Summer is approaching and most of us are looking forward to planning and going on family vacations. And while summer is a good time to travel since the kids are out of school, it can also be an expensive time to travel with prices going up during this time. Even though prices may be higher, an enjoyable vacation doesn’t have to be expensive. You can plan fun and inexpensive family vacations on a budget. Some of our children’s most fun vacations are the simple ones like camping, swimming, hiking or going to the beach.
Here are 8 tips for planning and budgeting for family vacations:
1. Research Vacation Places & Costs
Decide on your top 5-10 places you want to vacation then begin to research how much it will cost to visit to each place. Do research online and make phone calls to ask questions. Then add up all of the expenses and figure out how much money an entire trip will cost to each of your vacation spots. The expenses should include travel, housing, food, rental cars, gas, souvenirs and entertainment. You will then need to decide how much you can realistically afford to spend on a vacation and how much you are willing to spend on a vacation.
You can do fun vacations, even if it’s on a small budget. If you can’t afford a vacation this year, that’s okay. A vacation isn’t a need, it’s a want. You can still have a great summer without going into more debt. And you can start setting aside money for an upcoming vacation you want to take.
A few years ago our family decided that we really wanted to go to Disneyland. We researched how much it would cost, and then we began to plan and save for it. It took us about two years to save for it, and we were finally able to go. It turned out to be so much fun! Our kids still talk about it today. You can head over here to read all about our experience, how much money we spent, and how we were able to vacation at Disneyland on a Budget.
2. Start Saving
I highly recommend that you don’t go on a vacation until you’ve saved up money for it. Once you’ve determined which vacation spot you want to go to, and you researched how much money it will cost, figure out how much money you need to save each month to have the necessary funds for your trip. For instance, if your trip will cost $2,000 and you can afford to set aside $100 a month, then it will take 20 months until you’ve saved enough money. Sometimes it takes time to save up enough money, but it’s worth it to not go in debt and have that stress of paying off your vacation on top of all your other expenses.
ranging in price from $25 to $70 or more. In order to save some money, I decided to assemble my own emergency car kit. Don’t feel that you have to purchase everything for your emergency kit right now. Start out slowly by purchasing a few of the items you feel are most important, then save your money for the other items that cost more. I started out and put together a basic emergency car kit and will continue to add to it as we have room in our budget or we decide we should have that specific item. At least we have some basic items we need for our emergency car kit, and that’s better than not having anything at all.
