do u go on vacation if ur poor??

[dana1003]

We are a low income family with little debt and no savings... we havent been on a vacation in 4 years. we have taken day trips to local places but you still come back to the stresses at the end of the day. Hubby and i are thinking of taking some of our tax return $ that is coming and putting some away for savings and some for a low budget 3 or 4 days..we are in jersey so we are thinking maybe herhey or busch gardens. We feel that maybe its time to take a few days with the family to destress and spend more than one day together. Question is, is it irresponsible of us when we are so very tight with cash or do you see it as a positive? please tell us what you all are doing? oh and moving to a cheaper place isnt possible to save $, it would compromise our safety where we are. Thanks.

 

[carebee21]

If money was so tight, we wouldn't do it. First off, the extra savings may help decrease your stress level, knowing you have something in case of an emergency. And second, what happens if you have an emergency on vacation, such as an illness, car breaks down, etc. Will you have enough money to cover that???

 

[disykat]

Yes, I have gone on low budget short trips somewhere when cash was tight. I would not go into debt for a vacation, but I'd willingly pinch pennies for one.

I congratulate you on using good money sense. The fact that you are weighing this carefully rather than just saying "but I deserve a vacation" says good things!

If it were me, I'd sit down and look at cash flow, upcoming expenses, etc. and see if it's doable without debt and then I'd figure out how much money I could spend and work within it.

It was a few years ago, but when we went to Busch Gardens near Williamsburg, we stayed at a hotel for $29 a night. It was clean and perfectly nice IMO. Take a cooler with sandwiches for the road, stuff for breakfasts, and plan a few bduget friendly meals.

 

[mrsklamc]

I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't think you were terrible if you did.
I mean, how much would the few hundred dollars something like this really change things in the long run?

The more important thing is, what can you do to change your future so it's not like this? Sell stuff, you or DH invest in an education so someday you won't be low income, move to a cheaper state than NJ where you can afford something that IS safe, try Dave Ramsey, etc. I work with a lot of people in bad financial situations, and a lot of them just assume they are doomed to be poor forever, but there IS hope to change your future! I know there is, because my sister and I have both done it.

 

[Soonermom]

I think sometimes you just gotta get away and take a break from reality. Put most of $ in savings but take a few days to recharge. I always find great last minute get-aways on craiglist- vacation rentals.
I would rather have family time/memories than most anything else.

 

[mward73]

What about camping or something? Lots of National Parks have pools, beaches, fun things for kids and it's pretty inexpensive to go. When I was little, my mom didn't have much money, but took me camping (sometimes in a cabin, sometimes in a tent) each year - I loved it and plan on doing the same with my kids once the little one gets out of diapers.

 

[dana1003]

dave ramsey? i will look that up..and moving has come up many times but we would have no family near us. we ve thought of school but with trying to work and make ends meet theres no time. im not making excuses. I feel we will one day make it out of the hole. it would just be nice for once to buy the rose instead of just being able to smell it and good point on the emergency on vacation..never thought of that? 29$ a nite!! if u remember the name please pass it on. I looked at some hotels and they wanted like 500 for 4 days. not do-able. this is all still up in the air but the comments help. thank you.

 

[mrsklamc]

If you decide to go, maybe try priceline for cheap hotel rooms.

 

[Reddy]

how about camping?? or a week-end trip
we didn't have a week vacation until last year
but I work part-time during the school year, got looking at Disney & priced a vacation - then thought, I could put $250 out of my check each time & that would get it all paid for. I check is for extras so that worked wonderful for us.

 

[mrsklamc]

I don't know how much your debt is, but step one of Dave Ramsey's plan is $1000 emergency fund and step 2 is pay off all debt. So if you do decide to go, even just camping, I'd make it a 'last hurrah' trip (which doesn't mean blowing your budget.) Sit down before you go and figure out what your leanest possible budget is - cut cable or netflix or whatever if you have it and use the library for entertainment, cut all dining out, or daily soft drinks or lattes or smoking or any habits like that, and come back psyched up & mentally prepared to start your new ultra cheap lifestyle. (This isn't forever; average time til debt free is 18 months on Dave's plan.)

