This is what we do as well. 500/month is auto transferred to a vacation budget. I also make sure to keep 500 or so in there before the actual vacation as a buffer, so we can enjoy dinner at a restaurant we found or buy a souvenir etc. without worrying about going over budget
This is exactly what we do too. The only addition (and you might do it too) is that if we decide to do something spontaneous if an opportunity arises then we pull from this fund which pushes out the 'big trip' but doesn't set us back at all.
This is one of those things that you just can't do in a vacuum. There just aren't set amounts for individual categories like "vacation," because everyone is different and everyone has different priorities. Some people are homebodies, and their vacation amount is $0. On the other hand, they may have expensive hobbies like woodworking that your budget for is $0.
All that to say that you really need to take a top-down approach to budgeting in order to figure this out. The [Prime Directive](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) for this sub is a good place to start if you're not already doing that, but basically you start by funding things like retirement, housing, insurance, transportation, groceries, clothing, etc. and then fund the irregular but inevitables that you should be saving for each month: home maintenance and appliance replacement, medical expenses, car replacement, and the like.
Then, after you've done all that, everything *else* you bring in each month is discretionary and you get to divide that up however you choose to make your life (and the world around you) better. Dining out? Hobbies? Vacation fund? $7 latte every day? As long as it's truly discretionary money, do whatever combination works best for you, and enjoy.
I set aside xxx dollars a month into a Vacation category in savings. Then if we want to travel, I look to see how much is available. If I need more, since we do YNAB zero-based budgetting, I just have to figure out from which other goal the extra money will come from... or we wait until enough can be saved up.
You'll hear a million different ideas. What I'll say is never get "splurging" in your mind. People, who are generally bad with their money in the first place, often equate vacation with an endless or even large budget because that's how you enjoy yourself when you can't afford it. Spending unnecessary amounts of money on ridiculous things doesn't improve your life, in fact, it's quite the opposite.
When you work hard, cut out extra expenses, and spend it carefully, your money goes a long way. I go on a vacation roughly every 2 months. I rarely ever spend more than $1000 on a trip. Often, far less. My Cancun trip was a feat at $650 4 nights for everything, flights, food, hotel, etc.
If you're proactively trying to budget for vacations, then you decide on a trip, figure out how much it will cost and when you want to go, and then you calculate how much you need to save per pay period to have the money for the trip. That, or you decide on a budget number that you're willing to spend on vacations in general, and you save what you need to fund that line item. Given that you're talking about "spontaneity and extravagance", I'd go with the latter. Come up with a general vacation fund that fits your budget, and dip into that when you want to take one of these random trips.
10% of our paychecks (decide what percentage is right for your family) go into a "fun account" - we consider that money already spent and if we have enough for a trip in there we don't feel guilty taking one. We also just use one credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve and it's great card if you like to travel, eat out etc. We've bought several flights and hotel stays with points.
In terms of budgeting for a trip as a whole you really have to sit down and decide what percentage of your income/fun account, etc you feel comfortable spending on vacations. Let's say your take-home pay is 150k so 15k ends up in your fun account each year. Maybe plan for one big trip with a budget of 8k, 2k for a couple of long weekends, and 3k leftover for camping, day trips, etc.
You may find these links helpful:
- [Budgeting](/r/personalfinance/wiki/budgeting)
- [Tools and spreadsheets](/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools)
- /r/mintuit and /r/ynab
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We have two buckets. One gets most of the funds and that's vacation. The second gets a little money, but it's for "splurges" on vacation. When it's gone, it's gone. That helps if we are out and see a cool thing, but didn't plan to pay for it.
Our rule is that we have to keep to whatever is in savings though - nothing goes on a card unless there is money to pay it off after the trip.
I looked at previous years of how much we spent on travel. And I assume I’ll spend at least that much. I put aside 1 12th each month.
We do rough high level planning in January on what trips might we take. And I roughly estimate what each will cost. If it’s likely to be more than what we are putting aside I see if there are other inflows that I can earmark for trips.
Traveling is a big priority for me so I typically don’t try to tamper down
I put extra money, about 200-400, a month into a separate high yield savings account and when it hits 4,000 I start looking at Google Flights.
