Money Saving Tips for Filipino Travelers - Save Money for Your Travel Fund

PREPARATION: Tips on how to Save Money for your Travels

1. Create a Travel Fund

There are different ways to create a Travel Fund, as long as you are determined and consistent with your savings, you will be able to set aside enough money for your future travels.

Set up a separate Savings Account within your Bank Account - create an auto deduction from your monthly income, or allowance, to your travel fund. Separation is key!

Have a Piggy-bank (a strong one!) - buy a piggy bank where you can put all of your daily change and only open it on your targeted travel date.

Create an Excel sheet and follow a 30-week savings program - 1st week, save Php200, the next week save, then the following week another Php400 and so on. By starting low, you will ease yourself into the discipline and ultimately you’ll be able to save a lot more money!

Set a travel date and buy your flight as soon as you can afford it – The effect it has on your motivation to save is incredible and you’ll also show everyone around you that it’s not just pipe dreams. You mean business!

2. Cut down on your Expenses

Stop drinking your expensive branded coffee every morning or even your daily breakfast drive thru. Why not make your own coffee and take it in a flask? Think before buying expensive branded clothes and bags, will you wear them on a beach in Thailand? Why not wait for the sales or even until when you visit Thailand or Vietnam, where most brands are made! You really have to learn to control your spending; try getting a small journal where you can track your daily expenses or download an app on your smartphone!

3. Read books or Travel Blogs to start planning your journey

It’s always helpful to read things in advance, not only for budget and route planning, but it inspires you to start seeing yourself in those places, solidifying your ambition and motivation to reduce spending and save. Travel blogs are now a far more popular way to learn about new places and plan trips as they are written from personal experience by real travelers.

DURING THE TRIP: How to Spend Money Wisely When On a Trip

1. Have a Daily budget

It’s always better to have a fixed daily budget so you know your limit and then set aside Emergency money, which should only be used in emergencies, not just when you feel like splashing out on a more expensive hotel for a few days. Try writing down everything you spend, right down to the last little souvenir or street food kebab, then you’ll start to see a pattern in where you’re wasting money and can look for ways to cut back.

2. Book Seat Sales

Our generation is very lucky with all of the low-cost airlines around these days, not to mention having the internet to find them with! Wait for the peso deals and book them straight away! It’s even better value now that they’ve removed the fuel surcharge! Be flexible about when and where you will go to grab the best deals and add an extra level of spontaneity and excitement to your travels.

3. Book Cheap Hostels instead of Hotels

Hotels are expensive, hostels are cheap, simple as that! Hotels are fine if you specifically want a more romantic experience for two or you have the extra cash to splash, but if you’re trying to save money and meet lots of other travelers at the same time, then hostels are where you want to be. Shared dorm rooms are super cheap and are a great place to meet fellow travelers. Hostels often have a lot more character than hotels as well as a much more relaxed atmosphere where you’ll meet all kinds of interesting people from around the world. Check our list of recommended backpackers hostels.

4. Eat Street Food

Many Filipinos seem to think that eating abroad means eating out in expensive restaurants, but in reality, the best way to experience the local cuisine in foreign countries is through the street food. The cuisines of Thailand and Vietnam are unbeatable and if you eat outside with the locals, then you only need a dollar or two to enjoy the local cuisine. Sitting on small stools at the side of the road, with the traffic rushing past and the organized chaos of local life all around you, is as much a part of the cuisine as the food itself!

5. Go on a DIY Itinerary

As Filipinos, we like to prepare and often believe that booking everything with a travel agent is the best way to plan a trip. That’s cool if you have a large budget and limited time, but if you decide to travel at your own pace and you have a limited budget, then try a DIY trip? Read blogs, ask Google and post in forums – there are many different guides online to help you with DIY trips. When we arrived in Peru, we didn’t have much money, but we still wanted to go to Machu Picchu. We couldn’t afford the $250 trekking tour, or the very expensive train, so we asked the locals and trekked our own cheap route. We hiked for 30 km to reach the town of Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu and we were able to spend $79 per person just to see one of the world’s most beautiful creations.

6. Volunteer

Instead of paying for all of your accommodation while traveling, try volunteering instead. It’s a great way to get a free bed and food while doing something good for the world at the same time. You can teach English, help to build or share some other useful skills. You can offer help to build or work on an organic farm. Just make sure that you never pay to volunteer. Your time and dedication should be enough.

7. Use local transportation

It’s easy to throw a lot of money away on taxis, particularly when you pay the tourist prices. With a little bit of research and a little help from the locals, you can just as easily take a local bus for a fraction of the price. This way you’ll actually get to interact with a lot more people, too, which is the point of traveling isn’t it?

8. Handle “pasalubong” smartly!

Most backpackers rarely buy souvenirs – perhaps a ref magnet or a postcard is memento enough. Filipinos, on the other hand, have the “pasalubong” culture, but your family and friends would understand if you have a tight budget, so don’t feel pressured to buy loads. Surely, they will appreciate a postcard from where you are just as much. It’s a great souvenir, too!

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