If you want to travel bad enough, then saving the money for a memorable trip doesn’t need to be that difficult. While there are numerous ways you can save money while traveling, there are also plenty of easy ways you can save up cash ahead of your voyage. Make these simple life changes, and you will soon build up enough of a fund to make that trip you’ve been dreaming of.

1. Keep track of your spending

This first thing you should do is take a note of all your spending and analyze it. If you’re not giving your expenditures much thought, then it can be far too easy to overspend. Besides taking note of all your bills and direct debits, you should also start noting down your daily spends. If you take the time closely look at your spending, you are guaranteed to find something that you are unnecessarily spending money on each month. You may not even realize you were wasting that money on a forgotten direct debit; you would be surprised how often this happens. You can use apps such Dollarbird, Mint, Goodbudget and Level Money to make keeping track of your outgoings quick and straightforward. Divide your spending up by categories, create budgets, and get a good overview of where your money goes each month. This overview will help you to identify areas where you can save money.

2. Pay by cash

We get it, paying by card is so much more convenient. However, research confirms that people spend more money when they pay by card than when they do by cash. When paying pay by cash, you can easily see how much you are spending and how much money you have left over. Get yourself organized and schedule withdrawals in advance to help you manage your spending.

3. Swap meat for veggies

There are plenty of great reasons to become a vegetarian and saving money is one of them. In fact, cutting meat from your diet could end up saving you as much as $750 a year. You don’t have to go completely without meat, but just swapping a few of your weekly meals for vegetarian options can make a big difference.

4. Eat before you shop

Have you ever gone to the grocery store on an empty stomach and ended up buying way more than you planned to? Not only can this be terrible for you diet, since you tend to reach for junk food, but it can also be bad news for your wallet. Research has found that shopping when you’re hungry not only makes you buy more food, but it also promotes the acquisition of non-food objects. In a study published in the PNAS, researchers found that hungry shoppers spent as much as 60% more than others. Next time you plan on hitting the shops, make sure you have something to eat first.

5. Drink homemade coffee

Those daily cups of coffee you buy from your local coffee shop? Bad news – it costs you about $1,100 a year. While you may not be ready to kick the caffeine habit altogether, you can save money by making your coffee at home. Don’t worry; you can still make delicious coffee at home on a budget using freshly ground coffee and a French Press.

6. Have homemade meals

Just like swapping your morning cup of coffee for the homemade variety, eating breakfast at home and bringing your lunch to work can make a significant impact on your cash flow each month. It may take some getting used to as you need to plan ahead, but you will get used to the routine. Plus, if you bring all of your own stuff into work every day, you can end up saving anywhere from $2,000 to $4,200 over a year’s time.

7. Cut cable

If you prefer to stick to television, but usually only watch the same few channels, you can still lower costs by buying a package of channels. Sling TV does a base package called “The Best of Live TV,” which is $20 a month and includes 19 of the most popular channels. Add-on packs are an extra $5 each per month, so you can tailor it to your family’s needs and still save money. Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com