If anyone is trying to save up money, take a look at this book, "A Year Without Shopping" (I haven't read it, but just this article):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12099950/site/newsweek/

That regime seems a little extreme, and of course many people throughout the world do without much shopping, and not because they have any choice in the matter.

Jackie--I commend you on keeping your car! I agree that if it is still working and doesn't need fixing, why get rid of it?!

Only bummer is that at either 90,000 or 105,000 or whatever the manufacturer states, it will need a new timing belt....which can easily be the cost of airplane tickets to europe!!

<What do you people do in order to travel so often to so many places??>

<what do you people do in order to travel so often to so many places??>


This sounds awfully blunt, but here goes:

Watch a loved one die young.

Watch people in their 60s working themselves to death - for a car and a house.

Get very, scarily sick before 30.

Get motivated.

All those led to my own trvel funding strategies:

Pay off the credit cards.

Start thinking about buying clothes when they hit a 40 percent markdown, then wait a little longer.

Buy older homes with cosmetic flaws, then put in the elbow grease yourself to make them attractive. Sell, rinse, repeat.

Drive a 1998 car, paid for and still looking pretty good.

Work hard and get promoted. Make yourself invaluable at work.

Travel off season.

Discover the joys of two-star hotels.

Buy less processed food, i.e., make your own stir-fry, it's cheaper.

Save your pocket change. It sounds silly, but you'll have hundreds of dollars to travel with if you save it all year.

Use public transportation.

One Starbucks a week, no matter how much it hurts.

Invest time in finding dog-cheap airfares.

Get a cheap dog - pounds are good places to look.

...and I encourage my husband to travel a lot for work - to rack up the Frequent Flier Miles.

...and the "kids" thing is definitely a factor. Takes a lot more business travel to earn miles for our family of 5 to travel for free. I'd say about half of our trips are on miles and the rest we pay for. (but shop for fares!)

for the record - it's hard to travel with 5 (vs. 4) ... you need two taxis and two hotel rooms!

work my hinnie off, and just for fun (!)
I have too much withheld from my taxes, so every spring I have my trip $$$$
(hey I know it is a "tax free loan to the government" but at the so very tempting savings account rates of .05%
ANNUALLY, I think I can live with the disappointment. And if I had the additional monthly stipend, I would no doubt spend it anyway, or most of it. This was, I KNOW I will take a great trip once a year or so!!!

worktowander,
Amen, but others need to heed your advice (well, not the Starbuck's) - daisy 58, Vanguard's MMF was paying 4.58% last week. Way better than the US tax w/h scam.
M

I would say after literally reading this thread and another thread on the same subject, most have no kids, older, worked in the jobs awhile and little debt. The issue for my husband and I seems to be time. He gets about 30 days, I get 17. Since we have to visit family over the holidays (Christmas and Thanksgiving), I have just enought vacation time to possible do one vacation a year, if that. It is hard when you have family obligations.

I feel blessed because even with our time constraints we have had wonderful trips to SE Asia, Africa and S.America. Our motto is "whatever it takes". I drive a 1993 Acclaim that is in great condition, we save up for most major purchases, cut our lawn ourselves and shop frugally.

I spent 35 years running around the world trying to figure out where the Dinosaurs died . . the last 10 just relaxing and enjoying travel ( mostly in the USA, which I had not see much of prior to retirement.)

Made for some very interesting life experiences ( Why couldn't the damn things have died in more of the comfortable areas of the world ? ? ) .

Hi Lizzy,

Its all about luck in my case! I found an employer that believes in sabbaticals every four year. I get six weeks off (fully paid) every four years. My sister works there too, so she is my travel partner. We just had our third sabbatical last November/December. Spent 24 days in south of France (Provence, Cote d'Azur), Rome, Loire Valley and Paris. I spend those four years saving! I'm 45, but was 25 when the travel bug hit, married, two kids (now grown), own a home and am an account executive in a financial services firm. Helps that my hubby hates to travel, so more travel dollars for me! To save money, I say travel with large groups (triple or quad rooms are cheap when split by three or four people). Watch for airfare specials and always be as flexible as possible with dates if you can. It works for us.

