I did the unthinkable on Tuesday and booked a flight ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It’s always been a dream of mine to travel the world playing badminton, but it was never genuinely realistic for me to do so. Finances were my biggest roadblock, as traveling and training would mean time away from work and an inability to earn money.
Inevitably, I would have to come back and rebuild my finances by working. The thought of training so hard only to restart my progress later just didn’t make sense.
Thus, for years, I have sought different ways of making money online to earn money while traveling the world. And this September, in 2024, I did it.
I’ve built three income streams (two if you count blogging as one) that can support my living expenses in places like Southeast Asia, and I am confident enough in their continual growth that I decided to pull the trigger.
I plan to leave for Malaysia in October and travel to various countries in the area to play badminton for an entire year.
While I am confident in my income sources, this is still nerve-wracking.
What if my income sources suddenly slow down or shut down completely? What if a huge unexpected expense comes up while I’m abroad?
I’m confident in my income sources, but I’m not a multi-millionaire who’s financially free. That’s why I must be frugal and take every advantage I can.
And it starts with how I’m paying for travel.
Use This Site To Get Cashback on Various Sites
One thing I regret not doing when traveling a lot as a Project Manager for Concierge Auctions was using Swagbucks to save money via cash back.
I’ve been a long-time user of Swagbucks, but I used it primarily for taking surveys and downloading the occasional app in exchange for money.
However, saving money on various sites you already shop on is the true power of Swagbucks.
When I worked in luxury real estate, I spent thousands of dollars on flights and hotels to places like San Francisco, Bangkok, Singapore, Toronto, and others.
If I had known about Swagbucks cashback offers, I could have saved a lot of extra money on top of credit card rewards and existing discounts.
I used Expedia a lot then, and I can earn up to 3% cashback through Swagbucks. If I had just remembered the cashback feature from Swagbucks, I could have saved a few hundred dollars back then.
It’s not like the cashback feature was hard to use, either.
All you need to do is go on Swagbucks, click the website you’ll book your travel accommodations from, and make your purchase. That’s it.
Image From Swagbucks
Nowadays, I’m not given $10K prior to going wherever I need to go like I was in my luxury real estate days. Every cent and dollar matters, which is why I made sure I remembered to use Swagbucks to help me save money.
Thus, when booking my flight to Malaysia, I made sure to use Expedia through Swagbucks, and now I have cashback pending.
Image From Swagbucks
It’s not much right now (260 SB only equals $2.60 USD), but it’ll add up as I soon have to book flights and hotels to Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Guatemala, Mexico, and others.
The great thing about Swagbucks is that it can be combined with lots of other bonuses.
For example, I get this Swagbucks cashback on top of the points I got from booking the flight using my AMEX credit card. My Expedia membership also shows that I have rewards pending from this transaction, though I’ll have to confirm if I get those rewards as well.
You won’t be able to combine Swagbucks with every offer, but even if you don’t do anything else, combining Swagbucks with a good rewards credit card can lead to significant savings over time.
It’s also good to mention that Swagbucks doesn’t offer cashback on every site and I do believe offers change based on your geolocation.
That being said, the selection of travel booking sites covered is pretty vast, at least from what I see. You can get cashback from but not limited to the following:
- Expedia
- FlightHub
- Marriott
- Hotels.com
- Best Western
- IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Choice Hotels
- Priceline
- Accor Live Limitless
- Travelocity.ca
- RentalCars.com
- AirportRentalCars
- CruiseDirect
- Auto Europe
- Emirates
- Radisson Hotels
- Trip.com
- Palace Resorts
- CheapOair
- VRBO
- Booking.com
- Hotwire
Additionally, I’ll note that Swagbucks isn’t just a cashback site for travel. You can get cashback on a ton of sites, including brands like Adidas, Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart, Nike, and more.
Basically, any time you are purchasing something, double-check Swagbucks to see if you can save extra money. The site is completely free to use, so there is no good reason not to check.
You can sign up for Swagbucks here.
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