In two days we leave for a
10-day, 2500-mile, eleven state, 3-vehicle (1 van, 2 motorcycles), 6-person
vacation. And it is all paid for before we even step foot out of our door.
All of it is paid. As in
the food. The lodging. The gasoline. The admission fees. The tolls. The
souvenirs. Even the last minute vehicle tune-ups were all paid in advance.
How? Budgeting. Saving.
Sacrificing the “I want it now!” feelings for the “It will be worth it to go on
vacation completely debt free” feelings.
JP and I are mainly a one-income
family. By being so, we have sacrificed several materialistic parts of what
could have been our lives. The thing is, that most of the time, we do not even want
that which we do not have. I suppose that has to do with being missionaries in
third-world countries. Your perception of money and possessions totally change
in that situation. More on that in a later post.
While we are ok with not having
the best and greatest of everything, we were not ok with giving up our
travel. JP and adore traveling. We have been all over the world, and all
over the United States.
Since we were unwilling to give
up travel, and since we are unwilling to go into debt in order to travel, we
needed a game plan. First part of plan: We started carrying our lunches. All
three of us.
JP goes to work five days a week.
We decided he would carry lunch four of those days so that he could go out with
coworkers on Fridays. Lunch out is about $6. $6 x 4 days = $24 a week. $24 x 50
(take out 2 weeks for vacation time) = $1200 a year.
I eat at home, or take my lunch
with me, everyday, except Fridays. $6 x
4 = $24 a week. $24 x 50 = $1200 a year.
Little Bug packs her lunch from
home all five days of school. Lunch is about $2. $2 x 5 = $10 a week. $10 x 36
weeks = $360 a school year.
$2760 a year than we saved by
packing our lunch. We were able to set aside the greater portion of that money
to be used on our vacation. It is all divided up and ready for our trip.
Second part of plan: Find people
that you can, and want, to travel with, and ask them to share the expense. We
have found that we do not travel well with all of our friends and family. While
we are on vacation, JP and I like to go, go, go all day. That does not work
well with friends or family that just want to sit on a beach or in a hotel room
all day. I am not saying that that is wrong, I am just saying that clearly
those two vacation types do not mesh well together.
JP and I found three friends that
have the same interests and the same vacation goals as we do. By going as a
group, we are able to divide the costs of everything, making it more
affordable, and fun, to go.
Other tips for the tight-budgeted
traveler…pack your lunch. Many hotels (such as ours) have a free breakfast
available. By eating lunch out of the cooler, you can save a bundle of time and
money. You do not have to wait to eat, and you do not have to take the time to
find a place, sit down, order, and eat. In our past travels, we have found some
great picnic areas and roadside parks. Places we would have never even known
about if we had not stopped to picnic in them. We always try to eat supper at a
local, mom and pop place that we ask locals to recommend.
Book hotels months in advance. We
have found that the farther out you book, the better the deal will be. The last trip we went on, we got a $200 a
night room for $50. Twice. We also found that if you seek out the mom and pop
hotels, you not only get a better rate, you get better service as well.
So, as you plan your next
vacation getaway, think about ways that you can save money for your trip, and
ways that you can cut costs as you travel.
Enjoy the beginning of summer, my
friends. I will be off of blogging until we return from a much-needed time
away. I will see you on the flipside!
~Annie
No comments:
Post a Comment