Introduction
A big vacation is an exciting prospect, but it may seem financially impossible once you figure in all the costs. For families traveling, the expenses are even greater than that of singles or couples. Reach your vacation goal, regardless if you yearn for the exotic or budget travel, by setting and keeping travel money savings goals for your vacation. A few months of careful budgeting and saving can result in the vacation of your dreams and memories that last you and your family a lifetime.
Budgeting
Come up with a budget at least six months and preferably 12 months before your vacation. Determine the basic costs of travel, lodging, entertainment and food. Begin saving your travel money immediately. By starting early, you can set aside a set amount each month toward your trip. If you must purchase airfare or a trip package in advance of your travel dates, adjust your savings plan so you will enough for these on the day you must purchase. This saves you money since you won't need to use credit to make your trip reservations, chancing high interest fees later. Saving a little bit each month is less painful than trying to pay for the entire trip our of pocket at the last minute.
Visual Reminders
Get the whole family on board for saving travel money for your vacation. Create a poster to hang where everyone can see it daily. You can make it as simple or detailed as you like. Even a simple thermometer drawing that you fill up as you work toward your vacation goal works well. This visual reminder helps keep you on track and provides a reminder to your kids, too. When they want something that will impact the vacation money goal, you can direct their attention to the poster and remind them how close they are to vacation. A poster helps keep everyone excited and makes any budget cuts less painful since everyone knows the reward of a good vacation is coming soon.
If you have kids, it's also a good idea to have them set up their own travel money savings goals for the trip. Have the kids work on saving up their own spending money for vacation treats and souvenirs. Not only will this save you money on the trip, your kids won't be begging you to buy everything they see but instead will be learning to budget their own money on the trip. This can result in more thoughtful purchases that they will really enjoy.
Savings Tips
Open a travel money savings account. Many banks have account options for special goals. These are usually called goal savings accounts. Some goal accounts offer benefits that help you reach your goal more quickly, such as a higher interest rate. Use direct deposits into the account to help build your travel money balance more quickly. If your employer allows direct deposits into multiple accounts, you can make these deposits painless since they will be whisked into savings before you see them. Even if your employer doesn't provide this option, your bank will allow you to set up automatic deposits into the savings account from your regular checking.
