How to Plan a Debt-Free Vacation

Going on vacation is a lot more fun if you can do it without creating any debt. In this article, I'll show you ways you can save and budget your vacations and have fun with the process.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. First, you should plan ahead as much as possible--this will not only give you more time to get great deals but make sure you use your vacation time to its fullest.
   
   This can include some online research of your destination and possibly making a few phone calls for special hotel rates, etc. Many attractions now offer discounts for buying tickets online, which you can sometimes even print from your computer to avoid waiting in line as well. If you're not very familiar with your destination, it's helpful to research it enough to where you won't miss anything that you would regret later just because you didn't know it was there.

2. If you don't think you can afford to save for a vacation, start small--$5, $10, or $20 a week into a savings account that you don't touch.
   
   A major mistake a lot of people make is taking a trip and using credit to fund it--turning it into a financial burden once the fun is over. You may have to wait a little longer, but it's a lot more gratifying to have the vacation cash-flowed from the very beginning.
   
   The hardest part about this will be not touching the money once it's in there. This vacation savings account should be separate from your normal emergency savings account (see Dave Ramsey's website for more details on that), so the temptation to spend it will come from other things. Your willpower on that is going to depend on how much you want to take the trip.

3. Get creative on ways you can save money on the trip so you can splurge on the areas you want more.
   
   On long driving trips, my husband and I buy sandwich bread, lunch meat, and a pack of can drinks rather than eat out at fast food places along the way--this allows us to eat somewhere nice once we get there.
   
   On flights, it may be cheaper for you to buy things once you reach your destination rather than pay the fees to check an extra bag. In some cases, you can even mail things back to yourself cheaper than flying it back with you.

4. Look into the possibly of going on trips with groups.
   
   In some cases it's cheaper to do some trips with a tour group, and you have at least some of the planning done for you. It's also a fun way to meet new friends.
   
   It's a little more complicated to organize, but you can even get a group together yourself of family and/or friends to share expenses.

Resources

• Dave Ramsey's Website (He has great financial advice in general, and I like recommending him to people.)
• More How-to Articles by Patricia Gilliam
• Patricia Gilliam's Author's Blog
• Patricia Gilliam's Twitter Page
• Books by Patricia Gilliam (Amazon Kindle/Apple iPhone format)
• Books by Patricia Gilliam (Paperback/Adobe .pdf eBook formats)

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on 7/3/2009 Great advice on how to plan a debt-free vacation.
It really is possible.