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Vacation budgeting
Vacation budgeting
I think we've talked about this before but I felt the need to bring it up again since I just shocked the heck out of myself. I just looked at what our projected vaca spending for this year is and I was shocked 
I never really looked at the full year of activity before and now I'm a little sorry I did!
How do you plan/budget for vacations? Do you set a limit? Do you say this is what we can save where can we go?
Just curious how others handle this.
I never really looked at the full year of activity before and now I'm a little sorry I did!
How do you plan/budget for vacations? Do you set a limit? Do you say this is what we can save where can we go?
Just curious how others handle this.
We're probably not nearly as anal about it as we should be.
We usually pick a location (pretty much a no-brainer lately), decide what time of year we can go, eliminating dates that have conflicts we can't avoid, then look for airfare that we can stomach.
While we're waiting for airfare to be finalized we start checking lodging options around those dates so that we can pounce once the dates are locked in.
After that, we decide how much we can spend, then adjust activities accordingly.
Fortunately, we can be very happy (on STJ) just snorkeling and/or hiking every day. But if some money falls out of the tree, we can always pursue on or more of the "extras".
Sometime we teeter on the edge of fiscal responsibility to take a trip, but we're firmly in the "you can't take it with you" and "memories will mean more than a nice car/lawn/furniture" camps.
We usually pick a location (pretty much a no-brainer lately), decide what time of year we can go, eliminating dates that have conflicts we can't avoid, then look for airfare that we can stomach.
While we're waiting for airfare to be finalized we start checking lodging options around those dates so that we can pounce once the dates are locked in.
After that, we decide how much we can spend, then adjust activities accordingly.
Fortunately, we can be very happy (on STJ) just snorkeling and/or hiking every day. But if some money falls out of the tree, we can always pursue on or more of the "extras".
Sometime we teeter on the edge of fiscal responsibility to take a trip, but we're firmly in the "you can't take it with you" and "memories will mean more than a nice car/lawn/furniture" camps.
Come see us!
last year was the perfect storm of travel expenditures for us – Spur of the moment trip to attend a dear friends wedding in Kona, semi-annual beachouse week in Newport with the in-laws, Week in STJ to celebrate my 40th, and then another week in Maui with my extended family. To say the least, we teetered on the edge of fiscal responsibility.
So this year is scaled way back, sticking close to home, making a road trip to the oregon coast, a possible long weekend trip this fall to Dland for the kids, a 4 day cycling trip on the white rim trail in canyonlands, home repairs, lurking the STJ forums.
We usually try to budget a certain amount per year for trip/vacations. There are some recurring vacations that we have to figure in like the beachhouse with in-laws every other year. But we also try to travel inexpensively as possible, picking shoulder seasons, pricelining cars etc, not staying at high end resorts, etc. Traveling is very much a priority for our family. I have a brother in-law who recently paid off his house and now it's all they can talk about, but they never go ANYWHERE. I'd rather take my kids places and see and do things than worry about if my house is paid for as soon as possible. All about your priorities.
Wasn't sure when we would be making it back to STJ, But our STJ traveling friends are celebrating their 20th next year and asked if we would like to go back again. I SAID ANYTIME!
Also without Ticker - for now
So this year is scaled way back, sticking close to home, making a road trip to the oregon coast, a possible long weekend trip this fall to Dland for the kids, a 4 day cycling trip on the white rim trail in canyonlands, home repairs, lurking the STJ forums.
We usually try to budget a certain amount per year for trip/vacations. There are some recurring vacations that we have to figure in like the beachhouse with in-laws every other year. But we also try to travel inexpensively as possible, picking shoulder seasons, pricelining cars etc, not staying at high end resorts, etc. Traveling is very much a priority for our family. I have a brother in-law who recently paid off his house and now it's all they can talk about, but they never go ANYWHERE. I'd rather take my kids places and see and do things than worry about if my house is paid for as soon as possible. All about your priorities.
Wasn't sure when we would be making it back to STJ, But our STJ traveling friends are celebrating their 20th next year and asked if we would like to go back again. I SAID ANYTIME!
