It's a good idea to start planning ahead for vacations. My husband and I have been discussing lately what we want to do this summer for our family vacation. Now is the time to budget and start saving for those upcoming trips.
First, come up with a dollar amount that you think you will need for your vacation. Then you can take that number divided by the number of months you have left until your vacation. Each month put that amount of money away either in a seperate bank account or in your savings. For example, we think we will be able to take a nice vacation for around $2,000. We are planning to go sometime in July. If we start saving now then we will have to put away about $167 each paycheck (every 2 weeks) from now until July.
Taking a little out of each paycheck for the next 6 months is a lot easier than coming up with a large lump sum all at once. We can transfer the money over to our savings account where it can sit until we are ready to use it in July.
You can do this for any big expense you have coming up. This post is linked to the Frugal Tuesday Tip hosted here at Learning the Frugal Life.
I'm going to have one of those when I've paid off my mortgage! Until then,$2000 seems a huge amount of money for a holiday? Are you debt and mortgage free yet? Is your emergency fund full of three months joint salaries? Is your pension fund full? Think of the benefits of putting $2000 a year into one of those. You can always holiday at home, find places to go for free, have picnics, visit friends, sun bathe in the garden - I'm hoping to save 65% of our income this year into mortgage over payments and pension fund - I have a savings funds but, as I'm 46 need to get my mortgage paid off as soon as possible as I don't want to work when I'm old! Love Frugal Queen
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I suggest putting it into a high(er) interest account, too, to earn a little bit of interest between now and then. ING Orange use to have 1% but it's gone down in recent months. I'm sure you could do a Google search on high interest savings accounts to help you earn, even if a few dollars, some interest while you're saving!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! Special time as a family is soo important. You will reap rewards for years after.
ReplyDeleteI have a vacation envelope in my envelope system. I put money in each month so vacation is pain free.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree. We never take a vacation we can't pay for with cash. We have a trip of a lifetime coming up in October (South Africa) and have been saving for a year. It will be that much more fun knowing it's paid for!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea...and it's always a wise idea to plan ahead, save and pay cash for everything!!!! I'm still looking for work, so I'm not able to save for a vacation yet..but, I'm not sure that I would, even if I had the money. The area of California where I live is so beautiful. There's lots to do here...and so I just don't feel the need to go on a vacation...yet :) :) :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)
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