Stash Cash for Traveling

   Once upon a time, we traveled as often as we could. Before Grady (B/G), we took to the world by air, land and sea - cruised to the Bahamas, took the train up the coast from Florida to New York, and salmon fishing in Alaska! If you want to see the world, please understand that having a baby doesn't squash your hopes and dreams. It just puts them on hold for a little while.
   In the last year, the farthest we've been from home was Georgia and the baby went with us. We've had some really sweet and fun little family vacations like St. Pete Beach. But now that Grady is almost a year old and I am no longer his primary food source, we are itching to get away. So where to? Europe!! Some of our very dear friends are stationed in England serving in the Air Force. They will be there until May 2015 so we decided to visit them in March 2015. Why March? To snag a good rate before the spring season prices are jacked up AND in March, you catch the very tail of winter and early spring so the weather is not too bad. (It is England so rain boots and a trench coat will still be on my packing list!) Europe's "off season" is October - April. For awesome tips on saving money while traveling to/in Europe go here and more tips here.
    Now to discuss how we will afford this insanely expensive trip. First things first. If you are a traveler, get a credit card that earns you points/miles. I researched rewards credit cards extensively. The best I could find to meet our needs was the Capital One Venture card. You earn 2 points on the dollar and there are no foreign transaction fees so when you travel outside the U.S., there's not a hidden fee every time you buy something. Each point is $.01. We maximize our point earnings by putting everything on our credit card. EVERYTHING. We actually never use our debit cards. Any purchase, big or small, goes on the credit card including some of our utilities. Car insurance, doctor visits, gas, groceries, all of it. We pay it off every month as to not acquire debt or pay interest. This is an easy way to earn money back on things you buy anyway. So in just 5 months, we earned enough points to save $530 on our airfare to England. Score!
   If you do any kind of side job that brings in money not considered part of your regular income, I recommend putting it aside for travel (or whatever you might be saving for). In April, I started consulting for Pampered Chef. I've done 5 parties in 6 weeks and earned $560 in commission. Every dime of that is going into the Europe fund. When I started PC I decided all my earnings would go toward this trip so who knows what I'll be able to stash away between now and then! Visit my page to support the biz :)
   This goes for any extra income. If you have a garage sale, a running tab at a consignment store you can cash out, selling homemade stuff on Etsy - tuck it away!