I'm 34, single, no kids, I rent rather than own home (commitment-phobe), no debt except for a VW beetle which will be paid off in December. I'm an art history professor so I make an ok salary; it also means that I can (and have) gotten research grants to do traveling. Grant or no grant, when I travel I stick to a budget, stay in inexpensive places (but not hostels), don't eat expensive meals except for something very special. I'm one of those people who thinks a sandwich eaten in a park can be just as fun as a fancy lunch.

At home I live fairly frugally without being ridiculously cheap--I'm a brown-bagger for lunch, don't eat out more than once a week, I don't buy a lot of junk at the grocery store, I don't overdo buying clothes, shoes--so I can have more money for a) travel; and b) books (my other weakness). I still have a futon for a sofa because a new sofa is basically airfare. ;-)

This year's trip is funded with a) my tax refund, plus b) some money I got from finally selling my old car from grad school days. So it's coming out of 'extra' money, not out of savings.

Like so many have said, a trip doesn't have to be expensive. All it takes is good planning. The one drawback of my job is that I don't get the luxury of traveling during the off-season like so many posters here do, because it's during term for me. Going during October, for example, is great.

Dual Incomes No Kids - my husband and I are DINKS. We travel a lot more than most of our friends, and I honestly think it's because we don't have children. We're 36, been married for 7 years. We chose to live 45 miles outside Chicago instead of 20-30 miles so that we could get the same caliber of house for about $100,000 less. We both work our tails off and are well rewarded. We only have one car payment and our mortgage - no credit card bills or any other debt. We travel a lot for work and stockpile the miles. We go to Europe in the off-season. We don't do a lot of domestic travel - our summer vacations consist of hanging out on our friends' boat on Lake Geneva.

I am a professer who has developed research interests in African Americans in Paris, so I got money from my college to develop a new course last summer, and this summer I am doing a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar on modernism and Paris which comes with a stipend to off-set the cost of spending a month in Paris.

I also travel internationally to literarure conferences-- the Edith Wharton society met in London two summers ago, and I brought my children and extended our stay after the conference. Last summer I travelled to Sweden and Denmark in connection to presenting papers at conferences. I also extended my stay and brought one of my children.

So the short answer is that I do something professionally so that my college will cover my airfare and expenses during the professional activity, but extend my stay and bring any interested family members at my own expense. Sometimes, as when our family went to Italy a few summers ago, we just spend months searching for good deals. Frankly, I'm still paying off the Italy trip.

Oh-- I'm 50 (just, in March!). We own our house. I have 4 children aged 17-22; depending on their own summer jobs and activities sometimes between one and three of them will come with me; on my work trips my husband will use frequent flier miles to join me for 5 or 6 days. As I said in my earlier post, I'm an English professor and my husband is a community college president with a sister college in a small town in Denmark (hence some of our recent trips). So to reiterate my main "tip"-- try to get your trips subsidized professionally if possible~! The last 5 years I have gone to Europe every summer (once twice in one summer thanks to a surprise inheritance)-- about half the visits have been in connection with work.

Ever since 1980 we have traveled the world, sometimes for work, sometimes for fun; it's a disease, and we have wonderful memories. We have certain tricks to keep the cost down, i.e., use B&B's, hostels, family hotels, etc., and eat where the locals do (take a little effort to learn at least a few phrases in their language), go off season (always when we go to London--to see the shows at half price, get in the museums,etc.), and remain flexible. Because we are now retired and comfortable, we go when we please and spend what we want; fortunately, I don't want many THINGS at this point of life..but have such good memories.

My kids are now 11 and 13 and when they were younger, I hated when my husband was away on business travel. Now I keep telling him - go and earn those FF. What, you mean you're only going to Boston? (only 500 FF away from Phila.) Don't you need to go to SF or LA soon? Without the perk of those miles, we could not travel as much as we do. (Unfotunately, they are being devalued as I write this).

But, while I think we a nice house and nice cars, the cars we keep until they have at least 100,000 miles on them. And I don't have an ultra modern kitchen, bathroom, etc. When I hear of the expense of a total kitchen re-model, I think NO WAY - there's way too many vacations there!

