Christmas is less than a month away, and shopping is going to get underway for many of you. Your decisions during this key period will definitely help you achieve your goal to travel more next year if you follow our tips all week. Including today’s one to add extra days of travel for free.
We’ll have truly excellent holiday shopping tips as we continue our What To Do Now To Travel More In 2020 12-part series, this is article #2. This weekend, part 1 was our very popular tips to prepare for flight deals.
Odds are, though, you probably will be shopping for more gifts more than flights, so we’ll share amazing hacks (seriously, I’m so stoked about the upcoming content).
This one is not the most lucrative or mind-blowing tip, but since we’re already on the topic of how preparation is the key to traveling more, we’ll touch on how your “regular” spending is a vital part of traveling more.
Think of athletes. Their competition lasts a few minutes, but the whole year’s training is what is most important to succeed. Way more than the short event itself.
It’s the same for travelers. Your trips will last a few weeks each, and there’s going to be only 3, 4, or 5 of them (we’ll help you get as close to my 10 international trips this year, promised).
But it’s your entire year of preparation that matters most, not what you do on your trip.
And while this short article won’t be as revolutionary as the coming ones, it’ll also be good to shift your mindset about how much travel you can get with such little amounts of savings; our list below will show you.
Saving On Holiday Shopping
There are essentially two parts to traveling more:
- Making travel cost less
- Having more to spend on travel
We’ll mostly keep covering that first part very extensively because it’s the most important one.
Today is the rare one about the second part.
The tip is pretty straightforward: make your holiday purchases on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to save (with our other tips starting tomorrow through the weekend)… and buy less.
Spend less by getting discounts
We’ll share the best travel-related sales starting Thursday (including our 25 favorite travel accessories under $25), but almost every retailer will offer discounts for everything you need to buy for the holidays. Take advantage of these savings to have more money for your travel budget.
Not everyone loves chasing sales, but everyone loves to travel: so make that your motivation. If you read our list below, you’ll be surprised by how much travel just $100 saved on a few gifts can give you. And how many days you can therefore add to your trips at no cost thanks to your savings.
I love deals personally (that’s why I wanted to start this whole flight deals spotting thing) and I try to save on every single thing I can at home so I can travel more. And I would say it works pretty well.
So look for sales and discounts for everything and save money. Tomorrow I’ll even share how you can literally double up (or even more) the rewards you earn for your holiday spending. It is essentially an extra discount and one that requires absolutely no effort (it saves you some effort even). And gives you a 100% increase on your return on your purchases. It would be crazy to leave this on the table; it’s free.
Spend less by buying less
But earning rewards and getting a discounted price is not as effective as the other part of the tip: buying less.
If traveling more is what you want, you need to prioritize traveling more.
And the great thing is you really don’t need to save much to get extra days of travel as you’ll see in a moment.
And I know science isn’t very popular in 2019, but traveling is scientifically proven to make you happier than material possessions, so try to spend less starting now and you’ll very easily be able to travel more.
How Many Extra Days Of Travel $100 In Savings Gives You
If you really want to travel more, it doesn’t require as much as you might think. We’re all bombarded with images of expensive trips everywhere, and everyone wants you to believe the myth that travel has to be expensive. And in previous generations, it’s true that traveling was expensive.
It’s not anymore, well at least it really doesn’t have to be. Obviously, that topic will be one of the key articles of this series; we’ll tell you more soon.
But to convince you to try and spend less during the holidays, concrete real-life examples will be the most impactful.
Here is an actual list of what just $100 can buy you:
- 4 extra days (all expenses included) in over 40 countries (including most of my favorites among the 50+ I’ve visited these past 3 years)
- 10 nights of lodging in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and other places (I paid $5 a night in Bali, and it was very clean)
- 4 intra-Europe flights (I’ve paid under $10 for flights there, but $25 is a much more common price you can often find)
- 2 or 3 flights in Asia and all the other countries with ultra low-cost carriers (except Canada with our insane airport fees and taxes)
- 1 one-way flight to Florida from most Canadian cities during good deals (we often spot these)
- 1 quarter of an entire Miami winter getaway (my 5-day long weekend cost me $385 TOTAL including $200 flights last year)
- 2 roundtrips to Florida if you have a US airport served by ultra low-cost carriers within driving distance
- 3 days of self-drive safari in South Africa when you do it yourself (let’s say 2 days if you count the rental car cost, but still)
- 30 meals in many of those previously mentioned extremely cool affordable countries (or often even more)
- 200 bus rides so you can get around and explore (or often even more)
On top of this being already pretty cheap, you also need to deduct all your home expenses from your travel budget, since you won’t be incurring those by being away. The net budget required is even lower than the already low real cost.
Cheap, right?
So many things in travel cost so little when you plan ahead and prepare adequately, and especially if you invest the time to make traveling more a reality.
Again… those examples are just with $100. Surely you can manage to save that during the entire holiday period, and I challenge you to try and save even more and instead invest it on epic travel experiences in 2020! We’ll share so many tips to make it happen.
You won’t regret putting in a bit of effort. There’s a reason you’ve never heard anyone say they regretted traveling; ever.
If you are interested in traveling more, it is much easier than you think if you make decisions that align with your goals.
Start during your holiday shopping (especially with our upcoming tips this week).
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Summary
Save money on all your holiday purchases by taking advantage of Black Friday sales (and our other tips this week). Chasing discounts isn’t the most fun, but traveling sure is. And the money saved can easily help you travel more, even if it’s just a tiny amount of savings, because just $100 means a lot more travel. And don’t just get discounts on what you want to buy; try buying less too. It’s scientifically-proven to make you happier.
Don’t miss the next part of our special series tomorrow:
WHAT TO DO NOW TO TRAVEL MORE IN 2020
Have any questions about these tips? Let us know in the comments!
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Featured image: Mall during the holidays (Photo Credit: Ron Dauphin)
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