Thoughts, Travel

Workin’ Hard for the Money – Tips for Saving Money for Travel

Erica
tips for saving money
Shaun and me. 🙂

It is absolutely insane what you can put yourself through to bring in some extra cash to put towards travel. While it is important to save your money for travel, it is equally as important to earn. Here are some tips for saving money for travel!

This past week, between holiday pay, overtime, a random photography gig, and cashing in our change jar, Shaun and I managed to pull in a week and half’s worth of extra pay. I consider that a feat and am hoping to continue this trend in the future. I’ve been exhausted every single day – but knowing how this will pay off keeps me motivated and ready to work. Below you will find a list of things we do to earn money. If you have any other ideas, please feel free to chime in.

1.) Work Overtime: Shaun and I are “lucky” that we work in a company that allows up to 16 hours of overtime pay a week. I’m not sure we will take advantage of working 56 hours a week, however the option is there. I have to make Shaun go home sometimes. Growing up his dad always had amazing work ethic and motivation. While I’m glad this has been passed to my husband, I do have to put limits or he would be there every moment of the day.

2.) Offer my photography experience: I got a call from a random person asking me to be her assistant this weekend for a wedding. Thank you JJ for dropping my name! If I wasn’t an utter disappointment or have potential, she will probably use me again in the future (which I am STOKED about). 7 hours of work = 14 hours of my day job

3.) Garage Sale: We were planning on having one this weekend, however my sister in law realized she wanted to sell some things as well and we pushed the date a week. The more items on the lawn, the more people will come to ooh and ahh at our things.

4.) Change Jar: A little can add up over time. I understand that we are in the digital age in which the concept of cash is fading fast. If you set your budget for the week in cash, just round up all your purchases to the nearest dollar and save the rest of the change. G

5.) Offer Shaun’s mechanic experience: Sure he was a shade tree mechanic, but that doesn’t mean he can’t help you. :A few people at work have already asked for his expertise – now we just really need to have them pay lol.

I think we’re making headway on saving our goal of $20,000 and it is exciting knowing that we are both in it together, working as much as possible to make our dream happen. What do you do to bring in extra money?

Published by Erica

Your resident adventure geek, and travel photographer extraordinaire, Erica likes to keep life interesting. A few of her favorite things to do include Burning Man, Diving, Downhill Mountain Biking, and laying by the beach with a good beer.

16 thoughts on “Workin’ Hard for the Money – Tips for Saving Money for Travel”

  1. Your lucky you can get overtime, My job is very flexable so I can work my hours around anything else I want to do but overtime is a no no unless it’s for call outs and nobody wants to get up in the middle of the night…..
    It’s great you both have something else to offer as well, poor old me…I’m useless.

  2. I don’t really have much to offer lol. Shaun’s mechanic knowledge has helped us out tremendously. When I offer my photography skills people generally think, “Oh how cute she’s taking pretty little pictures.” It makes me feel a bit left out that I can’t do anything that has “validity” in the real world.

  3. All of this extra work really pays off when your chilling every day traveling and living the life! Keep it up, every little bit helps and the time starts to fly by.

  7. “The great thing about that video? “The Game” has made it’s way onto it. which I just lost. argh”

    Damn you. /shakes fist

    I can’t believe I fell for that.

  10. They are growing quickly. If we can get there sooner than later I will feel less stressed out about money. 🙂

  11. I feel stressed out about $$ every day it’s horrible! We were supposed to leave for hte big trip in March and things got delayed. I quit my great paying (but horribly stressful) job last Sept. I have had wedding gigs but it is so sad to watch the money being depleted. I can’t even think about it because it keeps me up at night. I am looking for any extra cash I can find too! Good job on pulling in an extra week and half worth of $$ – that’s amazing !

  12. B: You sound like you stress out like I do about money. Poor hubby is worried about me being worried. I want to be prepared for our trip and I’ve turned into some weird money saving fiend. I’m sure it will be okay but I don’t like the unknown when I’m so organized about stuff. I’m trying to leave my horribly stressful job that has probably taken a few years off my life but like you I will then think about all the money I will potentially be losing while trying to find odd jobs.

    P.S. Weddings kick my ass. I had to call into work because I didn’t realize I was lifting a mini weight for 7 hours.

  13. yes, definitely stay at the current job and just wait it out. My job was so stressful and randy reminds me everyday that I had to quit and it was for the best but sometimes I really wonder.

    It feels great to be self employed again but it is a whole ‘nother stress to deal with. Yeah, weddings are a LOT harder than people think. You always have to be one step ahead. It is exhasuting at some points. Well I’m sure we would have fun though if we shot one together!

  14. Hang in there Erica, keep plugging away. Great to see you taking a look at your talents and resources and pooling it all together for a common purpose. This is me rooting for you!

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