Finding Travel Funds in Your Own Pocket

piggybank

These days a lot of folks are trimming the fat to help make ends meet. But by digging a little deeper, you might just find a travel budget!

Here’s what I did:

  1. Service Audit: I took a very close look at services I already had and determined some things I was paying for as part of those services but wasn’t using. I found over $30 per month!
  2. Electricity Peak Time: By learning when electric rates were the most expensive during the day, I was able to adjust the timing of doing things like cooking, running the dishwasher, and doing laundry. Between July and August in Texas, I was able to save over $80!
  3. The Scheduled Flush: I work at home. Combine that with a frequent use of the facilities, and you can imagine a growing water bill. By scheduling flushes to no more than five times per 24-hour period, I was able to save just over $10 between July and August.
  4. More Potty Talk: Another way to save on your water bill is to spend a few dollars on getting your toilets fixed if they start flushing themselves. This is usually a case of a simple flapper replacement. You’d be amazed at how much water is saved with a little investment in maintenance.
  5. Sink Soak: In this business, I am literally the chief cook and bottle washer. I not only head up HotWeeks-CoolPrices.com, I also do most of the cooking and most of the washing. And I have learned the power of the sink soak. By rinsing off dirty dishes on one side of a double sink and letting them soak in the other side, filled about 1/3 to 1/2 full of soapy hot water, it’s a quick whoosh of a dish wand to fill the empty side with scrubbed dishes. The water is off during this process. When several soapy dishes are ready to rinse, I rinse and turn off the water again in between. Placing a towel on the counter gives me a temporary place to set the dishes until I load them into the dishwasher. Not to rewash — just to rack dry! You save water, electricity, and, in my case, gas with this method.
  6. Ease Up On Watering the Lawn: This idea came by way of enforced water rationing during a very dry summer a couple years ago. By simply continuing the water rationing voluntarily, our water bill never exceeded $70 this summer. That’s about a $30 to $50 savings per month from summers past. Thankfully we had a much rainier summer this year.
  7. Audit Your Bank Statement: I actually found recurring charges I didn’t even remember authorizing in the first place. The best I could figure is that I had tried something for a trial period and forgot afterward. Add on another $10 per month from that audit.
  8. Modify Your Bill Payment Dates: I love my Sam’s Club membership, but one thing I learned the hard way is that even if you make regular payments, if those payments don’t fall within the creditor’s exact due date window, they still count as late payments. I was making regular payments, but at a time that was best for me. By putting in a phone call to Sam’s, I was able to modify the payment due date. Now I can send in the payments at a time that is best for me without incurring late charges. Late charges increase your interest rate. By getting your interest rate down (and ultimately by paying off what you owe in full at the end of each month), you can save up to $80 per month in finance fees alone!

So let’s tally the savings up:

Service Audit:      $ 30
Electricity:               80
Water:                       10
Bank Acct Audit:     10
Finance Charges:    80

TOTAL:                 $210

That’s an incredible difference! In fact, that’s a hot week’s vacation stay with one vacation deals program. But if I wanted to plan about a month or two in advance, all I’d need to do is pocket the $210 for a two or three months.

By taking resort vacations, the whole family can stay in a resort condo for one low price. The best vacation deals I’ve found are here.

Keep in mind, this was money I was spending anyway but wasn’t really using. I just adapted a few usage habits and identified and eliminated some wasteful spending. I gave up nothing. And there it was. A travel budget.

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Filed under: Budgeting

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