How much money do you spend a year on vacations?

[TwistGrl101]

I don't think any parent on this board is unaware of the expenses that come along as kids get older. But I don't understand why the default assumption is that most people don't have their financial house in order. Going on the facts that the OP posted, they can afford an $8K Disney vacation and a very expensive childhood activity but a second trip would stretch the budget. That, to me, signals a family that is a bit more established than "young family just starting out". While of course money could be saved now for all those future expenses, if the basics of their financial house are in order (stable income, sustainable budget, planning for retirement) I don't see why stretching a bit to cover a one-time expense without sacrificing other priorities is necessarily a bad thing. Especially given another fact that the OP posted - she is currently a SAHM, and since most women return to work as the children get older, odds are they'll see an increase in household income before cars and college are factoring into the budget.

And as far as staying in the best hotels, the Beach Club is probably not something that will be an option for the OP in the future. Once the baby turns 3 and they can no longer fit in one room, they'd be looking at twice the cost - either for two rooms or a 2 bedroom unit at BCV. The experience that will cost them $220 a night right now will be $500+ in 2.5 years. I can completely understand wanting to hold out for that experience now... I'm very glad I decided to stay there with my kids years ago, because now that the oldest is a teen I can't imagine packing us all into a standard hotel room at any resort and two rooms at the BC is way beyond what I'd spend.

Wow you're like my personal psychic! Except I do work, I am a teacher!!!

 

[TwistGrl101]

This was exactly my thought.

Just because some have replied that they spend $10k doesn't mean that everyone can. It is likely that these families have higher incomes or possibly go into debt to fund their travel. (DH is a financial adviser and works with families all the time who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and would think nothing of taking another vacation)

Honestly, I was pretty shocked at how inexpensive some of the elements of OP's Disney trip are. Around $200/night for BC (about the price of a mod), only $900 for flights for 6 people. I don't think I would pass up that trip. (Personally, we would skip dance in a heartbeat, but I realize activities like that are important to some families)

The $8K total seems like a lot and I agree the spending money is a bit much. We have been going to Disney every year and my kids spend about $25 each during an entire 12 day trip. We don't have a strict budget or deny them anything but they are just always more interested in doing things than buying things

You could also cut other costs-- bring your own stroller, no babysitting, etc-- without sacrificing your resort choice.

Maybe I did budget overboard on spending. Last few trips we under budgeted though, and came home with some unexpected charges.

We are big eaters, so at least one, sometimes two sit down meals are important to us, and we try to do at least one character meal a day.
If we get DDP, there will still be some OOP meals, so really food is taking up a huge portion of our spending...I know it sounds ridiculous.

The room is so cheap because I got a 40% off CM discount, and once DD6mos turns 3, we can't ever stay at BC again...so we are pretty set on keeping it, as we are literally obsessed with BC.

I have been saving charge card points, and I will only have to pay between $400-900 for my airfare which is normally over $2000 for my family of 6.

We did no vacation this year (last was Disney in Aug 2012), so we are all really pumped about going next year. We have a year to save up for this much needed and anticipated trip. The Disney trip will be paid for in cash by putting money away throughout the year.

The problem is I will have a hard time also setting aside a few thousand for Myrtle Beach. It just seems like an inconvenience, but the dance team is something we have made a commitment to. If it was only for a weekend, I would just go with DD, but apparently these dance competitions last 5-7 days.
If we say we are not going, she can no longer be on the team. I'm sure there are some other dance/cheer moms on the board who understand the huge commitment.

 

[katie111]

Question- have you ever been to a dance competition? I'm sorry but they are so boring even for adults, I cannot even imagine trying to entertain 3 other young kids during it. Sure it's exciting when your daughter is performing but you literally have to sit there for hours watching others perform as well as downtime in between competitors. Your daughter is 7. There will be plenty of other competitions, sporting events, etc in her future. She might cry for a bit when you tell her she is not going but just start hyping up Disney and I'm sure she will get over it pretty quickly.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go to the dance competition but it seems that if your husband can't get off work and you can't afford both, then you need to make a tough decision. Personally, I would choose Disney but its your decision to make. I would go with what makes the most sense for the family. Maybe it doesn't seem "fair" to her to miss the dance competition but is it "fair" for the other 5 members of the family to miss out on Disney just for her?

