Travel Archives - Page 3 of 25 - Making Sense Of Cents

How To Teach English From Home And Earn $14 to $26 An Hour

December 15, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today, I have a great article from Janice Cook about how to teach English from home through online tutoring jobs with VIPKID. I've been hearing GREAT things about VIPKID, so I'm glad this reader of Making Sense of Cents volunteered to talk about her experience teaching English online with VIPKID. She has been a school teacher for 12 years and also teaches ESL online to students in China with VIPKID since February of 2017. Below is her article on how to teach English online:

Do you want to be a stay-at-home parent who can make some money in the early morning hours before your spouse leaves for work?

Do you want to work an extra 10 hours on the weekend to supplement your current income, pay down debt, and reach your goals more quickly?

Do you want to travel the world and take your job with you on the go? [Read more…]

Why would you make $100,000+ a month and live in an RV?

October 30, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 88 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

My name is Michelle and I live in an RV. And, yes, I regularly earn over $100,000 a month.

A common question I often receive involves why would I make a high income and live in an RV. As if only a "certain" type of people are allowed to live in an RV and everyone else is just lying about it. A common question I receive is “Why would you make $100,000+ and live in an RV?”

I am asked this question so often that it deserved to be its own article. And, if you want to get to the point quickly, it’s simple – we do it because we LOVE RVing.

There are a lot of assumptions that people make about why we live in an RV, like we’re hippies or even homeless. On the other end of the spectrum, some people assume that we’ve inherited a ton of money and don’t actually work, ha!

Other people assume that if we just bought a real house we would love it and quit RVing. Well, we did own a “real” house for six years, and we still love RVing more.

Whenever people make these comments, though, I think what they should be asking is, “Why wouldn't a person live in an RV if they could?”

To us, full-time RVing is freedom. We can chase good weather, we can visit friends and families all over the country, we can wake up one morning by the ocean, and spend the night next to a snow capped mountain. It also means that we understand how little we actually need to live, and that is true freedom. [Read more…]

How This Couple Does Van Life with A Baby (and a dog!)

October 25, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Giddi and Jace live in a van and travel full-time with their baby and dog. They are outdoor enthusiasts who purchased and converted a Sprinter van. Come here for van life DIY ideas, hacks, interior looks, tips, how they shower, how they afford their travel budget, and more! #vanlife Next up in my Extraordinary Series is Giddi and Jace from Our Home On Wheels. They live in a van and travel full-time with their baby (yes, a baby!) named Juniper, and their dog, Lotus. They are outdoor enthusiasts who purchased and converted a Sprinter van in March of 2016.

When they first started full-time travel, they had no more than $40 to their names.

Before they moved into their van, they were feeling stuck and unhappy in their full-time jobs.

Now, they fund full-time travel by selling their handmade jewelry, and they also collaborate with brands on social media.

Their Instagram account is one of my favorites, and it’s how I first found out about them.

In this interview, you'll learn:

How they live in a van with three people and a dog
How they are raising their beautiful baby in a van
How they earn a living traveling full-time
And more!

[Read more…]

How To Make Extra Money By Renting Out Your RV

September 27, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking for a way to make extra income, maybe by providing an RV rental? According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, over 8.9 million households own an RV, and this number only continues to increase.

Many RVs sit unused in storage lots, driveways, and backyards, so why not try to make a little money while you’re not using your RV?

And, who doesn’t want to earn a little extra money?

As you know, I talk a lot about how to make extra money here on Making Sense of Cents because I believe that earning extra income can completely change your life. By learning about different ways to make extra money, you can stop living paycheck to paycheck, you can pay off your debt, and more.

Due to the fact that I learned how to make extra money, I was able to pay off $38,000 in student loans within 7 months, I was able to leave my day job in order to pursue my passion, travel full-time, and more! [Read more…]

Create a Life You Don’t Need To Escape From

September 18, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin

To make life better, create a better life you don't need to escape from. Do you constantly dread going to work or some other task? Here are ways to make your life better. I know this quote will stir up some feelings. However, I want you to dig deeper and think about the true meaning of it, which I’ll get to in a second.

First, though, dreaming about vacations isn't a bad thing – we all do it.

Honestly, I'm always looking forward to the next destination (after all, I do travel full-time). But, if you aren’t traveling full-time, vacations do allow you to explore new places, relax, have fun, and more. And, because of all of that, they really can make life better.

When thinking of the quote, though, I think it’s saying – you should create a life that you don't hate. Honestly, it’s possible that taking vacations are causing you unhappiness, especially if you are taking on more debt to travel.

However, the life this quote mentions is one where you don't have to purchase things to make you happy, a life where you don't dread every single day, a life where you actually look forward to things, and are positive. [Read more…]

Should you go on vacation if you have debt?

September 5, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 41 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Managing your money and paying off debt can feel like a never ending process. And, if you have a long term debt repayment plan, you may find yourself wondering if you can realistically take a vacation without feeling guilty and/or potentially wrecking your financial progress.