Also without Ticker - for now
we don't budget (which means we are usually playing catch up when we get back--not the best way to travel-- we usually do a summer vacation (one to two weeks in Maine) that is fairly inexpensive--then a winter break (usually attached to christmas because the kids are off--that tends to be super expensive--but often we have miles we can use to offset at least two tickets-- in terms of accomodation, we try to keep things fairly inexpensive and rent a place with kitchen access so we can cook in (that saves alot)--if i had my druthers i would do a spring, winter and summer vacation with fall long weekends--
we're fairly lucky in that we have pretty flexible schedules--but honestly, when we come back from anywhere and do the math i am shocked at how much we spend nickle and diming.....
we're fairly lucky in that we have pretty flexible schedules--but honestly, when we come back from anywhere and do the math i am shocked at how much we spend nickle and diming.....
< leaving on the 22nd of march...but too lame to figure out the ticker thing again!>
Re: Vacation budgeting
Something like that. First off, sometimes hard to decide where to go (not so much of a problem for most here). Once that is decided, we start looking at a ball park figure what it might cost to go at different times etc., trying to estimate as best we can what it might cost total but also on a per diem basis for each big ticket item, then work back from there to find where you might be able to adjust to make it more viable. We also look at how a big $ trip affects the timing and cost of the next trip on the places to visit list.mbw1024 wrote:How do you plan/budget for vacations? Do you set a limit? Do you say this is what we can save - where can we go?
Sometimes the actual trip comes in under the estimated budget, sometimes over. Always good when its under like for our Switzerland trip a couple yrs ago that I posted an OT TR about here. That came in at about $5500 which was kind of amazing, whereas we were just looking at the Canadian Rockies with the 2 day scenic train ride to Vancouver (fly into Calgary, and out from Vancouver) but peak season that train ride is about $900 per person (x3 for us).
Yikes – that killed that idea. We paid less than $500 total for the three rail passes we used in Switzerland.
So then we started to think that really we want to go back to Europe (Italy or Greece) but that might work best schedule wise for us next year, so maybe its better that we don’t drop an excessive amount of vacation money this year anyway. We havent been to Maine in a few yrs, so that is on the table, maybe with some other regional overnights, so we can build up to Europe next year.
That said, you never know when DIF (Dreaded Island Fever) will strike in the meantime and throw those plans out of whack!
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
We plan our vacations primarily around our frequent flier miles. When we have enough miles to fly for free, we go.
We're headed to STJ in January. Since we normally visit in the low season, I expected it would be difficult to find frequent-flier tickets for January, but there was plenty of availabilities when I started checking in early March. Obviously, you need to plan in advance!
TM
We're headed to STJ in January. Since we normally visit in the low season, I expected it would be difficult to find frequent-flier tickets for January, but there was plenty of availabilities when I started checking in early March. Obviously, you need to plan in advance!
TM
I always find this discussion interesting. We don't necessarily plan or budget but we decide that we want to go to X at Y time of year and look at projected savings between now and then to see if we can swing it.
We also have a standing Maine vacation in July.
When I just looked at what we spent in STJ and what we plan to spend in July and on another trip in Oct. and worked out a per diem of what that equates to, I shocked myself!
We also have a standing Maine vacation in July.
When I just looked at what we spent in STJ and what we plan to spend in July and on another trip in Oct. and worked out a per diem of what that equates to, I shocked myself!
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bubblybrenda
- Posts: 549
- Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:57 pm
- Location: Vancouver, BC
I have an auto-payment every payday into a separate bank which is specifically used for my travel fund. In 12 months I can fund a 2-week trip to STJ and 1-2 mini vacations to Vegas or some place not so expensive (around $1,000).
I also put unexpected windfalls into that account (ie: Tax return, bonus, or any money that comes my way when I didn't expect it).
Similar to 2muchsnow, I did too much travel in 2008/2009 (4 trips)and this year I'm in school so instead of taking a "real" vacation I took 2 trips to Vegas (relatively inexpensive).
Saving for vacations is my priority. I bring a lunch from home; don't have a cell phone plan (I do pay as I go); don't have TV (a personal choice - not a financial choice); I drive a 10+ yr old car; and don't buy designer labels. Saving bi-monthly is a huge priority for me and I hope to never have to cut back on my vacations - I live for them and dream of them constantly.[/code]
I also put unexpected windfalls into that account (ie: Tax return, bonus, or any money that comes my way when I didn't expect it).
Similar to 2muchsnow, I did too much travel in 2008/2009 (4 trips)and this year I'm in school so instead of taking a "real" vacation I took 2 trips to Vegas (relatively inexpensive).
