I don’t know about you, but I am already done with this school year. Spring break is coming up next week for SPU students, and I am sure students have already picked their road trip routes and are readying their film cameras, but it is never too early to begin thinking about summer plans! After traveling to Italy last summer, I got bit by the travel bug. I want to make a goal of traveling abroad once every summer. This summer I would love to spend a week in Paris, so I want to start saving money now in order to make this plan come true. After researching a bit, I came up with a few tips to help make your summer travel plans come true.
Making a Pinterest board is the first step to any successful endeavor—obviously duh. Jokes aside, Pinterest is a great place to research and pin inspiration, tips, ideas, and practical advice from other travelers. There is a wealth of information on this platform and it is strangely satisfying to pin things according to the aesthetic of the board. Maybe that’s just me.
Write out all of the necessary expenses within the month. This could be rent, utilities, cable/internet, Netflix, (yes… netlfix) car payments, loan payments, insurance, food, etc… and then find your total.
Look at your bank statement and write down every “fun” purchase listed in the statement. This could be your Starbucks drink 4 times a week, the pizza you ordered last night, that cute sweater you saw at Anthropologie that you probably didn’t need… oops. Once you have looked through your statement and have identified your unnecessary purchases, see what you may be able to cut down on and come up with a total per month.
Often airlines will send out emails featuring promotions to whoever is on their email list. If you bide your time, you may find the perfect deal on airfare to pounce on. They often have flash sales so this would be a perfect time to be in the know and score a good deal on a flight.
Go through your closet and put any items you may not like anymore up on the Free and For Sale page! The transactions don’t always come through, but it doesn’t hurt to generate interest around selling some of your things you may not use anymore.
I hope these tips help you on your quest to save money. I will be using a few of these strategies myself to achieve my goal of traveling to Paris!
Au Revoir!