vacation planning

How to Save for Your First Vacation

August 11, 2016 By Tahnya Kristina 1 Comment

If you want to take the vacation of a lifetime and never have had the chance to get away because of your schedule or if you haven’t had the income to justify jet-setting off to a foreign country, now is the time to change that and now’s the time to save for your first vacation.

If you’re in your 20s you may have never been able to enjoy spring break while in college and after you entered the real world with a full time job you may have been focused on paying off student loans before even thinking about going on vacation. Well it’s time to start thinking about where you would like to travel because with a little planning and a lot of saving discipline you (yes you) can save for your first vacation.

Here are five things to help you plan and save for your first vacation:

Research the costs

There’s really no point in saving if you don’t know how much your dream vacation is going to cost. After you decide where you want to go the next step is to start planning a.k.a. research the costs. Saving to save is a good start, but saving towards a goal is much better. It gives you something tangible to work towards and watching your balance increase is motivation to keep going.

When researching it’s important to factor in the costs to get where you want to go, the total price including tax for the accommodations, food and spending money. Always give yourself some fun money wiggle room because it’s very hard to plan the costs of a vacation down to the very dollar.

Find the best travel dates

If your dream vacation is a little bit out of your price range you don’t necessarily need to change the location, maybe you just need to adjust your travel dates. The summer is generally expensive to travel to beach destinations, whereas it’s not too expensive to visit a city. Although the prices constantly change you can find a four-star-hotel-room in New York City in July for around $135 per night on Priceline.com. That’s an amazing deal.

The other option is to search prices for different travel days of the week. If you originally researched a round trip from Friday to Friday, you may want to compare prices if you were leaving on Sunday. Sometimes a few days can make a big difference in the cost.

Set a daily spending budget

Some people take a wallet full of cash when they travel and once the money is gone they have to stop spending. That’s O.K., but is it really how you want to save for your first vacation? A better option is to give yourself a daily spending limit for various categories such as food, transportation and fun stuff.

This way you’ll know when to spend, when to splurge and when to save. The last thing you want to do is be on day four of a seven-day vacation and be out of money. Setting spending limits helps ensure you always have cash.

Open a new savings account

Saving for your first vacation may take several months or even years to achieve depending on where you want to go and how much it will cost. It’s a good idea to start saving with automatic transfers from your checking to your savings account. This helps you track your progress and as you get closer to your overall savings goal you can start booking your vacation. How exciting is that?!

Don’t forget travel insurance

One thing that people often forget to add into their overall vacation budget is the cost of travel insurance. Shop around to find a good deal and be sure you have all the coverage as well as contact information before you leave.

The last thing you want is to be injured in a foreign country and not have the phone number for your insurance company. That wouldn’t be an ideal situation. When it comes to travelling abroad it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Photo: Flickr: tdlucas5000

The Well-Budgeted Vacation: Fun Money Friday

July 12, 2013 By Jennifer Derrick 4 Comments

A vacation to a favorite or must-see destination is one of the most fun things you can do with money (unless you hate to travel, of course). But all the fun is sapped out of a trip when you arrive home to mounds of bills that you cannot pay off right away. It isn’t fun to still be paying for your vacation three years later. However, if you take the time to properly budget and save for a vacation, you can have guilt-free fun. And saving and budgeting doesn’t have to be a drag. Even if you have to work at it for a couple of years, there are ways to keep the saving and budgeting parts interesting and fun for all involved. Here are some suggestions:

Put up Pictures of the Destination

Seeing what you’re working toward is a great way to keep everyone motivated, even over the long haul. Put some nice pictures of your chosen destination on your refrigerator as a reminder. You can also keep one in your wallet or wrapped around your credit card so that you see it when you go to spend money. It might make you think twice about blowing the money on something else when you could be saving it toward your dream trip.

Decorate a Savings Jar

If you’re going to supplement your savings with a change jar, decorate it with pictures of your destination. Every time you deposit your change, you’ll be reminded of why you’re saving money.

Have “Vacation” Night Once a Week or Month

Use the time to do some planning, make some meals that originate in your destination, practice the language if necessary, watch some movies or documentaries about your destination, or flip through guidebooks and picture books you got from the library. If you can think of any vacation related games to play, that can be fun too. Get the whole family involved so they feel like they’re part of the process.

Stretch Your Planning Dollar

Planning a vacation can get expensive and you haven’t left home yet. Don’t buy guidebooks or picture books from the full-price bookstore. Get them from the library. You can find cheap travel books at used bookstores, too, as many people buy them and then sell them after their trip. Similarly, rent any videos or get them from the library. There are also tons of free Internet resources to help you plan.

Create a Vacation Budget

It’s great to save for a trip, but you have to know how that money will be allocated to get the most out of it. Research prices for travel, lodging, food, and activities and then figure out how much you can afford for each category. Maybe you want to get a cheaper hotel so you’ll have more money for tours, or maybe you can bring some food from home to free up money for souvenirs. However you want to allocate the money is fine, just make sure that your savings can cover your costs and you aren’t wasting money unnecessarily.