Saving for vacations is my priority. I bring a lunch from home; don't have a cell phone plan (I do pay as I go); don't have TV (a personal choice - not a financial choice); I drive a 10+ yr old car; and don't buy designer labels. Saving bi-monthly is a huge priority for me and I hope to never have to cut back on my vacations - I live for them and dream of them constantly.[/code]
~Brenda~
I'm a big believer in doing something now rather than later if at all possible. Both my husband's and my parents passed away in their late 60's early 70's after working hard all their lives. I know my mom wanted to travel and was hoping to do so after retirement which unfortunately just didn't work out.
I just figure that if I really want to do something I should make it happen now. We've had years where the crop froze and those years we scaled WAY back, but if the money was there we did what we wanted. There is the fact that we don't have children to save for and that can factor in in a big way I'm sure with a lot of people.
The one thing about planning to STJ is that we buy the airfare ahead, pay that off, then do the rental, pay that off etc. So it's not one huge bill. We've started cruising lately and while that looks expensive up front it's actually pretty economical since it's all inclusive. But it does take a bigger chunk of savings at a time. Gives my husband heart palpitations when I tell him the price sometimes-but then I break it down in comparason to a stj trip and it looks better
I just figure that if I really want to do something I should make it happen now. We've had years where the crop froze and those years we scaled WAY back, but if the money was there we did what we wanted. There is the fact that we don't have children to save for and that can factor in in a big way I'm sure with a lot of people.
The one thing about planning to STJ is that we buy the airfare ahead, pay that off, then do the rental, pay that off etc. So it's not one huge bill. We've started cruising lately and while that looks expensive up front it's actually pretty economical since it's all inclusive. But it does take a bigger chunk of savings at a time. Gives my husband heart palpitations when I tell him the price sometimes-but then I break it down in comparason to a stj trip and it looks better
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sailorgirl
- Posts: 1644
- Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:03 pm
We take a "big" trip every other year, and each year we take a week in Maine which is very inexpensive. We keep a joint account into which we contribute all "found money", hubby's OT checks, gift money, the occassional unexpected check. In two years we can usually accumulate about 3K. We add the rest from our pocket. This year we did better since I got two checks from unclaimed funds so we are off to Hawaii for two weeks!
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mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
We take a week's vacation each July at the Great Blue Heron Music Festival. We've done so for many years and will continue to, as we're core crew there. We love it! It's our time with our "chosen family!"
Our big trips are kept very economical by staying in cheaper lodging and bringing/mailing stuff from home, and eating breakfasts and dinners in. We generally get two of those a year, when bonus comes. We take a portion of the bonus and spend that on a trip to St. John. Blaine manages a big box store. This year, it'll be just one trip down to St. John, in October, probably. We're simple people, don't need to stay in a castle or eat expensive food.
For other events, we go to our change collection. When we decided to do the Bonnaroo music festival in 2005, we pulled enough change out of our change savings, to buy two VIP passes, so we had an extra awesome time with extra perks.
Any other trips, we just save for, for as long as it takes.
Our big trips are kept very economical by staying in cheaper lodging and bringing/mailing stuff from home, and eating breakfasts and dinners in. We generally get two of those a year, when bonus comes. We take a portion of the bonus and spend that on a trip to St. John. Blaine manages a big box store. This year, it'll be just one trip down to St. John, in October, probably. We're simple people, don't need to stay in a castle or eat expensive food.
For other events, we go to our change collection. When we decided to do the Bonnaroo music festival in 2005, we pulled enough change out of our change savings, to buy two VIP passes, so we had an extra awesome time with extra perks.
Any other trips, we just save for, for as long as it takes.
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mindehankins
- Posts: 3014
- Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:21 am
- Location: Western NY State
We do not use credit cards that charge fees except American Express which are "Delta Skymiles" and "Rewards" cards, and we convert them into air miles. All the cards we use are paid off each billing period and all offer a perk of some sort.mindehankins wrote:Oh, and I am researching credit cards with airmiles. It's so stupid to pay for airfare when so many of you are getting that for free! So if you have any recommendations, PM me...
A recent thread on this forum might offer you some ideas:
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... edit+cards
... no longer a stranger to paradise
We designate money during a 12-month period, and then when that period is over, we evaluate how much is in the account and decide on the travel for the next 12-month period based on whatever amount of cash is in the fund. One thing is for sure, whether the vacation is at home or away, we always use our entire allotment of vacation days!
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.