Holiday budget. Most people think this is the first place to cut when planning their budget.
Hell, no!!!
Well…. not for my family and I. This is maybe (surely, in fact!) the most important part of our budget. We couldn’t live without traveling and discovering places we haven’t been yet. Adventure is an evidence and a need deep in our souls 🙂
If you aren’t too sure where and how to start with your budget, please do read this post. It will help you start your first budget and learn the basics to rock it the simple and easy way.
How do you deal with your vacation?
I’m not asking how do you plan them, I’m sure you know how to book a place to stay at 🙂
But how do you manage your money to go on holiday?
I am always excited when we decide where we should go on vacation. Sometimes it’s nearby, just a road trip in our beautiful country, and sometimes it’s really far far away with a totally different culture and nature. Whether we stay in the neighborhood or fly away, we don’t have to worry about money.
We don’t have to worry about money we are spending for our holiday, we have a budget for it.
To enjoy our freedom, we have planned a certain amount of money to put aside on every paycheck.
Moving and discovering is part of our lives. We love going to new places and returning to places we love. We have plenty of memories and adventures to talk about with our children. They truly enjoy talking about what happened here and there, remembering through the pictures where we went together.
Going on holiday doesn’t mean you have to go far away from your home. Whether you want to stay at home and discover a nearby city or want to go to places where the names are unpronounceable, you need a budget to take your mind away from money worries.
Holiday is a lot more stressful to organize when you don’t have money planned for it.
When planning your vacation, you realize it is more expensive than you thought. When you have children, you realize everything is much more expensive when it’s school holidays. Unfortunately, it’s the only time you can enjoy a holiday with your kids.
Then, you know you will have less money when coming back from holiday. Maybe you will have nothing left until your next paycheck. In the worst case, you will use your credit card to pay for everything and pay for your holidays for months afterward.
How can you deal with that? Is Giving up on holiday the solution?
When I was working full time, we were in this situation. We didn’t have a budget for our vacation. We were simply deciding where and when and going. That was a huge mistake! We were in debt because of our holiday, because we weren’t planning any money for it.
If you don’t plan money for this specific thing, you end up using the money you shouldn’t use. The money you had aside for paying bills or money you simply don’t have.
So, yes, paying your bills is the first and most important charge. And you have to be up to date with your bills before budgeting anything else. This is the basis!
The way to master your budget is to have a budget for everything. I know, this sounds crazy. But think about it. When you have money planned for every type of cost, you don’t have to worry anymore. You will have money for your bills and for your holiday.
Kick out the money worries and enjoy your holiday!!!
Do understand that before being able to benefit from this budget planning, it may take a few months, maybe a full year. Putting money aside and money planning is only beneficial after a certain time you have been doing it.
When budgeting the amount of money you want to put aside for your holiday, you need to think of what kind of holiday you enjoy. Not everyone, couple or family like the same type of vacation.
STEP 1 – Analyze
Think of your type of holiday.
Maybe you enjoy staying at home. You love going on long weekends. Flying to different destinations. Driving through the country. Being an adventurous backpacker. And maybe you love doing all of those throughout the year.
When understanding what you like, it is easier to define and plan your budget.
STEP 2 – Set goals
After defining what sort of holiday you want to enjoy, you have to set goals for a whole year.
You need to set plans and know what you want to do.
What would you like to visit? Where would you love to go? This is a great discussion to have with family and friends. Would you prefer to have one big vacation or have several shorter ones? This all depends on how many holiday days you can take from work and when your employer allows you to take them.
The best is really to plan a whole year of vacation. This way you will be able to plan your budget correctly.
STEP 3 – Calculate
Now your holiday plans are clear and written down, you have to calculate.
Planning to have a Disney World family trip, check the price on the internet. Want to visit your aunty in Europe, check the cost for when you can go. Simply staying at home and want to enjoy activities nearby, have a look how much you will need. If it’s a road trip, estimate the miles you will travel and gas you will use.
Goals will be different for everyone. We all enjoy our holiday according to who we are. And that’s great!
When planning and budgeting your different vacations, don’t forget to include food and activities.
Having a holiday budget isn’t only for the journey and sleep nights but for all costs.
In this case, it’s always better to overestimate than underestimate. It’s better to come home with a little left than having to use money you didn’t plan to use.
STEP 4 – Budget
Now that’s the difficult part of the game. Do your goals fit in your budget?
When budgeting, the trick is to put aside each week or month a certain amount of money to be able to use it when needed. The goal here is to have a holiday budget that corresponds both to the type of holiday you enjoy and to your income.
You also have to understand that at the beginning of this particular budget, you won’t have enough money aside to achieve most of your goals. By being patient, you will live the full benefit of it.
The best part: when you plan your holiday, you don’t need to worry about money, you already have it!
Conclusion
It is important to understand what sort of holiday you enjoy in order to be able to start a holiday budget. When this budget gets into your money budgeting routine, your life is much more simple.
Less money worries mean less stress and more happiness!
If holiday is as important for you as it is for us, I’m sure you will find a solution to fit that little (or big!) amount of money to put aside from every paycheck.
Need some ideas on how to save money on an everyday basis so you can higher this particular budget? Don’t hesitate to read this post.
How do you manage your money for your holiday? Have you ever thought to have a budget for your holiday?
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