If you had a moment to read the “About” section of my blog, you already understand my affinity for a certain shoebox. That same shoebox has remained a very important part of my life for over 20 years, and in this post, I am going to share with you how having your own shoebox will help you save money for family travel.

When I graduated from college and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next, I waited tables at an Italian restaurant in Denver to save money.

I lived with my dad who I had never lived with my entire life because my parents divorced when I was six months old.

This is the house I lived in with my dad (who has since passed) and his girlfriend, Carole, after college. I brought my daughter here last summer to see the house and reunite with Carole. 

Tips from working hard at this restaurant made possible my first trip around the world. I brought my daughter here last summer while on a road trip. 

Most college graduates would run at the chance to leave the nest, but I looked at it as the only opportunity to finally live with my dad and get to know him as a person.

Yes, I had a great group of friends with whom I hung out often, but looking back in time, the memories I shared with my dad are what I treasure most.

In short, I was very happy with my situation. I felt no burning need to rush out and live on my own quite yet.

However…I needed an adventure.

Before settling into a career for the rest of my life, I knew I had to listen to my wild side and take a leap faith that my life path was not about to dead end at an Italian restaurant.

Shortly into my time waiting tables, I met a friend who had planned an around-the-world trip and was using a shoebox to save all the tips he earned in order to accomplish this goal.

(If you’re wondering why a shoebox and not a bank account, keep reading…)

Long story short, I made my own shoebox to stuff my tips into and soon enough, I too was on an around-the-world trip of a lifetime.

I saved enough money to buy a round-the-world plane ticket and backpack through five continents for six months.

My shoebox savings opened a gateway into our enormous, wildly fascinating and culturally rich world, and very quickly changed my life.

This is the cover I made for my first-ever shoebox in 1992. To this day I have had it hanging on a bulletin board in my office as inspiration that anything is possible if you set goals and stick to them.

When I returned home, I planned another trip, this time to Central America. And every penny I earned in the time leading up to the trip was shoved into yet another shoebox.

Here is the beauty of using a shoebox to save money…

There is something to be said for physically stuffing money into a box! You feel your hard earned cash in your hands. You witness it literally adding up.

There is no better feeling than lifting the lid of the box after some time has passed and seeing your wads of bills and heaps of coins getting higher and higher.

You can touch it, feel it, and count it whenever you want. There is nothing more motivating than that!

My shoebox savings became a very impactful visual and tangible way of saving and growing my money.

Which brings me to my next point.

Fast forward many years to 2012 when we decided to take a family trip to France to visit friends living in Paris.

I’ll give you one guess as to what I did the minute we purchased our airline tickets…

Yep, we made a shoebox!

We found a bright turquoise box that I saved from a Christmas gift many years before. We cut a hole in the top and after much fun at Michaels selecting France-themed stickers, we decorated our box just right.

Our “Paris Box”. This is the first shoebox we made as a family to begin saving money for a trip to France in 2012. We have kept the Paris Box out in the open at every house since then as a reminder that even the smallest savings make a difference.

By getting the kids involved in creating the shoebox, we gave them a chance to take pride in it. We allowed them to have a say in how it looked and most importantly, take ownership for a tool to learn about saving money in order to travel the world.

So, instead of tips going into our shoebox (my life path continued beyond the Italian restaurant after all) we saved pocket change, gifted money, money earned from doing chores or services for other people, money found on the car floor, in old purses and wallets, or dresser drawers.

Even our extended family enjoyed and contributed to our Paris Box. Several times the grandmothers were in town, they slipped some money inside knowing how much joy it brought to the kids.

Our kids LOVED the physical act of putting money in the Paris Box!

They loved eyeballing the stacks of cash and coins adding up. They loved counting it over and over again.

My son was obsessed with counting the money each time a new contribution was made. (Think: math!)

You’re probably asking, “Okay this is great, but how on earth could the amount of money you saved in that shoebox possibly have made an impact on the total cost of taking a family of four to Paris?”

Here is the answer…

We simply told our kids that their contributions mattered.

We let them know that the money they sacrificed was helping to make our family trip possible.

You see, they had no idea what it costs to take a family to Paris, and honestly, that part didn’t even matter because they believed they were helping out – and they were.

This lesson of contribution was so valuable and when we arrived in Paris and set out to explore with our friends, we could remind the kids that they helped make the experiences possible. We witnessed the smiles on their faces and the feeling of pride that swept through them.

We have been on numerous family trips since Paris, and each trip still begins with a shoebox.

This is our most recent shoebox that earned us a ziplining adventure in Cuba. The kids were very proud to know they helped make this possible!

Our ziplining family in Viñales, Cuba!

The kids are 11 and 13 now and still enjoy contributing. I admit that a few of our shoeboxes have been thrown together rather scantily over the years as our schedules get busier and busier with time, but rather than dwelling on how the shoebox looks, we celebrate the presence of the shoebox in our house and the upcoming adventure it will bring next.

I would love to hear if your family has ever done something similar.

What were the lessons learned…how did it go?

Please leave a comment for all to see in the comments box below!