How to Fund Your Dream Vacation

If you are someone who likes to travel and save, you likely already know about websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak, that use fare aggregation to alert you to months when it will be cheaper to fly or buy.

These days, it's not hard to find a good travel deal - and with more than 716,00 Australians making overseas trips in March 2015 alone, our passports are certainly getting a workout. But do you know how to save the money for your trip to begin with? Here we share our tips for affording your dream vacation:

1. Open a dedicated savings account

If you are serious about saving, we recommend setting up an account specifically for your holiday fund. Once you have the account ready, set up automatic payments and set yourself a rule - no spending on anything BUT your dream holiday.

2. The change jar

A little goes a long way, and that is true for change jars. It only takes $2.74 a day to get to $1,000 in a year, so get in the habit of emptying your pockets of spare change at the end of the day. You could even paste a photo of your dream destination on the jar as extra motivation in case you're ever tempted to dip into it for anything but your holiday.

3. Budgeting

Make more money or spend less, these are the only two ways to save. So unless you are a dab hand at arts and crafts and ready to launch an Etsy empire, we suggest making some small sacrifices before you travel. Use our budget planner to see where your money goes and find ways to spend less on non-essential items such as take away lunches, drinks after work, and cafe coffees.

RELATED READING: More smart strategies to save for a holiday

4. Reduce your bills

Take a long, hard look at your monthly bills - are there any you can do without, such as unused gym memberships or Foxtel subscriptions? Perhaps you could find a better deal on your mobile phone plan by bundling your home internet? Trust us, when you are sipping mojitos in the Maldives, it'll all be worth it.

5. Accessing finance

Sometimes you will see a travel deal that is too good to miss, but you can't afford to pay it immediately. In this case, a personal loan might be a good option. If you have an excellent credit record and meet our lending and approval criteria, you may qualify for a personal loan starting from $5,000 in a matter of days!

Make the most of the funds you've saved with these insights on what the Australian dollar means for your travel in 2017.