Do you save up before you book or book and then save?

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I am still toying with the idea of booking again, but wondered what people do, do you book it and then worry about the paying for it after and if you have not finished paying before you go, lump it on the credit card? or do you save for it all then book?

I have been looking into saving half and then booking, but wondered what others do?

thanks to all who reply,

kevin

 

[bazzanoid]

This really is a personal thing, everyone will be different. I personally save up before booking to a minimum amount, i.e. if i couldn't save anymore than that for whatever reason i still have enough to go and will just have a smaller amount of spending money.

For example, for next October's trip i can book once £2800 is saved, but am aiming for £3500-£4500 to make sure i've got plenty of spends - i normally buy a gadget out there, so plenty of extra is always good for me

 

[2Tiggies]

First couple of years I had the money all saved before I booked, although I don't pay them before it's due because (at the time) it did better in a ISA earning me money than paid to the TA or Disney prematurely.

Since then I do make sure I have the flight money saved, put those on my credit card and then pay it all off when the statement comes in. For the holiday itself, I now just save while I count down.

 

[wilma-bride]

I usually do a bit of both - save a little bit (enough for all deposits etc. at least) beforehand but I need to know that, at my current rate of saving, I will have enough to pay everything in full and have spends by the time the final payment date comes around.

 

[joolz1910]

I had half of the amount saved in an ISA before I booked. I then paid a £500 deposit at the beginning of 2011 and had 18 months to save the rest.

I managed to save £1280 in £2 coins and sold loads on Ebay, carboots and facebook to add to my savings. Also did a bit of over-time at work and was able to pay it off in full, with spending money too.

I have already started to save for out next trip.

 

[darthtatty]

we usually work out how much we need for the holiday, then plan the amount we can save each month.
We'll book when we have saved some, then will carry on saving right up until the holiday.

 

[Kath2003]

Personally I wouldn't book without the money ready for all expenses, down to the last soda at Orlando airport on the way home, plus an emergency fund. I would worry about the money and that would take the fun out of planning it for me.

Personally I have also found that it is significantly cheaper to pay up front for flights and accommodation.

Holidays are last on the list of priorities after mortgage, bills etc. but we do make a point of keeping our spending on other items low (clothing, shoes, cosmetics etc.) which allows us to have the money available to go on holiday.

Booked last month for Easter and it's nice to know that it's all paid off, and that we have the money for food etc. sorted too. Now we can just relax (and start saving for 2014!!!).

 

[orangetiggs]

I buck the trend then as i book and then save up for it

 

[2Tiggies]

I buck the trend then as i book and then save up for it

I don't see a problem with that at all. If you are comfortable with how you book/save/pay for it, all is good

 

[orangetiggs]

I could never just save without having something to save for. If we just saved it woukd get eaten up some how so it works for us, this years due this week and last of that saving was added to on friday! Tight but all worked out

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I buck the trend then as i book and then save up for it

Nope that's me too. I usually pay for the deposit on a CC and then start saving like mad.

I've always used the boys child benefit money as our "spends" so I know that's a guaranteed amount. Then once the holiday is booked I work out how much it's going to be and divide it by the number of months left before the final payment is due and that gives me my monthly savings figure. As we've always gone in school holidays and have therefore booked anything up to 18 months in advance it's always been manageable.

 

[tinkerpea]

We for the last 3 trips have always booked it whilst paying around £1000 for the deposite & then spend the next yr paying it off!
We pay off at least £600 a month

The only problem that you can have with paying it off monthly is that when something comes up you havent budgeted for like your car breaking and spending £1700 and still having no car!! It kind of messes up your spending plans as we found out this yr,
So in future we will be saving half then booking





My mum akways saved for our holidays then went in and booked it and paid right there and then,So she cant see our way of doing things

 

[starrysky]

I could never just save without having something to save for. If we just saved it woukd get eaten up some how so it works for us, this years due this week and last of that saving was added to on friday! Tight but all worked out

I am the same. We put down the deposit and then save up the rest and pay the balance in one go. Flights are on a no interest cc and they get paid off ASAP. Overall it's personal choice for us it's pay the deposit to make sure we get the deal we want. So if we do book for next year it will be after we come back from this trip to make sure we still get the free dinning. That way we have almost a whole year to save up.

 

[~Piglet~]

Our previous trips we saved first and had all the money before booking.

We had withdrawal symptoms after our last trip and so to cheer ourselves up we booked and paid the deposit about 18 months ago and have been saving the balance monthly since - it's all paid now.

We opened up a new savings account and every pay day transferred the money over, it has given us something to look forward to for the past year and a half and the time has come around amazingly quickly

 

[Cyrano]

I would love to be able to speculate and book a trip on the credit card and then pay for it later. However the planner, control freak in me needs to have the money saved or fairly certain before I book.

 

[consumermonkey]

USUALLY for me, look at prices for a while, save about half, book, save the rest.

This time however, I was getting prices together with the intention of Autumn 2013, using the prices for Jan 13 as a guide as that was as far in advance as I could get at the time. When I could get the prices for Autumn 2013 and shared this info, was told point blank "I thought we were going in January" It is usually VERY difficult to get a straight decision out of my family, so within 48hrs of this revelation, the holiday was booked for Jan 2013, leaving me with the issue of originally having 18 months to save up being reduced to less than 9 months.

It has been difficult, but after 4 months of permanent night shifts (only 16 more to go) I have not only paid in full, but also will have all my spending's put to one side too, and still have time for a good Chrimbo.

Have had to keep myself going with the thoughts of not only going back far earlier than planned, but the holiday after that will be all the sooner too.

 

[catherine]

I have a savings account that I put a set amount of money in each month (sometimes I put more in but never less!) so it depends whether all the money is available before I book the trip or not. I never charge anything to a CC, so if we don't have all the money available before I book the trip I at least have to know that it will be available well in advance of when we need to pay.

 

[Elise79]

Booking DIY we always have the money for the flights up front as they have to paid for in full at booking. I have looked at fly drives but they are always way too expensive and I can not justify paying the extra just so I don't have to pay in full.

Accommodation is never paid off till the due date if not staying DVC. Everything else is booked and paid for as and when. We have a set savings amount each month that it all comes out of.

 

[fizz13]

when I started booking trips it used to be the credit card lifestyle, then as I got older it was money saved for flights, hotel deposits then book and pay the rest over the months before. this time because I am fed up with last minute scramble to pull spending money together, I will be saving the whole lot before I book anything, so just for once I can relax and I will carry on putting money away to the day we go so not once will I have to say we're on a budget when we're there lol

 

[OhanaSam]

We originally planned to save up all of the money and book a month or two in advance and stay in one of the Disney value resorts but when the free DDP offer with the $200 gift card came on we decided to pay the deposit. I think putting the deposit down has made us much more careful of our spending as we know we have to have the money saved or we can't go. Already got about £2000 saved only 3 more to go lol