 

[Arkansan]

Check out the Jersey Shore for a reasonable getaway. Much cheaper than Hershey! (and no tickets to buy either). There are some cute hotels in Avalon and Ocean City that have less than weekly rentals. A weekday trip will cost less than a weekend one. Many hotels include beach tags and have grills available for cheap meals.

 

[Marionnette]

We are a low income family with little debt and no savings... we havent been on a vacation in 4 years. we have taken day trips to local places but you still come back to the stresses at the end of the day. Hubby and i are thinking of taking some of our tax return $ that is coming and putting some away for savings and some for a low budget 3 or 4 days..we are in jersey so we are thinking maybe herhey or busch gardens. We feel that maybe its time to take a few days with the family to destress and spend more than one day together. Question is, is it irresponsible of us when we are so very tight with cash or do you see it as a positive? please tell us what you all are doing? oh and moving to a cheaper place isnt possible to save $, it would compromise our safety where we are. Thanks.

Everyone needs time to get away and de-stress. So I wouldn't tell you to not take a vacation just because you aren't rolling in dough. I think thatit's fine as long as you vacation within you budget.

Personally, I think the hotels close to Hershey are way overpriced. If you're thinking of spending a couple of days in that area you might want to look further towards Lancaster. It's not that far of a drive from Hershey and you should be able to find more affordable hotels there.

Have you considered renting a place at the shore during the off-season? We do this every spring with a group of friends. We get a large house with several bedrooms for the weekend. Then everyone brings snacks. Two couples will bring Friday's dinner (usually sandwiches) and Four other couples handle the two breakfasts. We order lunch out and usually go out for dinner on Saturday. The weekend usually costs us less than $200 per couple and we have a blast! Even if you just rent a small place for your family, you should be able to find something within your budget. You could also try the Poconos if the shore isn't appealing.

 

[dislal]

Could one or both of you get a part-time job and just put that extra money away for vacation?

I am currently a sahm, but I work in the summer and stash all that money for vacations.

 

[crazelion]

How about a weekend trip. That way it feels like a vacation. I am Queen of weekends trips. The only been two trips that was not week trips.

I even drove to WDW Friday 10 hours. Spent Saturday at Magic Kingdom. Sunday drove 10 hours back home. Went to work on Monday refresh.

I am thinking about doing again this summer going to Busch Gardens Tampa bay. Making my base out Orlando.

I pay for most of my trip through rewards sites that do not spend any money on.

The rewards sites I do is swagbucks, quickrewards,net, mypoints, zoombucks and simplegpt to. This helps out a lot.

Belive are I start savings account with the earnings from simplegpt. I have ING Orange savings account. That way I want spend the money.

I am low income to. I have 3 foster kids. This only way go on vacation.

I love day trips. Believe are not my kids would be happy with our local amusemnt park. We for two for one Fridays and that save ton money.

 

[juliebean]

I do think it is important to have happy memories as a family - my parents are in your situation and I really only remember going on vacation one time as a child. So, we do save money every year for vacations, and our kids do talk about how much fun they had do this or that on vacation years later.

Have you all visited Washington DC? You can get a nice hotel at the end of the blue subway line for $100, with a pool and breakfast. Then except for riding the subway, and meals (or bring an insulated bag with sandwiches and pops) almost all the museums and the zoo are free. I think you could easily spend 2 or 3 nights and do it for $500 plus gas. I think if you can find a nice beach hotel near a free beach it can also be really affordable.

I know you'd already kind of shot down additional education or moving - but I would really urge you to reconsider... Both my husband and I are the first in our families to get college degrees and we have a totally different life than our siblings and parents.

My husband went back when he was 27 and got a mathematics degree - makes a great salary, has great insurance and retirement benefits and they treat him really well - a month of vacation and work from home when you need to. I'm going back part time now to get an RN or BSN degree. I go two nights a week and do some online. It costs me about $1500 a semester for tuition and books at the local county college (you can get financial aid if you qualify) and when I finish in a couple of years I'll have a job I'm excited to be doing and pays really well. I'd just really urge you to consider further education.

