do u go on vacation if ur poor??

[DisneyMomma81]

If you are getting a chunk of money back, as it looks to me, I would adjust my tax withholdings to have more money each month for enjoyment.

I'm gonna assume that most of their refund is actually EIC.... so having less withheld wouldn't make much of a difference. Perhaps I'm wrong.

OP ~ I hope you can make something happen for your family. Our vacation $$ at least *hopefully* every other year will be spent getting to the UK! I'm getting married on the 26th ~ DF is from England. But dang it all we will see other places besides the UK *it is lovely though ~ at least he's not from Idaho

My DS loves National Parks and luckily we live within driving distance to several. This early Aug. we'll spend a week in Yellowstone *fairly cheaply ~ we're staying with my dad in his timeshare. My mom will have a work conference in Anaheim this summer - so I'm hoping to tag along and visit Disneyland *taking my DH to be for his 1st time - he's never visited a Disney park * we'll happily drive if we need to ~ we did for the 1st time for our most recent visit *11/10* and it was fairly easy - we are too far from WDW to drive.

 

[pookybean]

hello, we are also "poor" as i tell my kids all the time! im a single mom of 3 and i have a mort, car pmt, some cc debt and almost no savings. however, we do go to disney every year. we do without a lot during the year and i shop frugally. i know that i SHOULD save more, but i need that once a year trip. its really the only time i dont worry about what i am spending because i have budgeted for it all. i dont come back and stress over what i have just spent, because it is so worth it to me and us.

my quality of life is important. ill keep plugging away at the bills and the debt, eventually it will all be taken care of, but our disney memories are so worth it.

i am also in school, i have a decent enough job now, but if i want to move up i need this degree. its hard, im tired all the time but ill be done soon (fingers crossed!) and it will also have been worth it. for the record, i never have more money than when im in school! they practically throw the grants at me LOL i do take some loans, but its to ensure i can pay the babysitter and for books etc... i will have the loans to pay back as well but for right now, its worth it. you should look into it, it could help you now and definitly will help in the future!

megan

 

[Abbeys_mom]

Personally, having BTDT, I say no. Vacations are not a right, or an entitlement. Your cars are both over 10 years old. You have struggled in the past. You don't have to take a vacation right now. If you put that money in a rainy day fund, and have the discipline to not touch it, and you save for a three or four day trip, you will be much better off WHEN (not if...) the next emergency pops up.

And seriously, check out Dave Ramsey. For the cost of a $10 audio book, it changed our life. We have savings, we are on our way to being debt free, and being encumbered by NOTHING. Sure there are skeptics, but even if he is wrong, we found something that works for us.

 

[Soarin_04]

When the hubs and I were first married and our first son was a baby, we were lucky to be able to afford a Friday and Saturday night at the "Joisey" shore in one of the mega-cheap hotels in Wildwood. Even that would require tapping into our income tax money, but we did it for two reasons -- 1. I never had a vacation with my family at all when I was a kid. I was told we could never afford it. 2. Those memories are well worth it and it's great to get away.

So start slowly.

First, spend some time on "porchville" or "deckville" with your family. When the hubs and I were flat broke, we'd use our vacation time to vacation at home. We'd disconnect the phone. We'd stock the fridge with splurge foods. We'd hang out on the deck all day in the sun. We'd plan all kinds of fun stuff around the house and in the area that we didn't go on a regular basis that was dirt cheap.

Second, start a vacation club. Even if you plop $10 a week in there, you'll have something to use to get away for a weekend.

Third, yes, pay your bills, but also pay yourself. As others have said, you never know -- tomorrow may not come. We used to use our income tax return. Irresponsible, since we had no real savings? Yeah, probably. But we did it and I don't regret a single second of it, even if we did come home and have to struggle to make ends meet again.

We so looked forward to that one weekend a year away. Now we can do more than that, so we look forward to that week away. Maybe someday we'll get two weeks away. You start small, you do small trip, but the important thing is that you do them.

 

[MrsPete]

Probably not the answer that you want, but no.

