A long time ago Heidi and I found ourselves in China staring into the eyes of a baby panda.  We were right there, and this 40-pound fur ball was begging to play with us.

Only catch was, it cost $50 to hang out with the little guy. 

You want to play, you got to pay.

Heidi and I looked at each other.  $50 in China is a lot, and we didn't have a lot, but we had enough.

Heidi voted Yes.  I voted No.  And to this day Heidi tells the story of how she could have held a baby panda and I didn't let her.  My bad.

This stuff happens.  It's tough to make choices in the moment when you're on a tight budget, especially when traveling.

What do we spend our money on?  Who makes the call?

I know if we're going to travel for a living, something's got to give.  The family arguments will just pile up if we have to debate over every experience we encounter on the road.  We can't just base all our decisions on our feelings in the moment.  We need to have a plan.   And thus I have created:  The Fun Fund.

Have you ever seen the Amazing Race?

How do people act on this show as they gallop around the world?

Are they calm?  Are they enjoying their travel experiences?

No - they're not.  They're frustrated, angry, and tired.  They keep making mistakes and they just can't seem to figure out how to stop.  The race often ruins the trip.

And not only does racing around the world bring out the worst in your personality, it manages to suck the money out of your money belt as well.  The faster you travel, the more money you spend.

And nobody likes a grumpy dad with an empty money belt.

Over the past few years I have kinda become addicted to playing the travel hacking, frequent flyer game.  I've managed to save up over 600,000 miles and rewards points to use during our travels, and the funny thing is - I hardly ever fly.

In a few weeks I'm going to share with you how these free reward miles will save us thousands of dollars as we travel and allow us to visit a few places we would normally never be able to afford, but for now I just wanted to give you some ideas to get you going in the right direction.

I asked Justin from InACents.com to write a guest post and tell us just exactly how to get started collecting and benefiting from travel reward programs.  Justin started visiting our site last year, and after getting to know each other a bit, I realize that the guy knows his stuff!  He really breaks the process down perfectly here.  As well, he's actually running a cool contest to find the best travel story of 2011 that all you travel bloggers should check out!

I'm sure you'll learn a lot from this post, and make sure you contact either of us with any questions.

A few days ago I received this comment on a post I wrote long ago about saving $20,000 in a year.

What planet are you on?  Most people can only afford to get by and were hoping for some decent ideas on how to stretch the extra $50 a week they have left over.  Instead you come up with a whole bunch of ways to save cash by getting rid of luxuries most people don’t even have in the first place.

Please take my advice and don’t write another thread, you're obviously an idiot…..

Well, if you didn't know it before, then I guess you know it now - I'm an idiot.  I give.  It's official.  I graciously accept my lowly lot in life.

But if an idiot like me can save enough money to travel the world, then why can't you?

Sometimes you have a big day.

Finally, after 15 years, we are debt free.  No more bills.  No more loans.  No more hassle.  We are done.  With the exception of our home(which we are in the process of selling), we are financially free!  And this makes traveling the world seem a whole lot easier than it did before.

I am happy.  I am.  But I have to say, I sure feel like an idiot for taking 15 years to pay back some money I borrowed.

This article is not about magic.  It's not about the lottery or some secret method for making money while you travel.

The truth is that mostly likely you have everything you need right now to save and make plenty of money to travel the world.  You have money now.  You have skills.  You just need to take a step back and see how much money you can mange to find and put away for your new life of travel.

Can you cut back on your expenses more?

Can you start finding ways to make some extra money?

I think you can.

I think everyone can.

We are in no position to be spending money this Christmas.

If you check out the Escape Guide we're working on, you'll see pretty quickly that our piggy bank is far from full.  Over the next year we are going to have to really start buckling down and putting some cash away.

But of course today is December 5th.  The big day is only 20 days away.  The kids are already itching.  The tree just went up.  And there is the smell of cinnamon and peppermint coming from every store window which never helps a saver (or a coffee/candy/cupcake addict).

So far, sacrifice has been pretty easy for us.

And now there is Christmas.

Today I filled out a quick survey created by Jeremy Branham of Budget Travel Adventures and one of the questions he asked got me thinking.

What does budget travel mean to you?

My first thought was cheap deals and discount airfare, but then I realized that budget travel is about so much more.

A budget is about discipline, it's something to be followed.  To me, budget travel means having the ability to make your travels fit your budget so you can sustain a travel lifestyle.

Time is Money

I have always assumed this meant that by wasting time we are forgoing the opportunity to earn money, and sure enough it does, but it also might mean something else as well.

What if by wasting money we are forgoing the opportunity to earn time?

Doing what you want in life costs money.

I know money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure does give you a head start when it comes to making your dreams a reality.