Staying On A Vacation Budget

[Travel Guru]

Staying on a vacation budget is hard, but you have to do it, unless you are rich. It's just too dang easy to get off your budget and go crazy!

BUDGET- The very word can cause us to tremble in our new boots! But a hard-working soul need not fear. There's a simple way to win the battle of the budget. It's great fun, and what better time to get started! So what's the secret? Build some rewards and fun into your vacation budget! Here's where the fun starts. Your Goodies List will be your own personal list of rewards, fun, or items you'd like to buy or do. Jot down some things that excite you, things you can look forward to. Why? Because there's no budget on the earth that will work if you have no motivation to keep going. If you yearn for fancy new tires for your hot rod, try this idea. For each month/week you stay on track write yourself a check for your reward amount and tuck it into an envelope. When you've saved up enough to purchase one tire, go shopping! Write one check for the tires, then destroy the other checks. Update your checkbook, making up any small difference. Buy your tires one at a time as you "earn" them. If there's a huge discount for buying more than one at a time, simply keep saving your checks until you can buy more than one (only do this if you can stay motivated.)

Look at every line item in your vacation budget with your husband and ask yourselves, "Can I do without this?" and "If I can't do without it, how can I get it for less?" And then, like our Debt Diet families, see if you can figure out some way to bring in a little extra money. I completely understand and applaud your decision to stay home with your kids. But perhaps there's a way you can bring in a little money while they're in school, or that your husband could take on a little overtime. In other words, try your best to get creative rather than overwhelmed.

Every time I spend money from a travel category it gets subtracted. Sometimes you have to spend money from one category to cover another categories' expenses especially at first when you do not have a lot built up in each category, but at least you see where your money is going and where your spending weakness lies (like buying too many clothes for yourself or spending too much on gifts each month or fast food etc.)

Take a vacation in California for example. It's easy to spend $400 USD or more per night for a room in these settings, but my goal was to identify properties that are both affordable for a budget traveler and memorable as a vacation destination. I found two hotels about 275 miles apart that represent both the beach culture and the artistic scenery of California. There are many less expensive possibilities, but these places offer a measure of quality that merits a slightly higher, but still affordable, room rate.

You can stay on a vacation budget if you just work on it.