Travel can be LIFE CHANGING, but it often comes with a hefty price tag. No matter how many points you’re able to use for hotels and flights — there is food, and gelato, and museum entry, and gelato!!! Need I go on?  The costs can quickly add up – especially for families. We realized that we could rent out OUR PERSONAL HOME (which is so weird, but here we are), to generate some extra income that essentially can pay for all the things that points and miles cannot.  Use this link to sign up to Airbnb your home and you’ll be rewarded with an extra $48 on your first booking!

• Covering Accommodation Costs: We love using points when we travel. But, sometimes, we prefer staying in Airbnb’s (because, it turns out, we want our kids to sleep at 8pm but WE don’t want to sleep at 8pm). When we rent out our home and pay money to stay in someone else’s home, we are basically staying for free.

• Financial Peace: When we Airbnb, we choose our nightly rate AND our minimum number of nights. When we leave our home for a month during summer, we prefer to only have one group in our home for a full month. Then we don’t have to deal with cleaners and turnover. When we leave for short periods of time, we always make sure that the money we would earn makes it worth the time and effort it takes to get it ready. It’s “worth it” for us when we earn at least $1250, which for us is to have it booked out a minimum of 5 nights. 

• Turn Your Home into a Profitable Asset: Your home is more than just a place to live—it’s also an asset that can generate income. By listing your property on Airbnb, you can leverage it as a source of passive income while you’re away. This additional revenue stream can contribute to your overall financial goals, whether it’s saving for future travels, paying off debts, or investing for the future.

• Home Safety: Airbnb has a built in insurance called AirCover that will help cover the costs of damages. We like to message our guests beforehand to create a relationship. We ensure that they know that this is our personal home, not an investment property. We have found that guests take much more care of it because they know it’s connected to a family that lives here.

• Determine Your Personal Comfort: The biggest question I get is “What do you do with all your stuff?!” Well – we leave it. I mean, we pack away some personal items and some cluttery items, but for the most part, we leave lots behind. We have decided that we prefer to not share sheets and towels with our Airbnb guests. We take down some personal photos, but not all. We clear out some dressers and lock a couple of closets. In order to do this, we’ve become minimal-ish. We don’t give our kids tons of presents. We are consistently and thoroughly decluttering our home. Even if you NEVER want to rent out your home, I 100% recommend being as minimal-ish as you can!

For a more indepth look at how we set up our home as an Airbnb, check out my 7 Simple Ways to Airbnb Your Home ebook here! It’s got room-by-room to-do lists and much more! 

Conclusion: Is it weird to have people sleep in your bed? Sure. Can it be stressful getting out the door? Sure. Ok, yes, very stressful. However, the peace of mind knowing that your trip, paid for with points and miles with a side of rental income is NOT creating a financial burden on your budget, can’t be beat!

Learn more about traveling on points and miles HERE!