 

[sk!mom]

If we say we are not going, she can no longer be on the team. I'm sure there are some other dance/cheer moms on the board who understand the huge commitment.

I get it. While not a fan of competitive cheer or the competitive "Dance moms" type dance. I totally get supporting the interests and endeavors of your children. However since this is already a problem for you and you have several other children to become involved in costly activities, I honestly think that you should rethink now.

Scale down activities or leave the others at home while you go with the participant only. I never considered mine too young to stay with grandma unless they were still nursing.

 

[bluezy]

The problem is I will have a hard time also setting aside a few thousand for Myrtle Beach. It just seems like an inconvenience, but the dance team is something we have made a commitment to. If it was only for a weekend, I would just go with DD, but apparently these dance competitions last 5-7 days.
If we say we are not going, she can no longer be on the team. I'm sure there are some other dance/cheer moms on the board who understand the huge commitment.

I'm just curious...are there other dance studios/teams in your area that don't do competitions? You're still a year away...can you leave this team and start up at a different studio that doesn't have the added cost of competitions? I totally understand wanting her to be able to stay in dance. I'm a mom of 5 and my oldest son was a very good soccer player even as a young child. He played on several intramural teams. His coaches were always begging me to have him try out for the travel teams. I knew those were a HUGE commitment in both time and money...and it was a year long commitment. I knew that if I made that type of commitment for him, I would need to be able to offer that to *all* of my children -- maybe not for soccer specifically, but whatever passion they would have. I quickly realized that there were not enough hours in the day or money in our budget to be able to do that for 5 kids. So we made the decision right then and there that we would not have our children participate on teams that would require that type of financial or time commitment. Over the last 20 years they've all been involved in various activities and teams and thoroughly enjoyed them but I have never regretted making the decision not to get involved with competitive teams. This allowed each of the kids to participate in various activities that appeal to them individually rather than letting the schedule and commitment of the oldest kid(s) dictate what the rest of the family does and simply by the "trickle down" theory, not allow the "baby" to do anything because all time and financial resources are used up.

To answer the original question, I would not sacrifice the Disney trip for the Myrtle Beach trip. I would, like a PP suggested, try to find someone to help DH with 2 of the kids at home and take DD and the baby to Myrtle Beach. Keeping one child entertained during all of those rehearsals and competitions would be much easier than trying to entertain 3 kids. Is there anyone who is driving that would have space in their mini-van/SUV for you and the two kids? That could save on transportation costs. Or would there be other families that might be interested in renting a bus with a professional driver? I've always felt that if something is really important, people can always figure out a way to make it happen.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Colleen - I'm just trying to point out that there are a LOT of future expenses. I'm imagining a young, just getting started couple, and I think that $8k is a lot to put into one vacation. Spend half of that, put the other half away, and the first set of braces are almost paid for. In my frugal mind (and I may be very much in the minority, which is ok) staying at the BEST hotels and paying for the BEST meals/tickets/events as a young family is creating a situation where they're going to run out of $$ quickly. It kind of makes me think of the newspaper articles where kids out of college are expecting top jobs, and not willing to work up from the bottom. I have NO CLUE whether that is the case here, but it does seem that the OP is looking to justify her $8k trip, and is very much about only accepting the TOP accomodations....

Totally agree with everything you have said so far. OP seems very rigid in her plans yet admits to barely being able to afford this type of vacation.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

For the OP, Myrtle Beach won't cost you anywhere near what your BC trip will, so I think you might be able to do both if you drive. Many Myrtle Beach condos/hotels are on the beach and have pools, lazy rivers and kids splash areas right at the resort. I'm assuming you'll have to rent a condo with a kitchen for a family of 6. But then you can cook most of your meals. (Not as fun, I know, but cheaper.) You can get groceries at Food Lion or another grocery store.

Myrtle Beach has a gazillion putt putt places (cheap), plus there's shopping/walking around at Broadway on the Beach and Barefoot Landing (free.) Buy the kids some sand toys and you've got entertainment for most everyday. It's not going to be as "posh" as I imagine Beach Club is, but the beaches there are very nice.

I'm a stay-at-home mom now, so we probably spend about $3000 a year on 1 big vacation and maybe a weekend getaway or a trip to visit family. $8000 just seems like a lot to spend on one trip. But it sounds like you're heart is set on BC.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Stepping back, is it fair for one child's activity to cost thousands of $$?

