Creating a Budget and Plan For Traveling and Fun

A lot of people, especially those with a family of 4 or more, think that vacationing is out of reach.

And I can't hardly blame them in today's economy. The price to travel is sky high, with prices increasing approximately 15,045,234%

Well. That might be a slight exaggeration.

Still, a single flight out from Knoxville, Tennessee to Oakland California, 15 days out for a round-trip ticket is over $1,000.

Luckily, vacation doesn't always mean you have to FLY. And EVERYONE deserves a vacation, damn it.

It's not right that there are people out there, anguishing over the fact that they think they'll not get to take their families (or even themselves) on vacation. So I'm here to help.

I have lived my life poor - so budgeting for a vacation on my already tight budget isn't easy. I'm just throwing that out there now since a lot of people don't have ROOM to budget and save for a vacation, keeping their household and bills in the green.

That also means I know the secrets of how to achieve this vacation goal. So follow along, and by the end of this piece, you might have a few genius ideas on how to at least plan for and save money for fun family events, if NOT a vacation. Whether you implement and do it, is completely up to you, my darlings.

The first stop in planning your budgeted vacation is... you have to choose a vacation!

Other than actually getting to the vacation, this is the fun part. This is the part where you decide where you (and/or) your family wants to go. This is the part where you get to get EXCITED about the idea of an adventure and dream a little bit.

Do you want a cruise? Do you want to go somewhere you've never been? Maybe you want to explore something in your country you've never gotten to see. Or are you going full AWOL and GTFOing out of your country for a tour of the UK?

This is the part where you sit down, and decide, where most in the world you want to take a break too, (or if vacation is out of reach, then you could decide on a big family event, like going to someplace like MagiQuest or the local zoo in your area, or even Disneyland!)

Stage two of planning for your vacation, RESEARCH! Yay!

Once you decide where you're going to go, the dream phase is over. Time to turn it into a reality, which requires a little legwork. Unlike researching for your master's thesis, the research for your vacation has the potential to be exciting and fun. And even if the thought of doing extensive Google searching and writing down details strikes you as tedious, no matter what you're researching, this is vital for your budget planning.

If you decide you want to take a cruise - you need to decide if you're going to cruise Alaska and Canada or set sail for Cocomo in Jamaica or the Bahamas. Looking up Cruise Companies is easy, and their websites provide you with pricing for whatever size group you're going with. Or are you even more exploratory? Maybe hiking in the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone is more your style. How much is the camping equipment if you don't have it? Maybe you are thinking of backpacking across Europe? You need to see the cost of living and research how that can be done safely, and which routes you're going to take.

This is the time you can figure out important details that are going to affect your budget. Where are you going to stay? Are you going to some place where cuisine is a big part of the experience? You'll need to include that in your budget. There is going to be the urge to buy souvenirs, and of course, you're going to need wiggle room in case there is an emergency or extra budget. And of course, if you go to a whole town dedicated to tourism (like Pidgeon Forge, TN) you need to include the price of activities you go to (again, see my MagiQuest link listed above). And amazing Google, will be able to pull everything up, from websites to phone numbers to popular tourist sites.

Once you have those details of what you want your vacation to look like, you can then research effective ways to cut your costs during your vacation too.

By the end of your research, you should have a nice little itemized list of prices for lodging, food, events, and locations a general layout of what your vacation will look like in the place you want to go, and a good guesstimate what it will cost you to take your vacation written down (or if you're neurotic like I am, on a spreadsheet with all the math sums neatly in a row and OCD'd over).

Pro Traveling Tip Learned From Experience: The final number on your budget sheet? Give yourself a few hundred extra dollars more, and aim above your base goal. Life happens, mistakes happen, and it would SUCK if something related to money ruined a part of your vacation.

Also, play around with non-peak vacation times. Summer isn't the most financially affordable vacation season since EVERYONE is on vacation then. You can find some awesome deals in tourism during non-peak season that will save you quite literally, hundreds of dollars.

Stage three: Saving and Accumulating Vacation Funds

Once you have your amazing budget research done and you have a rough estimate of what your vacation will cost, the cortisone levels are probably rising. There are hardly any vacations or places that don't cost a large chunk of change, and I'm guessing your vacation budget is no less than 4 digits. You probably don't have that kind of money lying around.

Don't worry. That's why you're planning ahead of time to give yourself time to save up for it, you silly goose.

Many travel bloggers will say things like "The goal is to save $100 a week for x amount of time to reach your goal." And YES! Saving 100 bucks a week would amount to a decent vacation after a few months of avid saving. Especially if you have other humans saving that amount of money with you.

But for most, saving $1o0 a week isn't feasible. Most people live paycheck to paycheck. And if they do get to save, when those damned financial emergencies happen, it's usually the meager savings that get dipped into. Which sets back the happy idea of saving for a vacation.

If you CAN save a solid buck every week, I'm very happy for you. Do it. Don't touch it. Save those big bucks. But... for those of you who can't save triple-digit sums every week, there ARE other ways! They are slower, but they are sure.

Every single loose coin you have, put it in a savings bank (you'd be surprised how quickly 10-cent pieces and 25-cent pieces can add up to dollars). Open up a savings/prepaid credit card or separate bank account to put any money you CAN save - lock away the card and DON'T TOUCH IT. Even if you're only putting in five or ten dollars a time after you've paid your bills and budgeting for daily living, you're still accumulating currency for your goal.

You can do side hustles to earn money specifically for your vacation fund too. Side jobs, or countless things on the internet (ahem, blogging on Medium or other writing platforms, Affiliate links, Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, or even a real weekend job). You can have yard sales. Everyone is able to save in their own ways, and I can attest that not everyone can put in to save every week. But as long as you're saving, and you make a goal and a budget, you CAN work towards that vacation. Cut out splurge spending such as eating out and impulse purchases to keep your account flush.

No matter how hard life hits you, if you can nickel and dime INTO your savings, instead of OUT, you can obtain that vacation goal! It takes determination and active conscious effort, especially for those who are low-income.

Keep an eye out for my future articles that I am going to link here for you to cut extra costs during travel. Yes. This is a placeholder text for that upcoming link.

Time is precious, thank you so much for taking some to read my article. I hope you enjoyed it and it proved useful in some way!

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