When we were first married and barely had two nickles to rub together, we did not vacation. We'd go camping occasionally. We'd go visit family. We'd do day hikes at parks. Instead, we saved and worked on paying off our mortgage early -- and we got past being poor. Yeah, we could've indulged more back then, but if we had we wouldn't be living in a paid-off house now. We might be concerned about upcoming college expenses or retirement in not too many more years.

We know people our age who lived by the motto, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die" -- and they're still living paycheck to paycheck, never having moved past the just-married-got-no-money stage.

I'd ask this: What are your overall goals? Think goals financial and otherwise. How does a vacation NOW fit into those goals?

 

[lady_bug_888]

4 years is a long, LONG time to go with nothing but a few day trips! I would say if you can put a little bit away for a trip then GO FOR IT!

I would spend as little as possible. Go camping, look for hotel coupons or something. When you get back, start saving $20 (or what you think you can get away with) per pay cheque and keep doing that, every 2 years you should be able to do something a little bit nicer than a budget 3-4 days away.

If you don't do something this year, start saving so you can do something next year. It's important to get away from your everyday once and a while!

 

[mafibisha]

I have to disagree a bit on that. The horrible truth is, for some, tomorrow never comes. I'm not saying don't save for the future, you have to. But what is the point of living if all your are doing is trying to get "to the future" and missing life now. There has to be a balance. Only an individual themselves would know what that balance was.
I do agree that memories can be made in your backyard. The point is, don't forget to enjoy life before it passes you by.

This

We have debt and we go on trips. If I waited until everything was paid off we'd be too old to walk around anywhere and our kids would be long moved out Any time I do pay something off, the next big expense comes along (braces, broken driveway, glasses, car stuff, etc...)

There are always those who say people should not vacation unless they are debt free and have loads of money in savings, but I often wonder if they have every struggled to make ends meet. I also wonder how many people would vacation if everyone believed that. The truth is that the majority of American families have debt and don't have much savings. When I am retired, I will be out of debt and have savings, but by then my son will be long gone from home and have a family of his own. As long as I am not asking anyone else to pay my bills, it's really my business whether I can really "afford" to go.

ITA with this.

Its all about balance.

We are enjoying today, while we responsibly plan and save for tomorrow... but we're not living FOR tomorrow, since it may never come.

Yesterday is over
Tomorrow may never come.
Today is all we have ... that's why we call it the *present*.

 

[MrsPete]

We have debt and we go on trips. If I waited until everything was paid off we'd be too old to walk around anywhere and our kids would be long moved out

When we got married, our financial goal was to be debt-free (including our house). We accomplished that goal in 13 years (including moving up to a larger house), which means I was debt-free before age 40. I was still able to hobble around a bit without my cane and electric scooter (joking), and the kids were still in elementary school.

Without debt, we've been able to take loads of trips (guilt-free 'cause they're paid for in advance) with our kids. They've been all over the country and to several other countries. Also, they won't be forced to take college loans. Worth 13 years of doing without? Yep.

 

[torinsmom]

When we got married, our financial goal was to be debt-free (including our house). We accomplished that goal in 13 years (including moving up to a larger house), which means I was debt-free before age 40. I was still able to hobble around a bit without my cane and electric scooter (joking), and the kids were still in elementary school.

Without debt, we've been able to take loads of trips (guilt-free 'cause they're paid for in advance) with our kids. They've been all over the country and to several other countries. Also, they won't be forced to take college loans. Worth 13 years of doing without? Yep.

My son will be out of high school when I am 41, so that wouldn't work for me. It took me until I was 30 to find a job where I could make enough money to even pay for our needs. I have some CC debt, a mortgage and a car payment, but I don't stress about that. I pay for my vacations in cash, but yes, that cash could be used to pay off CC or the mortgage earlier. I have enough resources to cover an emergency if it should happen. My parents did the same as me, and they have been debt free for awhile, and they would lend me money if something came up that I couldn't handle. In ten years, I will be debt free; should be about the time I have my first grandchild. I will encourage my son to enjoy the time with his kids when they are young; it flies by. By that point, if he has an emergency, I will have money to help him as well.

