How to Afford Living in Expensive Cities Without Sacrificing Your Travel Plans

Expensive cities are full of life, culture, nightlife, and non-stop energy, but the trade-off is that you have to deal with the high prices of almost everything.

Furthermore, if you are a travel enthusiast, your plans get affected even more as the expenses won’t allow you to afford extravagant trips to your favourite places.

Despite that, with the right decision-making in your living arrangements and lifestyle, you can still afford to do everything you love in expensive cities and still save up for travels. Here’s how you can make that possible.

Key Takeaways

• Choosing a location wisely
• Including a travel fund in the monthly budget
• Making the most of our home city
• Lifestyle based on priorities

Rethink Housing: Your Biggest Lever for Freedom

In any expensive city, your biggest expense is likely your rent. This is also your biggest leverage for freedom because it’s the biggest expense in your budget.

Many city-dwellers take it for granted that they need their own studio or one-bedroom apartment. However, living solo can come with a hefty price tag. When travel is a consideration, here are a few options:

• Consider a room rental rather than a whole one-bedroom apartment rental
• Consider a shared living space with one or more roommates
• Consider a neighborhood that is a bit removed from the city center
• Consider a space with flexible leasing options that meet your travel goals

Room-sharing can significantly reduce living expenses without affecting location. Websites like SpareRoom can assist with room-sharing. When considering a move to Pennsylvania’s largest city, visiting websites like spareroom.com can give you a sense of what is available within a particular budget.

Reducing rent expenses by a mere couple of hundred dollars per month can mean a travel budget is now a reality. This can mean the difference between traveling, staying home, or traveling abroad.

The idea is not to reduce one’s lifestyle, but rather to align it with one’s goals.

Choose Location Wisely, Not Impulsively

In expensive cities, some areas may have higher rental prices simply because they’re trendy. The temptation to live in the most popular spot is great, but sometimes the excitement of being near nightlife and coffee shops may not be worth the cost of living month-to-month.

Consider an area with a practical eye:

• How close is it to good public transportation?
• How close is it to essential shopping?
• How safe is it at night?
• How long is the commute to and from work?

Sometimes, areas that are just a few blocks away from popular areas may have significantly lower prices and require very little adjustment in your lifestyle. The money you save could go towards traveling.

If you plan your location with practicality rather than impulse, you’re giving yourself more room for your favorite things.

Create a Travel Fund in Your Monthly Budget

Traveling is not something you can do regularly if you don’t budget it as an expense. In expensive cities, it is very easy to spend money eating out and socializing and forget that you want to use that money to travel.

Start by setting aside a set amount for travel each month. The key here is to be consistent. Ways to set this up:

• Set up automatic savings for travel in a separate account
• Use any savings from shared living arrangements to set up travel funds
• Use any bonuses or income from freelancing for travel
• Stop one expense, such as a streaming service, to save for travel

Having the funds for travel set up in its own account takes away the uncertainty of whether you can afford the trip, since the funds are already set aside.

Make the Most of the City You Already Call Home

One of the hidden benefits of living in a large city is the ability to have affordable, easy getaways. Not all trips have to include international flights.

Large cities are often transportation hubs, providing:

• Discounted flights to other domestic locations
• Direct trains to other cities
• Bus options to the beach or the mountain
• Last-minute deals out of large airports

By staying flexible in terms of timing and location, you can take advantage of any surprise opportunities that arise. A long weekend away can be just as rejuvenating as going away for two weeks in another country.

Another advantage of city living is that you do not necessarily need to travel far to feel culturally fulfilled. This could take some of the pressure off in terms of planning expensive city breaks while still satisfying your curiosity.

Increase Income With Location Flexibility in Mind

Sometimes reducing costs has its limits, and increasing income can open doors.

City living is likely to come with city prices, and so city living likely comes with city opportunities in terms of your profession. Here are some ideas:

• Ask for a pay increase based on improved performance
• Get qualifications that increase your earning potential
• Take up freelance work
• Monetize your hobby

Some city dwellers also house-sit or sublet their rooms while they are away on vacation. If you are able to sublet your room, it could be a good way to offset costs while you are away on vacation for an extended period of time.

Income won’t increase immediately, but over time, these small increases will add up and give you more control over how you allocate your money between city living and exploration.

Did You Know?

Airlines and tourism boards post special contests on Twitter and Facebook, which give participants and winners something for free; they are known to give out fully paid trips to people as well.

Design a Lifestyle That Reflects Your Priorities

Living in an expensive city and traveling while you’re there is not about making sacrifices; it’s about being clear about your priorities.

Consider your priorities and values:

• Do you value having more space than traveling internationally?
• Do you value eating out five nights a week more than getting that new stamp in your passport?
• Do you value convenience and being able to pay more for things than having more time and money for traveling?

These decisions simply reflect your priorities in life, and you must know the tradeoffs, whether intentional or restrictive.

So, the key is to make intentional decisions rather than impulsive ones to have better control on your lifestyle and habits.

Final Thoughts

A high-cost lifestyle doesn’t mean that it would be impossible for you to make and afford travel plans, but some trade-offs will have to be made, which can be taken care of with proper fund management.

Think smart, plan a travel budget, and find new and better opportunities and sources of income; all these will guarantee that you get to live a lifestyle that satisfies you.

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