Travel Fund

[lfw]

My husband and I came up with a way to travel without taking money away from important things such as bills. We actually call it our "Romance Fund" because we're sort of newly weds (two years in April). Three or four years ago we started saving our change. When the bag got full we went to the bank and opened a joint checking account (we each have our own checking accounts so this is our only joint account).

In addition to the change, we each put a dollar a day into an envelope. At the end of the month we deposit it into our "Romance Fund". Any time we get a rebate or small lottery winnings or unexpected money like a bonus from work we put that in the account too.

We use this money for traveling only. With all the change and dollars we have ended up with over $3,000 in that account. And like I said we only use it for travel expenses (hotel charges, gas to the destination and meals). We usually try to take long weekend get aways and that sort of thing but the great thing is that the money is always there and even if we are overwhelmed by bills or unexpected expenses, we still have that fund set aside to travel and spend time together and relax.

One thing we did vow to do was to never use that fund for anything but travel. Even if things get tight during the month due to bills we never touch that money except when we take trips.

My husband says "Just a dollar a day and a bag of change every few months is all it took for us to have this nice little fund to travel with."

[Aleta]

I hope that you use sites that offer Last call vacations. Many times there are cancellations, and you can if you go within a certain amount of time, it's yours for a lesser amount of month. Also, you can go to Sky Auction and bid on places as well. You can get 4 and 5 star hotels for a fraction of what they charge.

[lfw]

I've never tried those sites. I'll have to give it a look. I've just been booking the rooms and such myself and using our AAA discount LOL.

This fund works for us because we generally travel by car because my husband is afraid to fly and we take short trips. But we do want to visit Williamsburg, VA. some day and I told my husband our best bet is to fly there because it would be a 16 hour car ride down there from where we live.

I'll have to check out those sites you recommended to see if they have any deals for Williamsburg. Thanks for the tip!!!

[Aleta]

If you want to check out a place, I reccommend TripAdvisor.com. Put in the place you want to stay at and you will see th reviews of other visitors to that area. You'll love it because you can take tours of the places. Enjoy!

[fe2o3ez]

Great idea. But for those of us who dont use cash, it may be best to contact your HR dept at work and as part of the direct deposit, have a certain amount (say $15 per bi-weekly paycheck) contributed after-tax straight to the bank account.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by lfw

Any time we get a rebate or small lottery winnings

I think that's a great idea. Just one suggestion. Rather than putting lottery winnings in the account, stop playing the lottery and put what you would have spent on tickets in the account instead. It will grow much faster that way. The lottery is called a "stupidity tax" for a reason.

[fruitbowlk]

Great Idea. I think this will be the name of my unnamed savings account.

[ScrimpAndSave]

That is a great idea...and SO good for your marriage.