How I save money for travelling

Even though I started travelling a year ago I was able to gather some very useful tips on how to save money for your trip and I would like to share them today with you! So grab your pen and paper and let's start!!

1. Create a budget for your regular expenses

It is very important that you create a budget to register all your incomes and outcomes. It doesn't have to be very complex, the idea is that you can get an insight about how much money you receive every month and how are you spending it.
In my case, my budget is an excel sheet with two columns, one for incomes and one for outcomes and then I classify each item  into fixed and variable. The fixed items, such as cellphone bills, will appear every month and you know you have to pay them but the variable items are the ones that you can make some adjustments to save money.
So having a budget is a great tool for you to realize how much money you can have available for your trip and also it allows you to know in which areas you can cut some expenses.

2. Make the adjustments!

Most of the times, you can save a lot of money by changing some little things in your daily life. Sometimes we don't realize how much money we spend in for example buying lunch at the office instead of preparing it at home. One day would not make a difference but if you do it every day for a month it will. Try to analyze which are these little things you can modify to get you closer to your goal. 

3. Plan in advance

When you have already decided your trip, try to plan it with at least 5 or 6 months in advance. That will give you enough time to look for good deals and to do research about the different transportation and accomodation options. Also, having at least 6 months before your trip allows you to create a solid money saving plan so that when the time comes for your trip to start you will have a lot of savings :)

4. Take advantage of the different apps and communities

There are many tools available to help you get the best deals in flight tickets and accomodation. So let's review them:

Hopper:

This app has to be my favourite! Hopper helps you track the flights you're interested in. You just have to select the departure and destination airports, the dates and the app shows you which dates have the best price. Also it will advise you in case there is another airport option that will lower the price. And what is even better, Hopper will keep an eye on your especified flight and will let you know when the prices are getting lower for you to buy them.

Booking:

For my last trip I have booked all my hostels through Booking.com because I realized they had better prices than some other websites. But what is more important about this site is that you can get even better deals by being an active member of their community. Whenever you have made a reservation via Booking, just remember to complete a good review of the hotel or hostel you have stayed in and that will not only help other travellers to pick the best option but also it will help you to get a higher status in the Booking community, which means you will get exclusive deals. 

Worldpackers:

This site allows you to look for places in which you can exchage your abilities for accomodation and food. Worldpackers is a great option in case you are planning a longer trip and you want to have a closer experience in the city you are visiting. It also helps you to save a lot of money and it gives you the chance to do something a little more meaningful while travelling.

Workaway:

This community has the same concept than the last one: to exchange your abilities working for acommodation and food, but Workaway has a larger number of hosts so it's useful to check this site too.

Couchsurfing:

This community is great for people who want to relate a little bit more with the locals while travelling. It allows you to have free accomodation in a couch or room inside of your host's house. The main purpose of this community is the interaction and exchange between the traveller and the host.

Hope you find these tips helpfull for your travel plans! :)