Do you prioritize saving for vacations? In years past, we never specifically set aside money for trips. Recent events have made me reconsider how we once operated.
We managed to make $845 by selling things in our crawlspace. From the beginning, I wanted to spend the money we earned on the kids. In my mind, I thought we’d make a few hundred dollars and take the kids somewhere fun for a weekend. But now that I have a decent sum of cash sitting in an envelope, I am not sure about spending the money so quickly. Instead, I want to do something a little more intentional.
In the past, our vacations were largely funded by my husband’s quarterly bonuses. We never planned ahead (financially) for these trips, but we also never went into debt for them. However, times have changed. When my husband stopped receiving bonuses last year, I decided we would just set a vacation budget and pull the money from our regular savings account.
This unexpected extra cash has made me reconsider my original plan. Now I am thinking about setting up a special account, specifically for saving for upcoming trips. I want to start funding this account on a biweekly basis. I plan to contribute $100 per paycheck to the account. This would give us a yearly amount of $2,400. For a family of seven, this isn’t a huge vacation budget, but I think it will be enough.
Being more intentional about saving for vacations has rekindled a desire I’ve had for a long time. We only have 4 years left until our oldest daughter turns 18. Before she heads off to college, I would like to take a big family trip. We live on the east coast, so I’d like to go somewhere far away – maybe the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, or even Mount Rushmore. I don’t have a solid plan to make this dream happen yet, but it’s been heavy on my mind lately.
Do you have a vacation fund? How do you pay for vacations and small road trips? We’d love to hear how your family budgets for future travel plans!