to make travel a priority, especially with regard to getting your finances in order.

Recently we wrote about 30 ways to reduce living expenses so you could have more money for travel.

Today we’re going to focus on ways to create more money to add to your travel fund once you’ve got your expenses under control.

So lets make the intention right now to put one of the strategies below into practice, and please share any of your own tips in the comments.

1. Rent out spare rooms/take in a room mate

We had two boarders living with us before we left for our five year honeymoon in 2002. Some of that money went to bills (reducing costs) and what was left went straight into the travel fund.

When I lived in London, I lived with anywhere from 5-25 people. It meant I shared a room usually with 2-3 people; sometimes I slept on the lounge room floor. I know this is not the comfort most people want – I was young and single at the time – but my rent was £35 a week, with bills and grocery staples included. This meant I had so much more money for travel.

I don’t regret this sacrifice as it meant I created amazing memories and I formed friendships with people around the world whose couches I could sleep on when I visited their country.

Consider Airbnb

Maybe you could list your property with Airbnb and rent out an extra room or your whole property.

Our friend in North Carolina is a single guy with a 4 bedroom home. He just took in a room mate who’s monthly payment now cuts his mortgage in half – meaning more money for travel.

2. Work multiple jobs

This was something I totally embraced pre-kids. At one stage I had 9 part-time jobs on rotation. I was never one for the standard working job life. Working a full-time and a part-time job is tough, especially when your full-time one is teaching.

After a stressful and tiring day teaching my students, I’d don the waitress outfit and head to the local restaurant until around midnight. It sucked, but I was committed and all the extra money went into the travel fund and the odd wine to calm my nerves before bed!

I worked multiple jobs in Australia, Bangkok, Dublin, and London.

3. Live off one wage

If you are a couple, consider living off one wage and save the other. This is what Craig and I did for 12 months. Once you commit to it, you’ll find it easier than you think. You’ll find a way to manage and if you bank the one wage immediately you won’t notice its absence so much.

Sit down with your partner and create a budget. Cut out all unnecessary expenses and focus purely on covering your needs.

Decide on whose wage will best cover these expenses. Wiggle the budget around until you can make it fit the salary comfortably. Leave a little buffer.

Set up a plan to bank the other wage as soon as it is received. Put it straight into the high-interest savings account you have set up. Don’t stress if you can’t bank the entire wage of one partner, bank as much as you can of the one wage. Make it a game to see how much you can increase it by each week.

It’s a great way to get you used to living off little and needing less.

4. Work extra shifts

Some jobs pay extraordinarily well for overtime. My brother-in-law earns great money because he chooses the shitty night and weekend shifts. This gives him lots of penalty rates and overtime. The extra money means he can travel more during the year.

Craig always worked on a Saturday during his construction days to earn the extra cash we needed for travel.

5. Ask for a raise

Have you been employed at your position for sometime and are exceeding expectations, or are overdue for a raise? Politely ask for one. Or why not add more value to your job – think promotion!

6. Be a tutor

One of my rotating part-time jobs was tutoring. I tutored some of the local school children. It was only for a few hours a week, but the extra cash added up and it was tax-free.

I also gave private English lessons to a student at my school in Bangkok, which gave me a few extra dollars. Craig and I also tutored a Buddhist monk in Bangkok, but that one was for love and fascination.

The Golden Mountain
Teaching in Bangkok

7. Automate your savings

Pay yourself first! Savings should be your priority. Set up an automatic transfer that deducts 10% (or higher) of your wage each week and have it transferred into your travel savings account (a high interest account online).

If all your money is easily accessible and sitting in your everyday spending account the temptation is always there to spend it. It’s a lot easier to keep track of your savings if you have them separate from your spending money. If you don’t touch or see it you won’t miss it.

8. Use a high-interest savings account

There are savings bank accounts that can pay you good interest, well at least in Australia. Depending on the balance we can earn from $50- $150 a month. Remember it all adds up and its money for nothing. In places like Asia and Africa that can go a long way.

In Australia, we discovered an everyday transaction account at ING Direct that gave us 5% cashback for every transaction under $100. It lasted for 6 months. Now they are offering the same deal long term at 2% a month. We are right on top of that and earning money for normal everyday spending.

9. Set savings goals

Just like you would for buying a house or a car, decide how much you need for travel then set goals and time frames to accomplish them.

Start short term. Set a particular date for accomplishing shorter-term goals, and make sure the goal is attainable within that time period. Figure out how much you need to save per week or per pay check.

It’s easier if you break it down into increments. Just like in reducing your expenses, you’ll see results sooner which will keep you motivated.

10. Luxury Verse Needs

Get back to basics.

