When we decided to take our son to Disney World for the first time, we already had a budget to work with. My wife and I put $100 each per paycheck into our account, and after 10 months we had $2,000 put away. After youвЂ™ve done all this, decide whether you want to set some of the money aside for souvenirs. If you are driving, estimate gas costs for your trip. After you book airfare and hotels, replace your estimates with the actual costs (donвЂ™t forget tax and baggage fees) and use the estimates from the trip planning sites to set aside money for food. Once you have a rough idea of what you can afford, fine tune it. Use trip planning sites for your destination to help you plan what to budget for hotels, food, airfare and other needs. When itвЂ™s time for you to plan your next vacation, youвЂ™ll know exactly how much you can spend - the amount thatвЂ™s in your vacation account.Д«udget your vacation just like you do your household budget (you do have a household budget, donвЂ™t you?). Use Your Vacation Savings Plans to Budget Your Trip Pay yourself first by setting up an automatic transfer from the account your paycheck goes into - this way, you wonвЂ™t be tempted to spend this money on something else. Either pick an amount to deduct from each paycheck and save that, or decide how much youвЂ™d like to spend annually and divide by your pay interval (monthly, weekly or bi-weekly) to get your target amount.Д¬reate a separate savings account for your vacation fund.В There are a bunch of great online banks, butВ one of my favorites is ChaseВ because theyвЂ™re offering Penny Hoarder readers a $250 bonus when you open a new checkingВ account.ДЄfter putting money away for retirement (you are saving for retirement, arenвЂ™t you?) and your other monthly savings, put the dedicated amount in the account and watch your money grow. HereвЂ™s how it works:ДЄs part of your monthly budget, decide how much you want to save for vacations. To prevent this situation on our next trip, I came up with the idea of the vacation savings account. It wasnвЂ™t a nice surprise to come home to! After getting home and adding up the receipts, I was surprised at how much the trip had cost - we were enjoying ourselves so much, I didnвЂ™t realize how far we had gone over our budget.

When my wife and I took a trip to Alaska for a friendвЂ™s wedding, we only had one savings account for all our needs. Do you want to go on vacation without having to worry about how youвЂ™re going to pay for it? Do you want to sleep easy knowing that the vacation is already paid for? Are you still paying off the credit card from last yearвЂ™s vacation? Then consider vacation savings plans. Between bad weather, cranky kids, days of driving and lots of crowds, thereвЂ™s a lot that can get under your skin.ДЇor many families, paying for the vacation can be the most stressful part. LetвЂ™s face it, vacations can be stressful. In my observation, this is usually either a preschool-aged kid, or a dad. Three or four days into the trip, someone in the family has had enough: thereвЂ™s pouting, screaming and the dreaded threat of вЂњI refuse to take another step until I get a nap.вЂќ

If youвЂ™re confused about whether something is a need or a want, simply ask yourself, вЂњCould I live without this?вЂќ If the answer is yes, thatвЂ™s probably a want.If youвЂ™ve ever been to Disney World, the Grand Canyon, the National Mall or any other big tourist destination, youвЂ™ve probably seen the vacation meltdown. It simply means being more conscious about your money by finding areas in your budget where youвЂ™re needlessly overspending. And if you discover that youвЂ™re spending too much on your wants, itвЂ™s worth thinking about which of those you could cut back on.ДЄs a side note, following the 50/30/20 rule doesnвЂ™t mean not being able to enjoy your life. Using the same example as above, if your monthly after-tax income is в‚¬2000, you can spend в‚¬600 for your wants. Entertainment subscriptions (Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime).Wants are defined as non-essential expenses-things that you choose to spend your money on, although you could live without them if you had to. With 50% of your after-tax income taking care of your most basic needs, 30% of your after-tax income can be used to cover your wants.

6 month vacation savings planner