I'm a SAHM who works part time in a gym, so I don't need an expensive wardrobe. But I found several designer re-sale clothing stores, and I dress better now than I did when I was working professionally. I don't necessarily shop in there to save $$, but it's become a fun game to see what designer stuff I can buy for a fraction of the cost.

I may have posted on this thread before, but I may not have (I've reread it a few times and have my own "answers" in my mind); in any case, I'll chime in now.

I don't think being upwardly mobile necessarily has anything to do with having the desire and finding the means to travel. We are decidedly not upwardly mobile: our lives' roads have not taken us to great jobs and promotions. We don't have the personalities or interests to score big in the business world. Our financial means are modest. I won't get too personal but DH and I both have histories that have taken a lot of time and energy to overcome, and move through to better, happier, more peaceful and emotionally rewarding lives.

But travel is what we like to do. I love that others here have said that they value experiences over possesions. We have a modest home in a city neighborhod. We drive very old cars, and we recently made the decision to get the 1991 car repaired in order to avoid getting a newer car and making payments.

We have 1 child, and she is now grown, but we put her through school and gave her the nice wedding she wanted. A lot of hard work went into it, but no big incomes, that's for sure.

We avoid debt and make do. We have had a few years where we went to Europe twice, but mostly it is once a year.

We never shop recreationally. We never buy clothes unless we really need them. We don't get spa treatments, massages, manicures, etc. We don't play any expensive sports nor belong to any clubs. I have a black purse and a brown purse, and they are both well used. I have another that a friend gave me as a wonderful gift, and I use that for dress up.

We don't redecorate, and we do accept hand me downs. Lucky for us, my architect brother gives us great hand me downs.

At home, we garden and work on the house (a lot of do it yourself projects), and we think the place looks great; it truly speaks of who we are.

I get books from the library, and we make necessary purchases on Ebay whenever we can.

We charge everything to a FF credit card and pay it off every month.

We are cancelling our cable tv package because it is too expensive. Netflix is a great deal.

And we have one cell phone that is on my elderly parents' family plan. We don't get any magazines exept one travel mag that I get a "professional discount" on (12 issues for 12 dollars).

On this same budget, we could probably have nicer furniture, a newer car, and some more clothes. But those things don't appeal to us as much as travel does.

karens,
can you share stores names? Thanks

I am 62 and semi-retired. that means I have time to travel, but not much money to do it on.

I have been to Europe 5 times in last 6 years.

I can't do anything about the cost of airfare, except I don't fly in the summer. Twice I have paid about $1000 pP RT because I really wanted to go at that time. Two other times I have gone because I stumbled across RT fares for under $500.

I can’t control the cost to get to Europe, but I can control expenses once I am there. I prefer to express these expenses in Euro since the exchange rate varies. (I spent more Euro, less dollars when the Euro was 86 cents than I did when it was $1.22.)

My biggest (almost only) expenses over there are accommodations, meals, and transportation.

Food: Every gasthaus has breakfast. I fill up at breakfast. The rest of the time, I eat simply - lots of Schnitzel. I don't necessarily go cheap, I just don't splurge often. I drink the local beer; it is cheaper than water or soft drinks. I compare the menus posted outside of restaurants. I probably spend about €20 per day per person.

Where I think I really do a good job is in minimizing the cost of transportation and accommodations. There are three secrets - planning, planning, and planning.

Itinerary: Instead of jumping from high point to high point in Europe, I pick a smaller area (e.g., So. Germany) and explore it thoroughly. I do extensive research in guide books and on the internet to find the attractions in the area.

Accommodations: Because I know where I want to go, I can make reservations in advance to get the best rates. I stay in small towns; I find accommodations on their websites and pick small family run places. It is very helpful to understand the local language. Without resorting to hostels, my average cost of accommodations has been as little as €25 per night per person, including breakfast.

Transportation: This is where I really save money. I carefully research the public transportation so I know how to get to what I want to see. I make extensive use of Länder tickets in Germany. My transportation costs are about €100 per week. I avoid renting a car. This I can do, and still see what I want to, by thoroughly planning the trip. By using public transportation I have saved over $3000 in 10 weeks this century.