How much do you spend on vacations?

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Probably 15% of our pre-tax income.

 

[gonegolfin]

We have a family of five that averages going about once a year ... always scheduling two separate trips using a single set of annual passes (so the lead trip is always more expensive than the back end trip). We just finished our lead trip (12 nights). We do get the DVC discount for annual passes. Trips are generally 10->12 nights, sometimes using DVC points, sometimes not (always deluxe resorts, AP discount). I keep a small DVC account (sold most of my points years ago) to maintain privileges and purchase points on the open market for transfer into my account when we do book DVC (just purchased/transferred BCV points at $13.00/point for our back end trip May 2020). We typically will do light breakfast in the room (villa with kitchen), but do lunch and dinner in the parks/resorts (nearly always table service). We budget $400/day for food and use Tables in Wonderland (front end and back end). Sometimes we fly, sometimes we drive (Texas) ... depends on how much time we have. While 3% of gross income is a bit much for my tastes (other travel is significantly less expensive), investments are squared away and we have not had a mortgage in over a decade (believe in no debt philosophy). Just as important, the family really loves this time together. Sometimes I think they like the discussion/planning as much as the actual experience.

 

[bettymae1121]

Cash out of pocket? Depends on the year. '19 is a non-Disney year for us so only 4% post-tax. Next year we're doing DLR for a week, that will depend on if we do coach (for free) or 1st (pay cash) for the flights, between 5% and 8.3%. 2021 is non-Disney and we aren't sure what we're doing but between 4% and 6% would be a safe bet. 2022 will be a B-I-G trip to WDW (12 nights!) but that said, cash out-of-pocket will be only be ~6% if I hit my rewards/points targets.

The costs for our trips are higher than that but I get it down by using points and/or cash back from credit cards. A good example is the trip we just took last week. Hotels and flights were free using points, so we spent only $3k on a 9 night vacation. Had we paid for the flights and hotel too it would have been $6500. The 2022 WDW trip is going to be close to $12k but I estimate I'll at least earn $7k in cash back rewards prior to that at minimum.

We are debt free other than a reasonable mortgage, have plenty of savings, retirement investing is on track, as is DD's college fund. What we do spend out-of-pocket for travel is funded from extra-paycheck months and my modest annual bonus.

 

[tvguy]

I am wrapped up a week long "staycation". Since last Saturday we have put 600 miles on our "weekend/vacation" car, and spent about $500.
Our next vacation is in October. Booked it yesterday. A 7 day cruise on Celebrity. Cruise, tax, air fare, and transfers come to $2,700. I am guessing that tips, a few adult beverages, and excursions will add another $1,000 to that.

 

[viaggiamo]

We spend between 10% and 20% of our yearly income, after tax. We do own everything though, including our home, and have no loans or debt. That is for 2 adults and 2 children and we normally travel overseas for 4+ weeks per year. Last year was Italy for 9 weeks, this year the USA for 5 weeks, next year Thailand and Singapore for 5 weeks. (We are based in Australia)

 

[sk!mom]

Oh gosh, I don't know...we save over the course of more than one year for bigger trips, so it doesn't really amount to the percentage of just one year's take home pay, kwim? Plus we use gift money, and yard sale/Craigslist/eBay money, etc., too. So figuring out the math would be way more math than I want to do .

I get not wanting to take the time to figure it out but in my view the answer is a simple equation if you have the totals. All you need is your income and the total spent on travel. It doesn’t really matter how long you took to save it or where the dollars came from as that is money that could have been used for other things if not spent on travel.

The only deduction that I would count is things that are free. For instance, our trip to Vegas over NYE was around 2K for 3 nights. Airfare wasn’t included because we flew free with points so no income used.

 

[DisLiss]

I get not wanting to take the time to figure it out but in my view the answer is a simple equation if you have the totals. All you need is your income and the total spent on travel. It doesn’t really matter how long you took to save it or where the dollars came from as that is money that could have been used for other things if not spent on travel.

The only deduction that I would count is things that are free. For instance, our trip to Vegas over NYE was around 2K for 3 nights. Airfare wasn’t included because we flew free with points so no income used.

Yes, but if I figure the percentage of money spent on one trip from just that year's salary, it would be incorrect. But if I say well, we've saved 5 years for this trip and divide it out that way, it will be too low per year, since we would have done smaller trips in between, and I don't have 5 years (for example) of travel totals still available to tally up.