9 Easy Ways for New Travelers to Save Money

Money is one of the most common stressors in our lives. Either we don’t make enough, we spend too much, we don’t wanna budget, or we don’t even want to think about it.

But, if we think about it in the right way, we can lessen the stress and help ourselves save a little bit of money very easily.

In this blog post, I want to share with you 9 very easy ways to save some money while you’re on a road trip. A few of these might seem overwhelming at first, but trust me…once you start implementing these ideas, they’ll quickly become second nature!

1. Figure out WHY you’re on this road trip. Yes, we’re starting this blog post with a mindset lesson! Knowing why you’re on a road trip will allow you to easily figure out where to spend your money, and what to save on. For example, if you’re going on a month-long road trip to find the best pizza in the northeast, then your food budget is going to be quite high, but your adventure or souvenir budget might be quite low. If you’re on a road trip to backcountry camp at few National Parks, then your adventure and groceries budgets might be quite high, but your lodging and restaurant budgets will be low. And if you see yourself about to spend money in a “low budget” category, take a step back and see if it’s actually necessary. If it is, cool! If it’s not, maybe reconsider. Knowing why you’re going on this road trip will not only help you budget and have a basic idea of what you want to spend your money on and help you know where you need to save/pay more attention, but it will also prepare you for your bank statements so they don’t stress you out.

1. Buy groceries instead of always going to restaurants. One of the main ways to save money is to simply think about each purchase before we make it. It’s so easy to impulse buy, but if we purposefully buy instead, it will save us a lot of money. One change we can make on purpose is to buy groceries instead of going out to eat every day. Again, depending on “why” you’re on this road trip, grocery shopping can be a game changer in how much money you can save on food. There are tons of ways to eat healthy and inexpensively by buying groceries from a grocery store or a Walmart when you’re on a road trip.

2. Rarely buy anything at gas stations. Gas stations usually jack up the prices of their food, accessories, car stuff, etc. So unless you’re getting a $1 coffee or soda or a hat that says “Flying J” on it, only buy snacks and stuff at gas stations when it’s absolutely necessary.

3. Don’t buy something travel related just because someone told you to. If you’re about to go on your first road trip, or are just interested in watching other people’s adventures, I’m sure that you’ve watched YouTube videos, seen Instagram posts, or read blog posts of other travelers recommending a product to you. Please, please, PLEASE keep in mind that not every single recommendation is going to work for you, and you should not buy something solely because your favorite content creator is promoting it. The keyword there is solely because most of these content creators absolutely want to recommend the best stuff to you, and a lot of the time it can be helpful for you as well. HOWEVER, you need to compare what they’re recommending with what you are actually doing, and what you need/want. If you are about to go on a road trip, but you’re budgeting to stay at hotels and go out to eat once a day, then items like a fancy tent and a generator might not be beneficial for you and your specific road trip. Just like, if you’re going backpacking for two weeks, getting a Planet Fitness membership for showers wouldn’t make sense for you. So, absolutely keep in mind what someone recommends to you, but just make sure that it fits in with your actual road trip plan before you buy it.

4. Watch out for souvenirs and gift shops. Sometimes, it’s easy to walk into a gift shop, black out, and walk out with $200 worth of things that you’ll never actually use. While I love buying little things at National Parks (I always get patches to put on my ceiling), it’s just so easy to overspend and end up getting things that you forget about six weeks later! So make a budget and/or an item list before you walk into a gift shop. (And, you can definitely give yourself a little wiggle room for any special items that might be a “once-in-a-lifetime” buy. But STILL make sure it’s something you love and will use.)

5. Get a reusable water bottle. Instead of buying bottled water daily, buy yourself one or two reusable bottles to fill up at places like the gym, gas stations, truck stops, libraries, Target, Starbucks, and anywhere else that might give you free water or has a water fountain. This will save you a lot of money on water, and also lessen your use of single use plastic.

6. Get a gym membership. I have a Planet Fitness Black Card, which means that, for $22.99 per month, I can attend any Planet Fitness in the country. You heard me right: I can go to any and every single Planet Fitness location with my Black Card. Do I exercise? Rarely. I mostly use my gym membership for the unlimited showers I can take. So instead of spending a ton of money showering at truck stops, hotels, certain campgrounds, etc… just get a countrywide gym membership so that you can use their showers. (This is really only applicable if you plan on traveling where there are certain gyms. If all of your travels are going to be in National Parks, say, then it might be worth looking into those National Parks to see their showering options.)

7. Get an America the Beautiful annual National Park pass. Speaking of National Parks, if you plan on visiting more than two within a year, then it is well worth it to purchase an America the Beautiful annual pass. For $80, you can visit any National Park as many times as you’d like. To compare prices, a weekly pass at Yellowstone (or Glacier, Zion, or Yosemite) is $35, and a yearly pass for the one individual park is $70. So, you can see, if you plan on going to a few (or a few dozen) Parks within a 12-month span, the America the Beautiful pass is the way to go. They can be purchased at any National Park entrance.

8. Use gas apps and loyalty programs. Using gas apps, loyalty programs, coupons, and sales are a great way to save money in general, not even just on a road trip. When you’re planning for your trip, it’s worth spending a little time doing some research to on places you visit frequently: stores, gas stations, even restaurants, to see if they have any sort of moneysaving options. (In a future blog post, I will list out all of the apps I recommend using, and some common stores that offer coupons and loyalty programs.)

Some of these tips might save you hundreds of dollars, and some might save you a dollar here or there. But trust me, all money adds up. So, if you follow some of these tips, and just put some extra thought into all your purchases (do I really need this, can I get this somewhere cheaper, will I use this in six months…) then saving money will become second nature!

There are tons of other ways to save money on road trips, so I will add more blog posts in the future! But, for now, leave me a comment with any of your road trip money saving ideas! :)