I know how difficult it can be to save money in general let alone for a vacation or to travel. I also understand and am sensitive to the fact that the ability to travel is a privilege to those who can afford to take time off for work, have some amount of disposable income, and a job that allows them to take time away or work remotely. But whether you think you’ve $10 or $1,000 left over at the end of the month, I want to share my own strategies for saving money to travel. Here are 4 ways to save money to travel.

1. ALWAYS Pay Yourself First

Hopefully you’ve heard this before, especially as it relates to saving for an emergency fund and other personal finance strategies. So if you’re already doing this for other reasons, how can you do it for travel too?

A few years ago, I went through my checking account and wrote down every penny I spent outside of groceries and monthly bills (such as rent/mortgage, utilities, student loans, phone bill, etc.). What I found was I spent way too much money on eating out during the week, especially at lunch at work. So what this told me was that if I ate the food at home (because let’s be honest, there’s always food at home), I could divert that money into a travel account. And that’s exactly what I did to save money for travel.

I would never suggest you stop eating out if that’s what you enjoy doing. Or that dreaded and annoying piece of advice that if you stop buying that morning latte, you can own the world. Seriously, what did my caffeine addiction every do to anybody? What I am suggesting is, IF there is a spending habit that you have that you agree you can do without or do a little less of, take advantage of the savings opportunity there.

2. Plan Ahead

Because of my extreme case of wanderlusting I usually have a pretty good idea of the best time to visit a place as well as when I should expect to purchase my airline tickets. I am familiar with the off-peak or off-season times for most places (or can easily find out through a google search) and also understand that I should purchase my tickets around 9-10 months in advance.

Booking tickets this far in advance isn’t always an option but this is where flight deals come into play and are a great way to save money for travel.

3. Flight Deals

The Points Guy and The Flight Deal are my favorite ways to get flight deals sent straight to my phone through Twitter notifications. This is another way that I can get an idea of how much I can expect to pay for an airline ticket at a certain time of year.

Just recently TPG and The Flight Deal were both tweeting about deals to Australia from SFO for under $800. I know that this is a deal because flights to Australia can often run for $1,200+ from the West Coast. By opening the webpage linked to the tweet, I learn that I can expect to find a good deal to Australia for whatever time frame this deal is for for next year or the following year, whenever I think I may want to go.

4. Use Airline Miles and Hotel Points

Airline miles and hotel points are a fantastic way to pay for travel. Last year we went to San Juan, Puerto Rico for $11.20 roundtrip for two tickets (the babies were both still lap infants) by using American Airlines miles. Stay tuned for my write up of how I got almost $15,000 worth of travel, including business class tickets, to Japan for this summer by using points and miles.

You’ll want to read this post before you start to earn miles and points with credit cards. Make your spending work for you and save money for travel.

Bonus: Economy Basic/Budget Airlines

The jury is still out on my opinion of basic economy and budget airlines. I have only flown Spirit once when they were fairly new and it was not an experience I’m looking forward to having again. However, for a short flight where I am traveling by myself or one other person, I can see the appeal.

With Basic Economy seats and most budget airlines, you have to pay for everything in addition to the price of the ticket. That means you even pay to select a seat in advance and sometimes even for your carry-on. Now paying for my carry-on is where I draw the line. You also board dead last and have the worst seats on the plane. Hence why I say I would have to be traveling alone and not that far.

What tips do you have for saving money for travel?