I guess its different strokes for different folks. Going on vacation doesn't stress me at all

 

[DawnM]

about 5 of us "no" posters and about 80 "go for it, you only live once" or "you deserve it" responses. The opposition is STRONG my friend!

The OP will do whatever she wants to do, but I will say again that since the question was, "Do you go on vacation if you are poor?" my answer would be "Not if you can't afford it."

I stand by that and people can argue all day long, I still wouldn't go if I couldn't afford it.

NOW, just because you are poor doesn't necesarily mean you can't afford to take some sort of trip/getaway. Since the OP isn't talking Disney, there may be a way to get some free tickets to something/reduced fare/etc....that would be within a small budget.

But the OP hasn't given too many details of how poor she is or how much money she owes, etc..so it is hard to give real advice.

Dawn

Probably not the answer that you want, but no.

When we were first married and barely had two nickles to rub together, we did not vacation. We'd go camping occasionally. We'd go visit family. We'd do day hikes at parks. Instead, we saved and worked on paying off our mortgage early -- and we got past being poor. Yeah, we could've indulged more back then, but if we had we wouldn't be living in a paid-off house now. We might be concerned about upcoming college expenses or retirement in not too many more years.

We know people our age who lived by the motto, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die" -- and they're still living paycheck to paycheck, never having moved past the just-married-got-no-money stage.

I'd ask this: What are your overall goals? Think goals financial and otherwise. How does a vacation NOW fit into those goals?

 

[Colleen27]

We know people our age who lived by the motto, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die" -- and they're still living paycheck to paycheck, never having moved past the just-married-got-no-money stage.

That can go both ways, though. We know people who were all about planning for the future and now, as they sit in paid-off homes with cushy retirement accounts at their peak earning years, they wish they'd been less thrifty when their kids were small because all the money in the world can't get those years of working overtime/weekends and never vacationing back. And we have friends who have worked their whole lives in low wage jobs, never got past paycheck-to-paycheck despite doing all the right things, and regret not enjoying the few windfalls they did get a little more because they always thought there would be a "someday" with a better income and fewer bills to pay, but that day never came.

The trick is to find the middle ground, and on that count it is very hard to know you're making the right decisions in the present. Often it isn't clear without the benefit of hindsight.

 

[gracie1]

No one can really make that decision for you. What is best for one family may not be best for another family. I think you and your dh need to sit down and discuss a vacation. If you both are certain that you can swing some time away, and come home and not be behind in bills, then go for it! But don't go on vacation to come home to extra stress.
2 years ago I decided I wanted to go to Disney. I had no money to go, and I charged it all. Am I still paying for it? Yep. Do I regret it? Nope. It was the best time of my life, and if I had to do it all over again, I would charge it again in a heart beat. I know that many on the budget board would oppose to this, but I made the decision and was so happy with my decision!
And by the way, I am definately in the "poor" category!

 

[Colleen27]

My son will be out of high school when I am 41, so that wouldn't work for me.

That's us too. When I'm 40, we'll have two in college. If we'd stayed in our old house that's about when we'd have gotten the mortgage paid off - 12 years ahead of schedule on a fixed 30 year loan - but there's no way we'd forgo vacations for our older kids' entire childhoods to accomplish that a few months or years earlier.

 

[mafibisha]

That can go both ways, though. We know people who were all about planning for the future and now, as they sit in paid-off homes with cushy retirement accounts at their peak earning years, they wish they'd been less thrifty when their kids were small because all the money in the world can't get those years of working overtime/weekends and never vacationing back. And we have friends who have worked their whole lives in low wage jobs, never got past paycheck-to-paycheck despite doing all the right things, and regret not enjoying the few windfalls they did get a little more because they always thought there would be a "someday" with a better income and fewer bills to pay, but that day never came. The trick is to find the middle ground, and on that count it is very hard to know you're making the right decisions in the present. Often it isn't clear without the benefit of hindsight.

