Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Debt-Free Vacations On A Budget



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

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