Traveling is, unfortunately, a luxury for many, so jetting around the world is prohibitively expensive. A lot of the time, it requires strict budgeting or some serious tightening of the proverbial belt. But what if we told you that budgeting for travel is not only possible, but can be relatively easy? We’ll give you a hint: you can do it online. We have some tips and tricks anyone can use to cover their trips throughout the year, and today we’re going to share them with you. 

Freelance gigs

If your day job simply isn’t enough to cover all of your regular expenses and all the traveling you want to do, there may be a simple solution for you – getting a side gig. And while bartending and washing cars isn’t going anywhere, there may be a better way to make some extra cash, and that is freelancing. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.

The benefits of freelancing are unparalleled – you get to do what you love or what you’re skilled at, and you get to do it from home. In addition, most of the time, you have the liberty to choose your clients and your projects; there are tons of sites you can choose from, so you won’t be limited to whatever comes along. 

In addition, you get to do these side gigs whenever you have time, and you’re not on anyone’s schedule. As long as the job is getting done by the deadline set by the client, they don’t care whether you’re working from 9 to 5 or at midnight.

The pay is going to vary, depending on what you do, how much experience you have, how complex the project is, etc. But even if you’re just earning $25 per weekend, for example, that’s $100 per month and $1200 per year that you get to add to your travel fund, just by spending a couple of hours per week doing some extra work. Pretty sweet!

Passive income

We’ll let you in on a little secret – did you know that it’s possible to actively make money while…not really doing anything? It’s not a scam; it’s passive income, and it can contribute to your travel fund every year. There are a few different ways you can do this, and some of them include shopping. You already love to do that and you were going to do it, anyway, so why not make money while spending money? 

Let’s start with cashback – like it says, you get cash back for shopping through certain platforms, including Mr. Rebates, Ebates, RetailMeNot, Swagbucks, or ShopAtHome. The more you spend, the more you earn back, so if you have big expenses coming up, you might want to consider going through one of these websites. Every little bit counts towards your goal, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking that whatever purchase you make is not enough. 

The other cool option is to earn money for watching videos. And yes, it sounds like something you need to be actively doing, but actually, this is something you can do while you’re doing something else – maybe even while you’re working on those freelance gigs. All you need to do is set up the videos to play in the background, and the more they play, the more money you make, by doing absolutely nothing. 

Selling old stuff

We all know that we have too much damn stuff. We live in an overly consumerist society, and chances are that your house is full of crap you don’t need. And do you know how some people reconcile their shopping habit and their desire to travel on the cheap? They sell online all the stuff they don’t need, want, or use. And you can, too!

We promise it’s easier and less sketchy than it sounds. There are numerous websites that will allow you to do this, including eBay, Depop, and Craigslist, just to name a few. You just take pics of whatever you want to sell – whether that’s clothes, your old car, furniture, toys, collectibles, etc. – upload them online, set a price, and wait for people who are interested to either bid on or purchase your items. 

Generally speaking, you’ll want to price your items on the lower end if you actually want them to sell, especially if you’re looking to get money fast. You can try to get more, but that will take longer; in the meantime, other people who priced their items lower are making the money you could be making, instead. 

Earning money through apps

You most likely have a smartphone, so why not put it to work, by making money through apps? There are dozens of apps you can use to make some extra cash, and they range from offering cashback to helping you sell your things, to offering you day gigs and even rewarding you for achieving your fitness goals.

The market is wide and it’s constantly expanding, so hopefully pretty soon, no one will need to leave the house or put their phone down to make money. Of course, for now, this won’t make you buckets of cash, so don’t expect to be able to set aside enough money for a vacation right away. But over time, you’ll have enough for your needs.

The only thing to keep in mind is that you should always go for reputable apps, because otherwise, you risk getting scammed by someone looking to take advantage of your time and effort for free. Thankfully, apps always have online ratings that can be easily checked and verified. 

Credit card air miles 

I know, I know, credit cards can be dangerous if they fall into irresponsible hands, and I shouldn’t really be promoting them. But hear me out – I’m not saying you should put your travel expenses on your credit card. What I’m saying, instead, is that if you already have a credit card that you use for other purposes – like the aforementioned online shopping – you might as well make the most of it and take advantage of the benefits that are yours to enjoy.

You see, a lot of credit cards will offer you cashback and air miles when you reach certain spending thresholds within a year. You will also typically get a welcome bonus in the form of airmiles, points, or money to be spend on travel, as long as you spend a certain amount. I know it sounds like there’s a catch, but there really isn’t; you just need to be very diligent about paying off the balance before the interest kicks in. I recommend setting up a direct debit to clear your balance out every month.

When you’re well informed on the perks you are eligible for, you gain control over your credit card and make it work for you. So, if you have good self-control and are responsible about paying off your balance, you might want to switch all of your expenses to your credit card – you can easily pay your bills online with your credit card, in addition to any other expenses you may have. Now you can rack up those free airmiles and enjoy a wonderful trip at the end of the year, completely free of charge!

Let’s summarize

Look, traveling is expensive, and a lot of the time, that great trip you make once a year is going to hurt your wallet badly. But you can avoid that painful effect by offsetting the expenses with various streams of income, especially set up for this purpose. None of these will take up too much of your time or too much effort, but each and every one of them will contribute to your ability to travel wherever you like. Enjoy your travels!