how much do you budget for vacations?

[emmababy]

Right now our costs are minimal, as our kids are free, but come the next couple of years we are really going to have to budget. Can you all tell me honestly how much you budget for vacations each year? We want to be able to do 2 trips/year, but are just trying to figure out how that can be done when adding up all the expenses for family of four.

 

[thegrimdwarf]

We go about it backwards - we decide what's a fair amount to spend on vacation, and then do a vacation that fits within the budget. We're a family of 4, and our boys are 4 and 2, so our vacations are strictly family friendly destinations. We currently budget about $5K/year for travel, given that we fly to TX once/year to visit my husband's family, and we rent 2 hotel rooms (or a suite, depending on prices) and a car - so that's about $2000 of the budget that's not really "vacation".

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We let the govt borrow our money all year and then we use our tax return as our vacation budget! I think Disney is about the easiest to budget for as the cost is generally the same every year (overall probably increasing about $100/yr). That's one of the reasons that we like to go to Disney every year. We know what to expect cost-wise.

 

[turnlisa]

Well, this may not be the right way to do it but - Disney is a must every year so I automatically assume that it will cost us about $4K when all is said and done. We drive down from MI so that gets added in along with our hotel, tickets, meals, etc. My kids start budgeting months in advance for souvenir money. We set aside $10 every week for each child as long as I don't have to buy them a toy or anything special that week. By the time we go, they each have about $150 and I don't have to budget for souvenirs - plus think of all that money and whining I have saved on toys for months!

Then we take one big trip every summer. I plan $1000 for the rental for wherever we are going to stay. Then for spending money while we are there if we stay less than $1000 I'm a happy camper. The bad thing is that while we are there - I don't add up how much we are spending. So far I have been pleasantly surprised by how little we spend but we have had some wonderful trips. Last year we went to VA, rented a house on the Rappahannock River and did all kinds of sight seeing. I was stunned to see that we spent less than $800 while there and the house cost us only $800. This year we are doing PA - I rented a house on the Yellow Breeches Creek, have a few excursions planned and we'll just see. Like I said, probably not the right way to plan things but so far it has worked.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I usually "think" about spending no more than $3k for our annual Disney trip, then we get a vacation home rental during summer for a week, another 2500 (don't GO THERE, I REALLY think every penny is worth it for the stay) then we usually do smaller trips, last year we decided last minute on Niagara Falls, drove it (LI, NY) and despite the LONG drive just LOVED it, so those type trips are generally about a grand.
Despite the crazy food and gas prices we have been fortunate this year with my job (self employed) and my DH, so we also did a cruise April for 8 days and that came to about $5000 but most was paid ahead, so this year looks to be an expensive one.
Generally speaking though, it is usually about 5-6,000 a year and we just enjoy the boat and staying close to the pool seeing all the family for BBQ's ALL SUMMER LONG!!
Wishing everyone a WONDERFUL Summer with loved ones!

 

[bangzoom6877]

We try to stick with $4,000 annually but go away once a year on a big trip. This is because right now my little one is only 13 months so he goes free. This year we are driving down to FL, a 2-week trip total. Between Disney (hotel, tickets, DDP) and all the hotels we are staying in for the remainder of the 2 weeks, it will cost $2697 (tax included and breakfast is also included at all the hotels we are staying at besides Disney). We are doing our breakfasts in the hotel room at Disney except for 2 character breakfasts on our trip, to save both time and money. We figure gas will cost roughly $600 for the entire trip, if it does go up to $5 a gallon by 5 weeks from now. As far as lunches and dinners on the rest of the trip, we don't eat at fancy places so that should not be a problem. Also planning on bringing the boys' and our favorite snacks on the trip and replenishing them in Boca Raton (before Disney we go there for 4 nights) at Publix. On our stop in North Carolina, the boys and us will be tired from the long drive from NYC (and on the way back up we stop there after Disney), so we found a Pizza Hut that delivers to our hotel. Again it is inexpensive, plus my boys can relax with us in the room rather than be confined to sitting in a restaurant, after being confined to the car all day.

The one meal we are treating ourselves to is that we are trying to get into the Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, GA (we are staying there one night...this restaurant is Paula Deen's famous one and I am a huge fan of hers!). It is a little pricier than the other places but manageable for us. If we can't secure a priority seating for our preferred restaurant there is another one Paula Deen recommends and it is in the same price range.

