How do you budget for vacations?

[bisous]

This is new territory for us. We've never had a vacation budget before! In our new place, we'll have a little flexibility and I'd like to prioritize fun vacations!

Do you set aside a little a month? If so, how much?

TIA!

[khalloc]

We don't really have a vacation budget. If I had my way I'd be going to the Caribbean at least 2x a year...sometimes DH let's me, but usually we have 1trip like that a year. Usually costing us $3-5k depending on if we bring kids or not. We have been doing a week down the Cape each summer which is about $2k for house rental. DH has the most disposable income and he's a saver. We use separate bank accounts so if he says we can go, I plan it! Often we use our tax return $$ for vacations. This coming year I am not supposed to ask for a vacation because instead we want to remodel our kitchen and I've been told its either a vacation or my dream36" Wolf range...so I am going to try to hold out for at range! Next year we will. E saving for our 10 year anniversary trip. We want to go to Tahiti for 10-14 days. DH has enough FF miles to fly us there but we'd need to pay for hotels. We might have to wait till our 11nth anniversary though. Well see....anyway, we don't really have a system for paying for vacations.

[rin]

We also don't really budget for vacations; we just basically try to live as frugally as we can, and then once a certain amount of savings has built up outside of our standard official savings accounts we'll start talking about what we might like to do. We probably won't be taking a real vacation this year, but generally we try to do one vacation/year that isn't visiting family or doing an extended work trip.

[maestramommy]

We don't really have a vacation budget. We decide if we have the money as we go. But our vacations tend to be on the modest side. The last huge thing we did was a weeklong trip to Maui in 08, for MIL's 70th. Otherwise, we stick to roadtrips, and they are always tied to a family event like a wedding. We did do a 3 night getaway up north this past winter. But it was a 2.5 hours drive, and the biggest expense was the hotel, which was actually not bad as it was not high season.

[kijip]

We set a little aside each month for fun stuff which sometimes go to vacations. My husband also has the option to cash out some of his accrued vacation each year. He accumulates the time like crazy because all days are PTOs and they add in all the holidays (since hospitals are open 24 7 365 days a year) plus a very generous sick and vacation allowance. However he rarely, if ever, takes unscheduled time off so he has a massive rolling balance. The cash out comes in May and it is most of the money we will spend on summer and fall trips.

[KrisM]

We think about what we are doing the next couple of years. We always do a trip to visit DH's family, which is about $2000/year. We go up to my parent's lakehouse often, which is maybe $50/trip. We are planning on Disney in 2014 and figuring $8000 for that. At $200/month, that covers a years worth and then another $100/month for Disney (started a couple years ago). So, we save $300/month towards it.

If we didn't budget for it, we wouldn't go anywhere. Our extra money goes towards paying off the mortgage, so that's where the $300/month would go without it being designated for vacations.

[kara97210]

We have a vaction savings account at our bank. Extra savings accounts are free, so we have a number of them (vacation, house, one for each kid, etc.) that we have funds auto-deducted into each month. The house account is for major projects for the house. This system works well for us because in my mind if the money is in a checking account, it's there to spend. I think we are currently putting $500/month into the vacation fund.

[bisous]

Interesting ideas. Thanks!

I'm still working out the details in our budget. I like the idea of planning ahead because we won't be doing big things every year. I think this year we want to go to Yosemite and maybe next we'll do a big Disney thing. It makes sense to save a little each month after figuring out how much we'll spend.

[hellokitty]

We don't really have a vacation budget. We decide if we have the money as we go. But our vacations tend to be on the modest side. The last huge thing we did was a weeklong trip to Maui in 08, for MIL's 70th. Otherwise, we stick to roadtrips, and they are always tied to a family event like a wedding. We did do a 3 night getaway up north this past winter. But it was a 2.5 hours drive, and the biggest expense was the hotel, which was actually not bad as it was not high season.

This is similar to what we do. We aren't one f those families where it's assumed that we will go on big vacations on amy sort of schedule. Up until last yr, all of our trips were tied to weddings, family obligations or conferences with a bit of an extension in days to piggyback a short vacation since we were already going to be there anyway.

[AnnieW625]

Unless we can pay cash for every part of a vacation or know we have the cash to pay it off immediately if we use credit cards otherwise we won't go on vacation. With that said we haven't been anywhere exotic since we went to Maui for our honeymoon. We hope to go back to Maui, a Disney Cruise, or WDW in 2014 or so. We usually stay with family or don't stay in super touristy areas so we also save a bit of money that way as well.

[lhafer]

We put everything on credit cards that have good rewards/points. If we know we will be flying that year - we use the credit card that has good airline rewards for example.

Here's a couple of things that have happened in the last couple of years to give you an idea:

We have an Amex Hilton Honors rewards card. We were able to get an entire week (7 days) at the Sandestin Hilton Hotel (http://www.sandestinbeachhilton.com/) in Destin, FL in their Deluxe Jr. Suite (http://www.sandestinbeachhilton.com/accommodations-deluxejuniorsuites)on the beach, with a full beach view - just using points. We drove there, so we paid for food and gas that trip.

This year, hubby and I went to Park City, Utah. My plane ticket was free, DH's work paid for his (his was going up for a conference and we went up early for a getaway weekend). We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (http://www.parkcitywaldorfastoria.com/), and got upgraded (for free) to a 1 bedroom suite (http://www.parkcitywaldorfastoria.com/one-bedroom-suite/index.cfm)complete with 2 fireplaces, full kitchen, dining room, living room, balconey, 2 full bathrooms, and a laudry area. We paid for that room with points as well, and the upgrade was free.

[Zansu]

I set aside money from each pay check.

Everything that can be charged on a credit card, is. I have mileage cards and hotel cards. I churn cards if there's a good bonus offer.

We fly on miles, get free car rental days, and stay on hotel points.

[specialp]

We do not budget specifically for a vacation. We put money into savings every month as well as end of the year bonuses, tax refund, reimbursements, anything else that comes our way. We have a base amount that needs to be in savings at all times and not touched as a safety net. Anything above that we use for vacation, home improvement, big purchases, etc., and adjust based on what is going on that year. Two or three years ago we took a nicer than usual vacation and few home improvements. This year I had a high risk pregnancy until Oct. so a vacation was out of the question and we decided to get lots of home improvements done.

[Mopey]

We usually start by picking place/time - ish. Then we start looking at prices for flights and figure out a ballpark. Then we make sure we start saving and buy things as we can - plane tickets first. We almost always go on vacation to see family (my father lives in Europe, hubby's family is from the Caribbean) so luckily we have places to stay. Other than that we just save save save on a regular basis so we always have something to work with :)