That's us too. When I'm 40, we'll have two in college. If we'd stayed in our old house that's about when we'd have gotten the mortgage paid off - 12 years ahead of schedule on a fixed 30 year loan - but there's no way we'd forgo vacations for our older kids' entire childhoods to accomplish that a few months or years earlier.

ITA.

(We are) here today, gone tomorrow. Sadly, its quite possible.

Its a *definite* with our children.



I'd rather die with a heart full of sweet memories rather than a bank full of money.

 

[gracie1]

That can go both ways, though. We know people who were all about planning for the future and now, as they sit in paid-off homes with cushy retirement accounts at their peak earning years, they wish they'd been less thrifty when their kids were small because all the money in the world can't get those years of working overtime/weekends and never vacationing back. And we have friends who have worked their whole lives in low wage jobs, never got past paycheck-to-paycheck despite doing all the right things, and regret not enjoying the few windfalls they did get a little more because they always thought there would be a "someday" with a better income and fewer bills to pay, but that day never came.

The trick is to find the middle ground, and on that count it is very hard to know you're making the right decisions in the present. Often it isn't clear without the benefit of hindsight.

Well said!!

 

[DisneyKobi]

You have to think of your future and the future education of your kids (so that they can have a better life! My mom (a single parent) could not afford to take us on Disney vacations when we were kids. She got her education FIRST and then, many years later, when we were older, she took us on vacations. Likewise, I worked and worked as an adult and did not take my first vacation (other than backyard or near home) until I was in my mid40s. Please don't sacrifice your future for some short term fun now. It isn't worth it!!

 

[elcodfish]

I am now almost 30 and growing up we could only afford day trips. Once we spent 3 days at a hotel with an indoor pool and I thought I had gone to heaven I have great memories of those trips and my husband and I still love day trips!

As for camping, we just recently started and it can be great fun. Try to find a site on the beach, or with activities.

 

[NMW]

I wasn't going to post, because threads like this really bother me, but I decided to anyway. In my opinion if you want to take your family on vacation, do it. If it's important to you and your family, do it. I don't care if you a mortgage, CC debt, car loans...whatever. Only you can make that choice. This is a somewhat emotional issue for me.

I have strong feelings about this because I knew a woman that died at age 40 of cancer. For years she said that she wanted to take her kids to WDW, but she and her husband were following some kind of financial plan and paying off debt and cars and also putting so much into savings a month. She died without ever taking her 3 kids to WDW, or really any big vacation. I'm sorry, I know some people will disagree with me, but I think memories of a vacation would mean more to those kids than the fact that their mom's car was paid off when she died.

I'm not saying that people should go into major debt to take a vacation, I'm just saying that life should not only be about sacrifice and going without. Sometimes you need to just live and enjoy life.

 

[gracie1]

I wasn't going to post, because threads like this really bother me, but I decided to anyway. In my opinion if you want to take your family on vacation, do it. If it's important to you and your family, do it. I don't care if you a mortgage, CC debt, car loans...whatever. Only you can make that choice. This is a somewhat emotional issue for me.

I have strong feelings about this because I knew a woman that died at age 40 of cancer. For years she said that she wanted to take her kids to WDW, but she and her husband were following some kind of financial plan and paying off debt and cars and also putting so much into savings a month. She died without ever taking her 3 kids to WDW, or really any big vacation. I'm sorry, I know some people will disagree with me, but I think memories of a vacation would mean more to those kids than the fact that their mom's car was paid off when she died.

I'm not saying that people should go into major debt to take a vacation, I'm just saying that life should not only be about sacrifice and going without. Sometimes you need to just live and enjoy life.

 

[LovableGluttons]

I'll join the odd group here and say "no".


OP, you cannot afford to go on vacation. Not yet. Once your debts are paid and you have money to fall back on for an emergency, then you might be able to afford it.


If you can vacation with all of that heaped on your back, you must be pretty good at sticking your head in the sand and ignoring responsibilities.


If you want to stop the generation mistakes with money, set the example for your kids. There is nothing wrong with telling a child you cannot afford something. If your priority is a roof over their head, food in their bellies, and a means to cover those things should you lose your income, then pass that on to your children.