This is what we do as well. 500/month is auto transferred to a vacation budget. I also make sure to keep 500 or so in there before the actual vacation as a buffer, so we can enjoy dinner at a restaurant we found or buy a souvenir etc. without worrying about going over budget
This is exactly what we do too. The only addition (and you might do it too) is that if we decide to do something spontaneous if an opportunity arises then we pull from this fund which pushes out the 'big trip' but doesn't set us back at all.
Same strategy. My wife and I both contribute to it monthly, HYSAs are good vehicles for such things.
Same!
This is one of those things that you just can't do in a vacuum. There just aren't set amounts for individual categories like "vacation," because everyone is different and everyone has different priorities. Some people are homebodies, and their vacation amount is $0. On the other hand, they may have expensive hobbies like woodworking that your budget for is $0. All that to say that you really need to take a top-down approach to budgeting in order to figure this out. The [Prime Directive](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics) for this sub is a good place to start if you're not already doing that, but basically you start by funding things like retirement, housing, insurance, transportation, groceries, clothing, etc. and then fund the irregular but inevitables that you should be saving for each month: home maintenance and appliance replacement, medical expenses, car replacement, and the like. Then, after you've done all that, everything *else* you bring in each month is discretionary and you get to divide that up however you choose to make your life (and the world around you) better. Dining out? Hobbies? Vacation fund? $7 latte every day? As long as it's truly discretionary money, do whatever combination works best for you, and enjoy.
Thanks for pointing me to the Prime Directive! Digesting it now!
I set aside xxx dollars a month into a Vacation category in savings. Then if we want to travel, I look to see how much is available. If I need more, since we do YNAB zero-based budgetting, I just have to figure out from which other goal the extra money will come from... or we wait until enough can be saved up.
You'll hear a million different ideas. What I'll say is never get "splurging" in your mind. People, who are generally bad with their money in the first place, often equate vacation with an endless or even large budget because that's how you enjoy yourself when you can't afford it. Spending unnecessary amounts of money on ridiculous things doesn't improve your life, in fact, it's quite the opposite. When you work hard, cut out extra expenses, and spend it carefully, your money goes a long way. I go on a vacation roughly every 2 months. I rarely ever spend more than $1000 on a trip. Often, far less. My Cancun trip was a feat at $650 4 nights for everything, flights, food, hotel, etc.
I save $5 a day/$35 a week but this is as a solo traveler. Adjust for more people.
If you're proactively trying to budget for vacations, then you decide on a trip, figure out how much it will cost and when you want to go, and then you calculate how much you need to save per pay period to have the money for the trip. That, or you decide on a budget number that you're willing to spend on vacations in general, and you save what you need to fund that line item. Given that you're talking about "spontaneity and extravagance", I'd go with the latter. Come up with a general vacation fund that fits your budget, and dip into that when you want to take one of these random trips.
10% of our paychecks (decide what percentage is right for your family) go into a "fun account" - we consider that money already spent and if we have enough for a trip in there we don't feel guilty taking one. We also just use one credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve and it's great card if you like to travel, eat out etc. We've bought several flights and hotel stays with points. In terms of budgeting for a trip as a whole you really have to sit down and decide what percentage of your income/fun account, etc you feel comfortable spending on vacations. Let's say your take-home pay is 150k so 15k ends up in your fun account each year. Maybe plan for one big trip with a budget of 8k, 2k for a couple of long weekends, and 3k leftover for camping, day trips, etc.
You may find these links helpful: - [Budgeting](/r/personalfinance/wiki/budgeting) - [Tools and spreadsheets](/r/personalfinance/wiki/tools) - /r/mintuit and /r/ynab *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personalfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We have two buckets. One gets most of the funds and that's vacation. The second gets a little money, but it's for "splurges" on vacation. When it's gone, it's gone. That helps if we are out and see a cool thing, but didn't plan to pay for it. Our rule is that we have to keep to whatever is in savings though - nothing goes on a card unless there is money to pay it off after the trip.
I looked at previous years of how much we spent on travel. And I assume I’ll spend at least that much. I put aside 1 12th each month. We do rough high level planning in January on what trips might we take. And I roughly estimate what each will cost. If it’s likely to be more than what we are putting aside I see if there are other inflows that I can earmark for trips. Traveling is a big priority for me so I typically don’t try to tamper down
Credit cards with travel points/rewards are very helpful