You don’t really need a lot to survive, nor to have a great life really. You can get by with less. Your life will feel less cluttered, which will free up even more energy in order to attract more money to you.

Would you prefer your life to be full of memories or full of stuff?

Ditch the labels, the expensive price tags, the brand new cars and other goods, the fancy restaurants, and top shelf drinks. Start living on a needs basis, not a want.

Read more19 life hacks for luxury living

11. Create multiple streams of income

This is the key to a continual flow of money. Plus, it gives you lots of security in case one stream dries up.

When we were saving initially to travel these were the ways we had multiple streams of income:

  • Full-time jobs
  • Part-time jobs
  • Rent a spare room
  • Investments
  • Interest
  • and Craig would do odd building jobs for friends.

Now that we have our own blogging business, we receive income in a multitude of ways and I am always adding in more when they come along. These are the current various streams:

  • freelance writing
  • freelance content creation
  • working on campaigns with brands
  • sponsored posts
  • advertising
  • affiliate sales
  • eBook sales
  • speaking fees
  • ambassador programs

Little bits from each stream add up.

12. Save your tax refunds

I hope you receive a refund check. If you don’t then celebrate as it means you are earning decent money, you just need to make sure you are putting it to good use.

I don’t know how many times the money we received back from the government helped us live for an extra month on the road. Consider it money you have been saving all year and put it straight into your travel fund.

13. Save any bonuses or windfalls

Do you receive bonuses from your work? What about birthday or holiday money? And windfalls?

We were due to leave on a summer road trip down to Florida in 2005. We had no money and it was looking like we’d have to cancel. A month before departure date, I received an unexpected $800 bonus from school. Awesome! It went straight in the travel fund; we’d at least get 2 weeks of travel out of it.

Then, at the last minute, a friend from Dublin contacted me to say she had a check waiting for me. Teachers were getting back pay with a raise they should have been given years before. Lucky these years were the time I taught there. It was so lovely to receive a check for €2,500.

Hello Florida road trip!

14. Collect all your spare change

You will not miss the spare coins in your wallet. In fact, you are more than likely to spend them just to get rid of the weight.

Take the coins, or even all your $1 bills and put them into your money box. We give all our coins to Kalyra and she has over $400 in the bank. That’s her entry ticket plus accommodation to Disneyland paid for.

Pick up loose coins. I never walk over any coins I find on the ground. I don’t care if it is 10 cents and I don’t care who is looking. I pick it up and always say,

“Wow. Look at this money the Universe is sending my way. Thank you so much.”

And then I put it in my wallet believing that more is coming my way in the most unexpected surprises.

15. Move back in with your parents

Ouch! This is certainly not something we envisioned as adults with two kids but we did it for three years with Craig’s parents – a result of our real estate fiasco. A sacrifice that has helped us get back on our feet.

You certainly don’t have to do it for three years, even three months can make a huge difference. In this game of creating your dream travel life you have to do whatever it takes. When you say yes, you are talking total commitment.

Don’t focus on the sacrifice, focus on the reward and know that this too shall pass.

16. Pimp out your talents

What special talents do you have that someone will pay for? Anything you can do that will save them time or money?

You can put yourself up for hire in places like Elance or Fiverr. Remember $50 here and there adds up. Research those sites to see what others are doing; it might stir up some ideas for you as to what you might be able to do.

Do This:

Choose 1-3 of the above strategies to implement this week. Schedule it into your weekly plan. Make the phone calls, create the plan, and take action.

Don’t forget to reward yourself for your saving victories, but not by spending your money!

Make a list of rewards you can give yourself with each new breakthrough. Make it something that does not cost a lot of money, yet makes you feel good. Get yourself in the habit of rewarding yourself in this way.

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16 ways to create more money in your life so you can TRAVEL more!
Image: Shutterstock.com

What tip can you add to this list?

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27 thoughts on “16 Ways To Earn More Money For Travel”

  1. All of these are smart ideas. I rent out my living room on Airbnb and do lots of side projects. I save enough to go on a trip that requires a flight every month!

    1. Awesome Anna. We’ve recently started using Airbnb as a consumer and love it, and I’m sure property owners are seeing great monetary benefits also.

  2. Brilliant list! One of the ways I saved money for my RTW trip by cutting out the small stuff, like to-go coffee, dessert. I was shocked when I totaled up how much I could save by just making my own coffee for a year – at 3 USD a day x 365 days = over $1000! That’s more than I spent in Thailand in an entire month:)

    1. Exactly Emiko. Coffee and smoothies and juices have been a drain on our wallet over the years, now we have a juicer and blender and make our own smoothies and fresh juices, and have seriously cut back on take-away coffees. Well done!

