5 Ways to Save Money for a Trip

Whats up Wednesday, how youuuuuu doin!

Attention anyone that gives AF but we have less than 2 months till we leave for our big family trip to London, Paris and NYC! So saving saving SAVING has been on our mind every waking hour! Saving and also where the hell we're going to stay keep me up at night but that's a topic for a different day.



The other day I listed out all the bills we had and put stars next to the ones we could get rid either all together or temporarily if needed. What I came up with is about $275 we can cut out that aren't necessities in life. I'm sure there's other things that Jer can think of but this is just what I did.

Woah there.

I started thinking of other ways we could save money or make money to put towards the trip. While we will have our taxes back by the time we leave, they are pretty much already accounted for and will used to pay down debt and other projects around the house.

As I mentioned I got rid of bills that weren't needed or that could be put on hold for right now. The gym was the biggest one. We've had a very busy winter and the kids have been exhausted by the time they get home from school. I've been busy with the store and editing and Jerek with the home improvements not to mention there's dinner to be made, kitchen to clean, baths, bedtime, etc. I looked at our gym usage online and realized we've BARELY been to the gym to workout, swim or take a class in a very long time. Lifetime allows you to freeze your plan for $10 so I did that today and will un-freeze it when we get back home. I also planned on getting back to the gym around then with a routine because as I've already mentioned, we've been majorly slacking! This alone will save us $160/month so $320 just in these two months before we leave!

You'd be surprised how much crap you have around your house that other people want to buy! I've been doing this for years but am kicking it up into high gear lately. I have SO much baby and kids stuff I'm bursting at the brim. I have 2 bins I've set aside of my absolute favorite baby items that if we have another we'll be good with. Everything else has been donated and the nice stuff that can be re-sold is in bins and I'm listing online all over the place. If you've been a reader for a while you'll know I've been purging our freaking life away lately, Jerek hates it, I love it! I've been selling my own things as well as things around the house its awesome to get rid of crap and make a few bucks while you're at it! There are tons of places to sell from Facebook pages, Ebay, Amazon, Poshmark or local mom 2 mom sales. You can also take clothing items to resale shops like Platos Closet or other resale shops. Not only will you be making money but you will be getting rid of things that don't bring you joy! Anyone read Marie Kondo's book: The Life-changing Magic of Tiding Up? It literally will be life changing!

I printed out my bank statement for the last 6 month and highlighted any purchases that were for coffee or eating out. I was disgusted by myself. I buy coffee Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I would eat out on Thursday's at Chipotle every week with work friends and then Jer the kids and I would eat out usually once or sometimes more on Saturdays and Sundays. That's not happening. Regardless of this trip I need to stop that shit, it's getting out of control! The only thing with the change of not buying coffee or eating out is that our grocery bill will ultimately go up (Jerek, you will need to re-read that and not get your financial panties in a bunch mmmkk!)

Jer and I love our us time after the kids go to bed and that usually consists of watching a show, me working on editing and us having cocktails. I like good beer and wine so it's always more expensive than grabbing a Bud light. I would easily have 1 or 2 drinks every night. That's stopping. No booze till we get to Europe! (Except for the bachlorette party I'm going to next weekend) I have done no drinking months before (while not pregnant lol) and I always overall feel better so hopefully these two months not only help my body but my wallet will feel better too!

I took some money from my savings account and paid 2 credit cards off. Yeah, that's huge in itself! While It stressed me out to take so much from my savings to do this, its 2 less bills I'm forking over monthly payments for. Not to mention, those two bills had stupid high interest rates on them. It's a win win really. Then the monthly payments I was paying for these can be put in my savings account for the trip! Plus this is a goal for mine for the year to pay down/off debt!

As you can see, whether you are going on a trip and want to save money for it or had a financial change in your life happen, readjusting your spending is always a good idea to do every 6 months. I'm hoping to keep the momentum going once we get home and kick these old habits of spending money on interest charges and non sense to the curb!

If you have any other ideas or tips and tricks on saving leave them below, I'd love to hear them!