How do we travel so much and afford to travel? These are two questions I have heard often so I am going to give kind of a personal history and some tips throughout this post.
I have always had a passion for travel, so much so it has taken precedence over other priorities in my life. I used to wait tables long enough to save up money to travel somewhere. The great thing about waiting tables is that you can pretty easily come and go from the job because there are plenty other servers to take your place during your leave. And since you are already trained at a restaurant they usually welcome you back to work there as long as you were a good employee and did not burn any bridges, which I’ve always been careful about with any job. There always seems to be a need for servers so it was a great position to support my travelling bug. It is hard work though and not advisable to do in the long run as your back will pay for it for years to come– at least in my experience.
Since that time, I have intentionally taken jobs that are more flexible so that I can incorporate my love of travel. I worked at a group home for several years with a schedule of every other week off. It was awesome! However, again, very hard work and not necessarily something everyone can do or for a long time. I could generally go on a 3-5 day trip once or twice a month. And then when taking time off we were normally expected to take off the entire shift so I would get three weeks off in a row! I went to Europe one time doing that. Another option is to work a couple of part time jobs. Part time work is usually pretty flexible and it isn’t a huge loss if you have to quit a job because it does not cooperate with your travel plans.
All of that was in my young and reckless 20s, but in my 30s, as career life developed, I just had to be willing to take time off unpaid to get more travel time in- which for me was not even a question in my mind! Instead of “If?” I wondered, “how much time off can I get?” whether paid or unpaid. Often if you prove yourself a valuable employee, your employer is more willing to work with you since they don’t want to lose you. This has proven true in almost every job I have had, and I have had several! Honestly, if I did not think a job was flexible with time off then I would not even consider applying for or taking it, unless I absolutely needed the job. So, my advice, be bold! – You might be surprised at your employer’s flexibility with you. It helps if you already have a plan to provide your supervisor for how your work responsibilities can be covered while you’re away.
Aside from choosing flexible careers, Dave and I also live much differently than society as a whole. Here are some rules we live by:
- No debt. If we can’t pay cash for it, we can’t afford it. We do use a credit card for the rewards, but pay it off each month.
- Dispense income in following order>
- Give \ \
- Retirement 50-60%
- Save, save, save / /
- Spend (bills, entertainment, food, etc.) – 40-50%
- When I went back to school we learned to live on one income, and when I returned to work we continued to live that way.
- We don’t like t.v. so we never have had cable or satellite. (Fun fact: this was actually true for each of us early in our adult lives and one of the things that attracted us to each other. Awww ☺) We believe we would rather be living than watching others live. Okay, I must admit that we got a Netflix account a couple of years ago because I do love movies, but it is only approximately $10/month. And I discovered a few months back that an antennae picked up several channels, which I was super excited about at the time but then hardly ever used it.
- We don’t value having brand new expensive cars so we buy used reliable ones that we pay for in full. When you don’t have a car payment, your insurance is a lot less expensive- thus you can put that extra cash (car payment and insurance cost) in your savings. When your car does need maintenance, you have the cash. We have had great experiences with this and aside from oil changes and general maintenance, we have had little to no problems with our vehicles. Just be willing to do a little research.
- We live in a small mobile home, and yes we hope and plan to purchase or build a home eventually, but we honestly don’t need more than what we have and are not in a rush to ‘upgrade’. And even when we do buy or build, it will likely not be a huge house. Living in a small, simple, and paid for home allows us lots of freedom and flexibility to travel. We were ahead of the tiny house movement! Ha! But, really, it is the same appeal that has driven the tiny house movement. I think people are tired of what they own owning them, so they are starting to simplify so they can actually live more. Anyway, I digress.
- We don’t pay for insanely expensive health insurance. Instead, we have Medi-Share which has been great for us. And since we are big on saving, we can pay out of pocket if needed for an appointment.
- We almost always bargain shop and try to avoid impulse buys. One thing I read somewhere before which I have found helpful is instead of going shopping, go through your closet and clean out some of the clutter and donate a bag to charity or sell through consignment. You’ll feel great, may make a little cash, and not have extra junk or debt!
- Along with bargain shopping is bargain travelling. Over the last 15 years I have researched many ways to travel as inexpensively as possible and to get the most bang for my buck. I’ll try to do a post on this at some point to elaborate.
- Buy food in bulk and cook at home 90% of the time. Don’t waste food. Pack lunch.
- Keep power bill low by turning off lights, adjusting the thermostat when we’re away, etc.
- We don’t care about having the latest gadgets such as iphones or whatever. If an older model works, why get a newer one?
- We not only talk about travel a lot, we talk about it as a reality such as where we want to go, for how long, and when we can realistically make it happen. We have a list of destinations on the fridge. We subscribe to a couple of travel magazines, and we go on day trips or weekend getaways regularly to keep travel fresh on the mind. There are endless places to go and see on this planet and we want to visit as many as possible.
Now, obviously, everyone has different circumstances and may not be able to apply all of these things in their lives, but this list is just examples of changes one can make to save more money. For more info on how to more effectively manage money check out Dave Ramsey and The Money Saving Mom.
The reality is whatever is most important to you is where you will spend your time and money. So, my advice to you is to write down a list of what your top 5-10 priorities are in order of importance, and then do a self-check on how much time and money you put into each one on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can also check to see where you are wasting valuable time and money (i.e. social media, junk food, video games, etc.) and then intentionally redirect your attention to what really matters to you. This is always a work in progress for us.
What ‘sacrifices’ are you willing to make in order to do what is more important to you?
Does what you own, own you? Or do you have the freedom you prefer?
Are you willing to go against the grain to live the life you really desire, not a life trying to impress your peers or a life you think you’re ‘supposed’ to be living because society said so?
Bottom line: If travel is important to you, you will find a way to make it happen.