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Curious about a vacation savings plan? Read On!

If you’re like me, you’re more than ready to travel anywhere just about now. I have quite the ambitious list of places to go in 2021 and beyond and I’m just starting to really dig into my vacation schedule. I’m already scheduling my trip to the Big Apple in the Fall! I love to plan vacations and help people plan their trips. And, something I always recommend is to have a vacation savings plan! It’s so simple yet so important!!

In this post, I’ll share how to put a vacation savings plan into practice and why you should!

Essential Vacation Savings Plan Questions To Answer:

Once you have answered these questions you can move on to creating your vacation savings plan.

#1: Where Are You Going?

I know you want to go everywhere! Me Too! But it’s easier to save if you have a specific place in mind. So for now, pick one place that you really want to go to. Once you have your savings plan for place #1, you can choose place #2, #3, #10 and more!

#2: When Are You Going?

Decide when you’re going. You need to pin down when you’re going because It makes difference for two reasons. The first reason is deciding when you’re going will help establish your budget in #4 below Prices can really fluctuate based on the time of year you’re going to specific destinations.

And, the second reason is once you decide when you’re going you’ll know how much time you have to save money for your vacation!

#3: How Are You Getting There?

You need to decide how you’re getting where you’re going because again, this will help you establish a realistic budget for your trip!

#4: How Much Will It Cost?

Obviously, cost is super important. Whether you want to spend a little or a lot, you need to plan how much your trip is going to cost so you know how much you’ll need to save. To do this, you’ll need to make a budget for your trip. You’ll want to include things like:

• Transportation Costs: Airfare, Car Rental, Train fare, etc.
• Lodging: Hotel, Condo, VRBO costs
• Food: Daily food costs + restaurants and drinks
• Extras: Excursions and Tours

Once you know all the above you’ll have a good idea of how much money this vacation will cost and how much money you need to save! This budget portion + the 4 questions above is your vacation savings plan in a nutshell!

Sample Vacation Savings Plan

Let’s say you love Sedona like I do and you decide that’s where you’re going there first. So your plan is for 6 days in Sedona in the month of May. After doing some research you find that the cost of airfare to Phoenix from Chicago is $400. And, if you’re like me, you have some Delta Points so you go for the Points & Cash Rate which works out to $200 + 25,000 points.

For lodging, you decide you want to stay at the unbelievably beautiful Courtyard By Marriott where a room will set you back about $200 a night. If you’re like me, you’re going to do a little travel hacking to get your hotel costs down. You have some Marriott points and you get a free night since you’re a BonVoy cardholder, so you only have to pay for 4 nights. This comes up to about $800 for lodging.

Now about food. You know that you want to hit some nice restaurants and have good wine, so you’re budgeting about $75 per day for food and drink which equates to $450.

You will be renting a car that will cost around $400 for 6 days. And, you’ll be doing at least one excursion: The awesome Pink Jeep Tours which will set you back around $100.

• Total Costs:
• Airfare: $200
• Lodging: $800
• Food $450
• Car Rental $400
• Excursions $100
• TOTAL COST: $1950

So you need to save up $2000 for your awesome 6 day trip to Sedona in May. Since it’s now January, you have 5 months to save.

2000/5 months = $400 per month. This isn’t a small amount, but it’s not impossible either. If you really want to go to Sedona, you can make it happen! That’s why you have a vacation savings plan! To help you get to your travel goals! So now you know you need to save $400 a month for your Sedona trip.

Here are 21 Things You Can Do Right NOW To Save For Your Next Vacation!!

• 1. Get A Side Gig. I got two side gigs recently and that extra money was CLUTCH! I think I’ll always have a side gig from here on out.
• 2. Travel Hack. It’s easy to save considerable money on vacation costs – save on hotels and airfare easily!
• 3. Open A Separate Travel Savings Account. Go to a different bank and open a savings account. This way your travel money will be totally separate so you won’t touch it for day to day spending.
• 4. Use The Cash Envelope System. I’m a big believer is using cash whenever you can! Make your envelopes and put your cash in.
• 5. Do A No Spend Month. There’s a lot of ways to avoid spending cash for 30 days. You can do it!
• 6. Do A Savings Challenge. Find a savings challenge. I like this one.
• 7. Try No Restaurants For A Month. If you eat out once a week and spend $50, by cutting this out you could save $800!!
• 8. Stick To Your Budget. You have your monthly budget for a reason. So you can save! Stick to it. Be Ruthless.
• 9. Bring Your Lunch To Work. This is another easy way to save. You can easily save $100 a month just by bringing your lunch everyday.
• 10. Park Your Car and Save On Gas & Auto Costs. Rather than driving, try walking or taking the bus for even some of your trips.
• 11. Make A Vision Board With Your Travel Goals. A visual goal always helps with the willpower! Plant your vision board somewhere you’ll see it daily!
• 12. Open A Checking Account To Get A Sign Up Bonus. Similar to travel hacking, you can score great bonuses by opening checking & savings accounts.
• 13. Cut Cable/Netflix and Save A Bundle. You can do without cable and/or Netflix for a few months. Plus you’ll be wayyy more productive if you’re not sucked into the latest & greatest series.
• 14. Set Up Auto Transfers To Your Travel Savings Account. It’s really important to get your money out of your regular, day to day account so you don’t spend it! Set up auto transfers to get it into your travel account automatically.
• 15. Stay Focused On The Goal! Keep your eye on the prize by being laser focused on your goal.
• 16. Say NO to any extras. Let people know your goal so they don’t unknowingly try to sabotage your efforts with endless invitations for expensive dinner & drinks.
• 17. Take Some Surveys To Make Extra Cash. You won’t make a ton of money doing surveys, but every little bit helps!
• 18. Shop For Groceries At Aldi. I love Aldi! They always have great deals on all your basic pantry staples. They are my go-to grocery store for savings.
• 19. Use Your Tax Refund. If you’re lucky enough to be getting a tax refund, deposit it into your travel savings account. This is a no-brainer way to pump up the balance in your travel account, and a prime example of how your vacation savings plan can snowball!
• 20. Get A Savings Buddy. Having support always helps in reaching goals. Similar to a workout buddy, a savings buddy can help you save by just being there for you – talk to your buddy about wanting to splurge and vent if you’re feeling frustrated about saving. That’s what friends are for!
• 21. Ditch Expensive Phone Plans. Most phone plans are SO expensive! Get yourself on Cricket or another low cost carrier. When we switched from Sprint to Cricket we saved over $150 per month!!

Just have faith in yourself! You can do more than you think and once you have a plan, that’s half the battle in reaching your goals!!

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