We are also going to Maryland for 2 nights on the way back home to visit some of my old college friends (I'm a Univ. of MD College Park alumna). I know the cheaper and really good places to eat there because I only graduated 9 years ago and they are all still there!

Let me also add that both DH and I are teachers, so we are not rich people by any means! But we certainly work hard enough both at work and at home that we feel we deserve a nice vacation annually. We don't indulge in things like a cleaning lady, designer clothes, luxury cars, expensive jewelry, etc. We feel it is more important to have a great vacation every year and those other things are not a big deal to us. I have no problem shopping at Kohl's, Target, etc., having my wedding band and engagement ring being my most precious jewelry (they should be anyway!), driving my Honda Odyssey, cleaning my own house (even though all my friends have a cleaning lady once or even twice a week!). All well worth it to me!

Whatever you budget for your vacations, keep in mind, you will have fun no matter what you do, especially if you are at Disney! I would dream of staying at a monorail resort but that is not in our budget at this point so we opted for Pop Century. The convenience of the monorail would be great with little ones but it is not that big a deal to pay close to $1000 more for my vacation to stay there!

-Bonnie

 

[emmababy]

Thanks for all of your replies! We are dvc, so that is already paid for. Right now our kid (s) are free, and we got 3 trips out of our ap's, so we have got off pretty cheap, in disney terms. I was adding how much it would be for 4 with airfare, park tix, and ddp, and I about lost it. We think in the future we will do 1 trip to HHI and 1 to WDW. That would save a little on driving and dining.

To Bonnie- I love Paula Deen too! I can't wait till we go to Hilton Head in a few years and take a trip to Savannah!! I want to either try the Lady and Son or Uncle Bubba's!

 

[VAN]

We "usually" end up spending between $4,000-$6,000 per year depending upon trips.

It's about $3,000 total for a 2 week trip to WDW ... w/ camper
About $1,500-$2,000 for 5 days in Vegas
Then a week of camping near home $500
About $350 for my husband's annual weekend golf trip to Phoenix

This year, our son relocated 850 miles away .... we just spent $800 for that little 5 day trip.

I don't really have a "budget" but I do put money into a "trip fund" every pay period to take the sting out of the credit card bills from a trip. Also spend much time looking for low air fares, discount codes, etc. We are able to manage a lot of expenses by spacing out our table service meals and making them a special occasion while traveling. We find that if we have limited funds, we can cut back in the food department. We've traveled enough that we don't really spend much on souveniers.

So, I guess we are in line with many of the others on our annual trip expenditures!

 

[DawnM]

Ah, well, it sounds like there really isn't much to cut then.

We do Disney very cheaply every year. SkyAuction condo for $179/wk. Bring quite a bit of our own food. We homeschool so we go during homeschool days. We drive down and have a neighbor watch our dog. We use Disney rewards for counter service lunch in the parks and parking.

The whole thing is around $1500/year even with passes for all 5 of us. Half of that is in passes! We never have gone up to $2000 for 7 nights.

Dawn

Thanks for all of your replies! We are dvc, so that is already paid for. Right now our kid (s) are free, and we got 3 trips out of our ap's, so we have got off pretty cheap, in disney terms. I was adding how much it would be for 4 with airfare, park tix, and ddp, and I about lost it. We think in the future we will do 1 trip to HHI and 1 to WDW. That would save a little on driving and dining.

To Bonnie- I love Paula Deen too! I can't wait till we go to Hilton Head in a few years and take a trip to Savannah!! I want to either try the Lady and Son or Uncle Bubba's!

 

[CharityLynn]

We do Disney every year (changing to every other year) but I figure we sepnd about $3000-4,000 total..so about $1000 per person. But we always come home with money. Last year we came home with $750. We drive also...

 

[mom2aredhead]

We fly, stay at AKL, get a rental car, length of stay hoppers and DDP the last 2 trips, though probably not anymore. But we always go when there's some sort of room discount, so that helps, and we always book a standard view room.

Our trip last month was $2800 for 7 nights AKL, 8 day hoppers and DDP
Mid-size rental car $110
3 r/t flights $620,
airport parking $100 (because we can always find a way to drive our relatives to/from the airport, but they're always busy when it's our turn!)
OOP expenses (gratuities, adult beverages, souviners) about $600