Let Everyone Have a Hand in the Planning

If kids are old enough, let them each choose one activity that they really want to do and include it in the budget, within reason. Help them save their allowances and any gift money for souvenirs, especially if you don’t plan to bankroll their purchases. Give everyone a say in how the money you’re saving will be spent. It’s a good time to teach some basic lessons about budgeting and prioritizing the use of money.

Account for the Extras

Tolls, parking, laundry, airport snacks, new clothes, sunscreen, medicine, things you forgot, etc. all add up and can take a chunk out of your budget. Plan for as much as you can and leave a cushion in your budget for those things you didn’t see coming.

Vacations are often among the highlights of our lives. They promote family bonding and make great memories. But the fun doesn’t have to wait until you leave home. By being creative as you’re saving and planning, you can create a sense of anticipation that rivals the trip itself. And when you go on your well planned, fully funded trip, you’ll have a great time and be secure in the knowledge that all of this fun isn’t endangering your financial well being.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Menard)

10 Travel Apps That Save Money

April 23, 2013 By Danielle Warchol 2 Comments

For those who enjoy traveling, one of the best tools that they have can often be found in their pocket. While your phone isn’t the first gadget that most people think about when planning a vacation, there are now plenty of apps which can help save you money when you do travel. Here are ten worth checking out the next time you decide to hit the road.

Hotwire

Most people know Hotwire for its hotel booking service, but their smartphone app is a great way to try to save money when you’re traveling. The app is designed so that it’s easy and quick to use, but more importantly, it helps you receive last-minute discounts. Hotwire promises that you can save up to 50% off last-minute hotel bookings.

Hotel Tonight

Hotel Tonight is another app that allows you to book discounted hotel rooms at the last-minute. The app lets you book hotel rooms across the world starting as early as noon and ending as late as two in the morning. The app also promises that discounts are as much as 70% off rooms and that each hotel room is vetted to ensure quality accommodations.

AirportParking

If you own a car, you know how expensive it can be to park your car for the duration of your trip. AirportParking is an app that allows you to search for the best and cheapest parking options. You might only know about the airport parking lot where parking is $15 a night, but AirportParking might show you a different parking lot with a $8 a night rate. This app is a great way to save some money on parking when you need to drive your car to the airport.

TripIt

Have you ever had difficulty keeping all the details of your vacation together? Or maybe you’ve spent countless hours searching for the best and cheapest hotel or flight deals. TripIt is a trip management app for your smartphone that helps you plan and keep track of all your vacation details. The app helps you save both money and time by keeping your itinerary completely organized.

Kayak

Do you hate spending hours upon hours trying to find the cheapest rental cars, hotel rooms, and flights? Are you worried that maybe you haven’t found the best option because you haven’t spent enough time searching? Well, Kayak is the perfect travel app to save money on your travels. Kayak pulls together hundreds of different travel sites to give you the cheapest flight, hotel, and rental car options. Best of all, this app is available on multiple formats such as android phones, iphones, or ipads.

GateGuru

GateGuru is a great app that gives you all the information you need to know about your airport. After you put in your itinerary, you’re able to see everything about your boarding gate. You’ll be able to figure out what restaurants or stores are located where, what stores and restaurants are popular, and whether or not your flight is on time or delayed. Most user reviews also comment on the restaurants or stores with deals or poor service as well.

GasBuddy

If you own a car, you know that gas prices are always on the rise. Whether you’re driving your own car or renting one for a trip, gas prices are going to be a big part of any car travel. The GasBuddy app lets you know what gas stations are in the area and what their current prices are. The prices are updated by other travelers since anyone who updates gas prices receives points that go toward saving money on future gas prices.

Out To Eat With Kids

When you travel with kids, you know how expensive everything can be. Meals tend to be extra expensive, especially if you have children who tend to be picky eaters or who don’t eat their entire meal. The Out to Eat With Kids app allows you to search for restaurants that have special deals for children or that let children eat for free. This is a great app to have if you’re traveling since you probably won’t know what restaurants cater specifically to children.

Currency

Have you ever traveled abroad and been confused about the exchange rate? Maybe you exchanged your money in the airport only to find a cheaper exchange rate somewhere in the city. If you’re unfamiliar with foreign currency, this currency app will be your best friend. It helps you learn what the exchange rate is for over 100 countries and currencies. This app will help prevent you from being ripped off when you go to exchange your money.

Expensify

Do you have trouble keeping track of what you spend on vacation? Maybe when you travel, you’re always in such a rush that you just throw away receipts or shove them to the bottom of your wallet or bag. Expensify is a great app that will help you keep track of all those purchases by cataloging receipts. You can just take a picture of the receipt or manually log it in to keep track of how much you spend at certain places. This is a great way to remember what you’re spending your money on while you’re traveling.