As far as moving - we did have to move 3000 miles for my husband's career and I do wish they could have a closer relationship with their grandparents/aunts/ cousins - but we had to make a choice to look out for their future as well as our own. Ironically, that meant moving TO NJ for us. We do make an annual trip every year to see family, but that's a tradeoff we had to make.

Good luck - don't let life happen to you - take control and make your future!

 

[dreamin_disney]

if your gonna be late on the rent /housepayment, light are gonna be turned off etc then no.

but if bills are paid on time and your not charging up the credicats then go for it. Be smart about planing and budgeting so when your return from vacation your not stressed out.

I did this 2 years ago. We couldnt afford to go on vacation but our bills were always paid on time and we werent crazy charging on the creditcards. I promised dd I'd take her to WDW when she turned 10. At 9 she reminded me. I researched it for. I found DIS board and it made my dd's dream come true. I learned about the disney visa card got 6 months 0% and booked airfare and had 6 months to pay it off. Then I booked the wdw package. Thanks to this wonderful MB i learned about the codes so i rebooked my package saving me $400-$500 plus the package ended up being cheaper plus we got free dining-lol!

So even though we really couldnt afford to vaca we did because of smart planing and budgeting.

We didnt stay in the best disney hotel, we did the value one, we didnt spend lot of money outta pocket and we had a great time. Best thing was the memories we all will have for years to come.

Have fun!

 

[indimom]

We've taken camping trips with a tent and they can be very inexpensive. (Unless you feel you have to invest in all kinds of pricey camping equipment.) On our first camping trip, we just took a long 4-day weekend, only 30 miles from home at a state park with a pool. Cost maybe $150. We had a cheap little $35 tent from Walmart, a couple flashlights and a cooler full of food like hot dogs and baked beans to cook over the fire. We brought books, hung out at the pool, hiked, and just relaxed. It was very nice.

I would definitely do a low cost trip like this. That little amount isn't going to make a big difference in the scheme of things. I would probably make my cutoff around $500 because that could go a long way toward debt repayment or building savings.

If you do have to put it off. I promise it will be worth it in the long run. There is no feeling in the world like having all the bills paid, having an emergency fund in the bank, and being able to take a vacation with no ax hanging over your head.

 

[dec181981]

I dont think you are awfull for thinking about taking a vacation, many times when we were super low income we thought about it and then finally we just did it. we were on section 8 housing, and got state medical, dispite the fact that we were both working full time, we just didnt make that much money, and with two kids and daycare we were barely making it. So we went on a disneyland trip one of the years when alaska air had their kids fly free packages and we were able to combine it with disney's kids play free and a hotel's kids stay free and had a disney trip for 5 days for 4 people and in the end everything air, food, hotel, tickets, souviners, EVERYTHING came to 1500, which was two months worth of my income to us at that time.

we did make the decision to go back to school though, it was hard and we missed a lot and there were more then a few 16 or 20 hour days, and yes I missed seeing my son's first steps and my daughters first dance recital but we now have financial security.

I went and got my RN degree through a local community college, and becuase of how low income we were, we qualified for quite a bit of financial aid and the rest we did in federally secured student loans; my husband went and got his degree in business.

I wont down play how hard school was, or how hard scheduling full time school and full time work was or how much it sucked to miss that much of my time with kids and families, but it was only for 3 years and now we both have degrees that allow us to provide for our families in a way that we would never have been able to, which includes yearly vacations.

 

[Planogirl]

Camping is a great option if you like it. If not, it's no vacation!

You could hunt for low cost hotels in an area that you might enjoy. I would stay away from themeparks unless you can find good deals but you could enjoy the outdoors, go to the beach, visit caves and historic places and so on.

You could also consider a staycation if you have fun stuff in your area. That means no cooking and no cleaning but days spent only doing fun things together.

 

[Frannie115]

We use our tax refund for vacation but make sure I can leave enough in savings for emergencies/property taxes.

Making memories and seeing places is important to us, expecially at WDW