How we afford to travel around the world

People ask me all the time what my husband does for a living. I assume they trying to figure out how we afford to travel so much. I bet they are looking for me to answer that my husband travels for his job and racks up points for free trips, but that has never been the case for us (although it would be nice). 

So how do we afford to travel so often with our kids?

You may not to want to hear this but… 

Budgeting for travel is a SACRIFICE. We cut corners on our day-to-day life to save up for travel.  We share a car, eat meals at home, make our own coffee, don’t have cable, cut the kids’ hair ourselves, and shop consignment- all with the mindset that each dollar saved at home add up to big bucks we can spend on our next trip. 

Once we’re able to budget enough money to go on that trip, here’s some helpful tips we use to find the best deals and bring down costs while we are traveling:

•Decide where you want to go and if you can DRIVE to get there. We save sooo much money driving over flying and if you bring your own car, you don’t have to spend money to rent one!  If our destination is 20 hours or less, we most likely drive over fly. 

•Start checking google flights… and keep checking! Play around with departure and arrival dates and different airports to find the best deals. 

•Compare Airbnb and hotel prices for best deals! 

•If you choose a hotel, pick one that includes breakfast. Eating breakfast out for a family of 5 can cost upwards if $70-$80 each day (especially these days with a cup of coffee costing $4 🫠)

•Grocery shop on vacation to minimize meals out. 

Who else cuts corners to make travel happen!?