  3. In the past when I saved up for my BIG travel holidays Iset up a seperate savings account. At first it doesn’t feel like much is happening however a few months into the savings plan you start to see your account growing – it becomes suc an incentive to keep on going and watch that amount grow to reach your goal.

  4. Great tips here Craig. Andrew and I sell our used clothing on eBay, both being former luxury fashion retailers, we have lots of clothes. We also sell our daughter’s clothes that she outgrows.

    1. I used to work as a Fashion Stylist and have so many old clothes, especially vintage pieces which I loved, and while I am back in Australia right now I plan to sell most of them on eBay. Selling stuff on eBay is great! I got a new lens for my camera earlier this year and I sold the kit lens, which I didn’t plan to use anymore, for almost the same price as what I bought the camera for.

  5. I’ve been using Fiverr to build my travel fund for a year and it is going great. I made my first nomad trip this month and it felt great! Although that was a birthday gift from the parents.

    I also ask everyone for birthday gifts as cash for the travel fund. I’m going to start a few other part time ventures to add more income streams.

    All sundry income should go to a travel fund. It helps to know you have funds ready.

  6. This is an awesome list! I’m currently trying to get into freelancing more since the places I write for now (ThoughtCatalog, Lifehack, EliteDaily etc…) don’t pay. Thanks for the tips. 🙂

  7. Nice list, but moving back in with your parents? OUCH indeed. Would be interesting to into more detail on number 11. Probably sounds easier than it is, making enough money with freelance work, sponsored posts, etc.

  8. These are some great tips. It is definitely about being flexible and getting all of those extra little bits of money coming in to put away. I worked Saturday and Sunday for years and it paid for a lot of my travels.

  9. The tin totally works!! My husband puts all his coins in an old paint tin, and every six months or so I’ll count it – there’s usually over $700 in there! 🙂

  10. Luckily, these days I live comfortably just from my travel blog but I remember too well the times before I started my travel blog and were just trying to make money on the road. You just need to be creative, there are so many ways. Check Craigslist and offer your services, for example I was offering German classses and teaching my students via skype. After living 1,5 years in Istanbul I was quite familiar in the city that I started offering my services as a tour guide (there are tons of websites where you can offer your service as a guide – google is your friend.) If you have a deep knowledge about something, check Udemy and make money with your skills. A couple months ago I started uploading nearly a hundred designs to Speadshirt and now I’m making a small but passive income from selling T-Shirts. Possibilities are endless – just get out there and make it happen…

  11. I agree. sometimes you just have to take what life gives you. Being too choosy will only limit the places you visit. You’re there to savor the place and not to feel like a princess.

    1. Nice One Uptourist, it is amazing when you can make lemonade out of lemons. That is a travel ideology in itself. Surprisingly though, I found that traveling within the United States to be easiest and cheapest than any other country. It helps that I am an American and can utilize all the free public services available but, you can do so many free things that are fun while traveling if you have a mind too 🙂 Car camping is still the best! Just have excellent judgement because it is not as lenient as it use to be.

  12. I’m now starting to save for my next big trip (December 2015) and this list is so helpful!! I am already working two jobs but will definitely start looking into high interest savings accounts as well as collecting any change I’ve got floating around the house/my messy car! Thanks for the great tips and Happy New Year :).

  13. On #12, you are so much better not paying that money in tax before you start rather than getting a decent tax return.

    In Australia, you can get a form from the ATO to reduce your tax. Say you are working at a job and earning $100,000 pa. That would mean paying huge taxes in Australia. But, if you plan to spend half the year travelling and estimate your taxable income to be $50,000 instead, you are not only paying tax on a lesser salary but are in a lower tax bracket. I saved $100s a week to travel doing that.

    And, double bonus, that money went into a interest paying account instead of sitting at the ATO earning nothing.

  14. This is great, I am currently out trying to earn some money while staying in Sicily. I love how honest you are and make it more comfortable for people to have to go live with their parents again, I have to do that from time to time! 🙂 I will start looking for privates students ASAP!

  15. I am also working on ways to create money so I can travel more. I’m trapped in a dead-end job (I am unable to quit as I would lose my pension, health insurance, and other benefits) We are under a freeze so a raise is out of the question. I am currently an Airbnb host and it’s going very well, but it just keeps my head above water and doesn’t allow me to save up. So I went down other avenues and making attempts to monetize my blogging sites, and recently took up affiliate marketing (that is a whole new world) but only time will tell, and we will see how well it works!

  16. Thanks so much for the tips! My overwhelming desire to travel is definitely the reason I watch what I spend on other things. When traveling is a priority you work to make it happen!

    -Michelle

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