How To Maximize Travel With Little Money and Time

We can often see influencers and wonder how in the world are they doing so much so often.. No I don’t live in a tent or in my car… I work 5 days a week like the rest of you! And I actually go into work as well* No remote work, yet I still am out here exploring! Maybe eventually i’ll be remote, but for now I live the normal 40hr-ish work week!

***This changed about a year ago I am now content creating full time! but I went from waitressing for 10 years paying off college debt and traveling during all of it, to now finally working remote content creating(:

Something I get asked a lot is “how do you afford to travel so much and do everything you do?”

Simple answer: Priorities

PRIORITIZING traveling comes down to what is important to you most? Hair, nails, online shopping, Starbucks, top clothing brands? Figure out how you spend money everyday in the small ways and you’ll learn traveling could actually be cheaper than living the way you are now!

Everyone always has a huge list of things that didn’t get done during their work week, and now it needs to get done on the weekend.. Heres the thing, I know life is busy and tiring but if doing my laundry or making phone calls after a long day of work will mean my weekend is free to explore…then you can bet that’s what I’m gonna do. Turn off that show, or leave your phone in a different room and get your weekend “chores” done during your work week!

Number one:

Don’t stay in the nicest hotel or Airbnb. Motels can often be cheaper than airbnbs, and campgrounds are cheaper than motels. I often camp at campgrounds or use freecampsites.net to find free camping. If I’m really desperate Ill look for the safest free place to sleep in my car(Walmart parking lots thank you!). For a waitress living to explore the world, my day activities were far more important than where I sleep.

Number Two:

Pack groceries, or meal prep ahead of time so that you don’t need to eat at every restaurant you see, or think every meal has to be a treat yourself meal. That makes your weekend activities go from affordable to expensive…and you’ll stop being able to go as often. I like to stop in for a treat at a small bakery or get a coffee at a cute coffee shop. One thing you could do to break your day up is find a happy hour with cheap apps! But remembering that in order to be able to do this all the time, you have to have a tight dining out food budget.

Number Three:

Pack your car up ahead of time! The day before I leave…let’s say Thursday evening, I pack my car or my gear up so I can go straight from work to the mountains. That way I can wake up already there. This makes your two day weekend feel a lot longer than 2 days. It cuts down on the time you would spend slowly waking up in the morning, packing your car, and then the additional time to drive there as well. This helps you have two mornings at your wonderful camp site or destination!

Number four:

As I mentioned before, I get my life in order during the work week is extremely important in order to max out a fun weekend. Get your laundry done, cleaning done, meal prepping etc done during the work week. Aka not waiting till my two days off to get stuff done. That way I’m free to leave by Thursday night and feel good leaving. Planning ahead is apart of your weekly chores.

• What activities should I pack for?

• What food do I need to have or prep?

• Do I need to clean my gear from last trip?

• Do I need to spend time with family?

• Do I need to do Laundry?

Number five:

During the week plan ahead, this way there’s not so much time wasted on what to do when you get to your destination.

Research and make a general itinerary of free activities and what hikes you can do and where you’ll be sleeping. We tend to start spending money when we get bored and dont have a plan! Or at least I do haha.

Here are some planning tips to think through:

• What is the weather going to be like?

• Where do I want to go?

• What kind of activities do I want to do?

• What are free sightseeing options near that camping location?

  • Great places to find trails is a website called AllTrails I use the AllTrails plus and download their offline map and it helps a ton.

  • Google search free activities near “the place you want to camp.” Instagram location tags are also a great way to find fun activities near your destination. Compile your favorite ones and have them ready and researched.

Outside of hiking, fishing, and swimming...research free activities in that town, there’s always free attractions. I’ll give you a hint this is just outside of Zion NP and its free and has goats and small animals to pet!

Number Six:

If you’re going for a far away trip picking the cheapest airline is a non negotiable for me when I’m trying to maximize my bank account. I won’t say it’s amazing but again.. I’d rather spend money on a cool activity when I get to my destination than on the flight there. This also goes to traveling anywhere… cheapest rental, buses.. trains. So many ways to save. Turo is a great way to save on rental cars. Frontier and Spirit are great airlines to save on flight tickets.

Number Seven:

I personally think a great way to enjoy the outdoors to the max, is having a job that encourages outdoor time, and one that you can be passionate about as well. I found that Getoutdoorjobs.com is an amazing place to find a job working for and with people who think just like you about being outside! There are remote jobs, Tech jobs, and content creation jobs and much much more all focused around getting people outdoors. If I didn’t like my job right now Getoutdoorjobs.com is where I would be heading immediately.

Hopefully this helped spark some motivation to get out and create memories even on short weekends and with not a lot of money!

So, How do you afford travel? Stop buying your Starbucks coffee, stop getting takeout every week, or doing your nails and hair.. soon enough you’ll have a few hundred dollars saved for an awesome adventure. I said it in the beginning, but it needs to be said again… what you do in your every day with your money determines if you can afford to travel. If you have two days off in a row and even the night before those two days off you can have the time to start your adventure if you plan ahead. Every state and its surrounding states have beautiful destinations. Adventures are cheapest if all you spend is gas money!

I don’t just wake up and have tons of money and free time to adventure… I plan and plan and plan again. The more you travel the more you’ll learn to pack meals, sleep in cheap places and realize making your coffee at home can be fun! By doing that for 10 years I was finally able to make content creation and travel a full time job. It wasn’t because I started with money I traveled… It was when I was most broke that I learned how to travel well and afford it because it was my number one priority.