Whether or not you travel while having debt is a personal decision.

Personally, I did travel when I had student loan debt (read more about how I paid off $40,000 in student loans in 7 months here). They were usually short trips, and I always made sure to budget for them while keeping them as affordable as possible.

And, we still had a great time!

We went to Puerto Rico, Kauai, and many other places, and each trip was done affordably.

Plus, it was a great way to feel refreshed so that I could enjoy life while working towards my financial goals.

See, I believe the key is finding a healthy balance. Luckily, I didn't have any super high-interest rate debt, so going on vacation didn't stress me out as bad or derail my financial progress. I also didn't add to my debt by going on vacation, and I knew not to splurge on travel either.

I know others who have debt but still spend thousands of dollars on each of their vacations, and they also believe that this is the only way to travel.

That is not correct at all!

You can still enjoy life on a budget, but it's all about having a good balance and seeking out what will work best for your situation.

For example: If you have high-interest rate debt that is building up each month and becoming more and more unmanageable, then I do not recommend going on an expensive vacation. Instead, enjoy the area that you live in for free, which is still very possible to do! In my opinion, spending money on a vacation would just add to the stress while money would be better used towards paying off your debt. This will make sure that you don't put yourself into a deeper hole.

For today's post, I would like to start a discussion in the comments below. Below is my opinion for traveling while having debt, and I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments as I know that opinions will vary.

Related content on how to travel on a budget:

How to travel if you have debt:

Find a way to travel affordably.

Travel is great. However, it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to enjoy your vacation.

If you still have debt, especially a lot of high-interest rate debt that is causing you to live paycheck to paycheck, then you will want to find a way to enjoy yourself affordably while on a trip.

This may mean taking a staycation and exploring the town you currently live in, instead of splurging on an expensive vacation across the globe.

Here are tips for traveling affordably:

Take a staycation. Like I discussed above, if you have a lot of debt and need to put as much money as you can towards your debt, then a staycation is probably your best bet. I recommend finding free events and other free things to do in your area so that you are spending as little as possible.
Budget for the whole trip. Budgets are always a good idea!
Don't slow down your debt repayment plan. If you don't have the money to travel, then you may just want to skip the travel or find a way to make/save extra money in order to do so.
If you have the gear to camp, camp! Camping can be expensive, so I wouldn't recommend that everyone go out and buy new gear to do it. However, if you already have camping gear, then it can be a great way to travel somewhere affordably and see the beautiful outdoors. Read How To Find Free Camping for budget friendly camping ideas.

Related tip: My preferred way to travel affordably is to stay in short-term rental vacation homes such as Airbnb (this will give you a $30 Airbnb coupon code for your next stay). Airbnb vacation home rates are usually comparable or cheaper than a hotel, plus you usually have more room and there is usually a kitchen as well. Also, if you have a lot of people going on vacation with you, you can split a house for a much cheaper price than it would be for everyone to get a hotel room. Read my Airbnb review The Many Positives Of Using Airbnb Plus a Coupon Code For Your Next Vacation!

Whatever you do – don't take on more debt.

I've heard countless stories of people taking on more debt in order to go on a vacation and to travel more.

In fact, one story I often share here on Making Sense of Cents is one of the worst stories I've heard about this. This person would take out thousands of dollars in extra student loans to pay for timeshares and cruise vacations.

And, they would actually brag about this!

To take a vacation, you should never take on debt (using credit card travel hacking is a different story and can be done wisely). Taking on debt to travel will just dig your debt hole even deeper, which will cause a lot of stress and probably make you regret taking a vacation in the first place.

You want good memories to come from the trip that you take, not stress, regret, and other negative feelings when you think about your vacation.

Vacations are great and all, but taking on debt to go on them is 99.999999% of the time not worth it.

Let's start a discussion. Do you think people should take a vacation if they have debt? Why or why not?

How This Successful Family Of Four Makes Travel Blogging Work For Them

August 28, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 28 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Did you know that you can travel for a living, with a family too?! Caz and Craig Makepeace, from yTravelBlog, a married couple from Australia have lived in five countries and traveled to 52 of them. Here's how they travel blog! Recently, I decided to start a new series where I interview people who are doing extraordinary things with their lives. First up was JP Livingston, who retired with a net worth over $2,000,000 at the age of 28. Today’s post is about Caz and Craig Makepeace, a married couple from the Central Coast of Australia. They have lived in five countries and traveled to 52 of them. They blog about their travels at yTravelBlog.

Just seven years ago, they had no idea what they were doing with their blog, and since then, their blog has grown to be one of the biggest travel blogs in the world.

In this interview, you'll learn:

The obstacles they had to overcome getting started.
How they afford to travel extensively with their family.
How they have become such successful travel bloggers.
What an average day is like for them.
Tips for traveling with children, and more!

They have traveled extensively, including an 18-month stint traveling through Australia with their two daughters. They recently came to the US and are road tripping here. [Read more…]

How to travel if you have debt:

Find a way to travel affordably.

Whatever you do – don't take on more debt.

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