I was just curious as to how everyone paid for their vacations? Do you save a certain amount monthly, or do you put it on credit card and pay it off afterwards?
Does it come out of general savings or do some people have a special account for just vacations?
I just thought it might be an interesting topic.
I personally save money on a monthly basis and put it aside just for travel, and then just spend it on a yearly basis when I go on a trip.
We dont spend our money on new cars, but instead use our extra money to travel.
Does anyone else have similar habits or have any thoughts.
thanks

We have X amount of dollars withheld from dh's paycheck that goes into his credit union fund. That's what we use for the bulk of vacationing - but always have to add to it!

My husband claims I "lie, cheat, and steal" to get money for travel. He's not too far off either! We have two savings accounts, a general one and a travel account. A fixed amount goes into the travel each month from our income. But EVERY DOLLAR I can squeeze out of groceries and other cash expenses, along with "found money" i.e. credit card rebates etc. also gets deposited into the travel account. Sometimes I do what can be done to increase our frequent flyer miles. We are far from wealthy, yet because of my "lying, cheating, and stealing" manage to travel as well as people of much greater means.

Weekly savings,however we pay everything with a US Airways credit card to get the frequent flyer mileage and than pay the balance.

I have a "change jar" where my coins go at the end of each day. Last year, it totalled $375! It certainly didn't pay for my vacations but it helped. As for the big issue, I put everything on a credit card and then pay it off. Using a credit card allows you an extra degree of protection in case the airline folds, the hotel doesn't offer what they promised, etc.

we save. Take a trip. Come home. Start saving for the next trip.

We don't need to worry about the money now, but when we were very young, we got the money by GOING WITHOUT. Like not smoking--there's another $.50. Or drinking--there's another cost of a bottle of booze, giving home haircuts,e doing own gardening, clipping coupons, etc. Then, set up a fund, and you will be surprised! Just giving up smoking saved us hundreds every year.!

I have a side gig at my church where I go in and do all the setups for weddings such as candles, kneelers, directing people etc. All the money I get paid, plus any tips goes into the trip jar, and it can add up really quickly. People get really appreciative for help on their wedding day.

We put every bonus check into an account for our vacation. I also try to put 10% of every paycheck in our vacation account. I begin saving for the next vacation as soon as we get back from the previous one. This way we can pay for our vacations before we take them. Some of our friends take out zero interest credit cards to pay for vacations. I guess this would work as long as you pay off the balance quickly.

I'm now 52 and my last child is almost out of college. A war and alcohol made me a single mom- and because I was a young mom, it forced me to be smart and start buying property when I was twenty. I did without. I never was a "wanter" of items that depreciate. I never had a new car until I was 48 years old. My children are independent and have been taught to be on the receiving end of interest, and not on the paying end of it. So now I am spending what their inheritance (kids and grandkids) would be. I'll never afford some kinds of travel that I have read about on these threads- mostly because I could not take that amount of time off from work and the money-making end of things. Hope to travel much more in about 10 years. Also hope to retire to Northern Arizona red rocks area. Not Sedona because I could not afford to travel after living costs. So maybe it will be
Prescott or somewhere near there with some pine trees and some Mid-West type
green in evidence too. Would rather still have enough to travel 2 times a year for a week each- at the least. Going to Europe in March for the third time. Lots of US to see too. SO MUCH OUT THERE. There are trade offs for the joy of getting to see some of the beauty in the world- but it is so much better than
"stuff."

Thank you so much for all the great ideas!! My husband and I are 30 and we are just now going on our first trip ever(we didn't even have a honeymoon!!)next month to Grand Cayman. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. By visiting all of these travel forums I have really got the travel bug now!! There are so many wonderful places to go and sometimes it is very hard to come with the money but now I have some great ideas from this thread. Thanks!!

Lovely response, Jeanette. We also budget our travel and are blessed with my husband being subsidized for two business related trips each year, every other year to somewhere out of the U.S.and every spring to some warm weather destination in the U.S. or Mexico etc. Since his airfare is paid, we can afford to tack a trip of our own onto this. Often it's a very short time of 5-6 days so we've learned to stay in a relatively small area and get to know it in depth. We've traveled a lot, but always with the restriction of going close to where our meetings are. We also have friends and relatives all over the world and stay at their homes and welcome them to ours. When traveling, we try to look for the medium priced accommodations unless we know that there's a place that we must spend the price in order to have a unique experience. We are further blessed by living in California which gives us fairly easy access to some wonderful destinations and now that our dogs are our only "children" living at home, we take numerous long weekend trips in the West--love the SWA Rapid Rewards program which really works, but involves getting to know how SWA operates. We plan a yearly budget, but always charge everything on our airline Visa card. Since we have reached middle age, and really have very little need for clothes, jewelry etc., we have given each other small token Christmas presents in the past 10 years and instead put the money into our upcoming trip budget. It seems more in the spirit of Christmas to me anyway. And, while our presents are minimal, our Christmas feast is a splurge, making us feel very festive. As Jeanette says, the ability to travel far than makes up for the possession of "stuff". We never buy anything very expensive on a trip unless it is an art object that we have researched in advance--no impulse buying or spending.I try always to keep a journal and make a scrapbook when we return and we find that the very nicest "souvenir" of the trip. Happy travels.

Dear Kam, We do the SWA thing also. We love SWA because not only is it just want we want most of the time, but it also flies out of Midway which is much better for us. I fly out of O'Hare only if the package deal price is truly fantastic, since it is at least 2-1/2 hours from us on a "good" day. (I am jealous of your California location, although I love Chicago and have 100s of relatives here.) I can also say to lsnyder that you are not "missing out" by choosing the mid-priced or budget night's "stay" over the deluxe or ritzy place. I've stayed in places that are at both extremes, and I can truly say that one of the very best, if not the quaintest, was with a highway coupon in New Mexico and the place was new, goregeous and $29.95 a night. Not even planned- so you never know what jewels you will find out there. Have a great vacation in the Grand Caymans.

Jeannette has said it all:
"There are tradeoffs for the joy of getting to see some of the beauty in the world, but it is so much better than "stuff". How absolutely right you are!