If this is the last year your family can fit at BC, is it fair to ask all the other people in the family to sacrifice for a dance tournament?

Only you and your family can answer that question. Good luck deciding

 

[scoutie]

To answer the original question....$10,000.

I agree with the other posters who say you have answered your own question.If you say you can't afford it, than you can't afford it.

I don't understand why the kids have to compete at a venue eleven hours away. We have competitive dance here, and the competitions are within a few hours. For something like nationals, they might have to travel farther, but not for an initial competition.

 

[hsmamato2]

I wouldn't spend my vacation money on the Myrtle Beach trip that benefits only one child. That doesn't seem fair to the other kids. I also wouldn't let a dance teacher/organization decide how I spend my limited vacation money/time. If I had multiple children and each was involved in activities that could easily require an expensive trip for a competition every year, I would decide now how much money and time I was able to spend on that and expect the money to come from the budget for kids lessons and educational activities, not the vacation budget.

haven't read the whole thread but I agree with this.....If I had to choose one trip it wouldn't be a dance show for a 7 year old,sacrificing a real family vacation for the rest of us....IMHO and we spend around2-5k yearly for trips right now,taking 2-3 trips per year to various places of interest(also IMHO but it doesn't matter what anyone else spends, just what you personally can afford)

 

[hsmamato2]

The problem is I will have a hard time also setting aside a few thousand for Myrtle Beach. It just seems like an inconvenience, but the dance team is something we have made a commitment to. If it was only for a weekend, I would just go with DD, but apparently these dance competitions last 5-7 days.
If we say we are not going, she can no longer be on the team. I'm sure there are some other dance/cheer moms on the board who understand the huge commitment.

Maybe...but think about this, your daughter is 7. In 10 years what memories of vacations do you want to have? If it's being forced to overspend on trips for a dance school for little kids,then you should put aside your disney trip,and what your family wants/needs. And go to the trip you feel you 'have no choice' about- unless you have a 3rd option for making that much extra,plus your DH getting time off,then it seems like you've got 2 options.....unless I'm missing something here.....again, so NOT a dance mom here...so it's just my ordinary old opinion......

 

[torinsmom]

So, are ALL the other kids in the class going to the dance comp? That's a lot of time and money for kids that age. I can't imagine being thrown out of the class if you don't want to do the competition.

 

[mrsklamc]

I'm just going to chime in here because there HAVE to be people that are in awe of the fact that people spend $5-$10k on their vacations, and I don't want them to feel like oddballs.

Most of us on the DIS have had multiple Disney vacations and right off the bat that puts us in a spending bracket that many, many people will never see.

I don't know what number people are using for 'average' income but I think we are slightly above it, and in the 8 years we have been married we have not spent more than $2,000 a year on vacation, and we've had some nice ones, including a 4 day Disney cruise. Now, we 1) don't have kids yet 2) have had some crazy medical bills and 3) DH is a 'stuff' person while I'm an 'experience' person, so if we were both experience people we would probably spend more.

We also have a 15 year mortgage so our spending on vacation will go up when that is knocked out.

 

[BCmomma]

We are a family of 4, two kids aged 2.5 and 5. We spent about $2000-$2500 on vacation a year. That is an average; some years (like two years ago when we camped on the Oregon coast) it's less, some years (like next year when we have an out of town wedding and our 10th anniversary trip to Hawaii) it will be more. I'm a SAHM.

Does any of this help you? Of course not because you are NOT me. We don't have $8,000 to spend on a vacation every year, obviously your situation is different than ours and from other peoples' and so on. You've already gotten lots of good advice from people on here so you need to decide what is right for YOUR family, because your budget is not ours and vice versa.

 

[tinker&belle]

Our last vacation was around 2500. We didn't do a big trip this year, but plan on spending about the same on a Disney trip next year plus about 1000 for a family reunion. OP, this is really irrelevant though because even if others spend 10k on a vacation they may in in a different stage of life and may have a much higher income.

 

[crisi]

Some years its been $15k. This year it will be about $1500. Most years more like $4k.

But, for years we put $20k away for the kids college funds, and before THAT we prioritized paying down the house - that was our priority and we tended to vacation fairly cheap - especially given our income level, unless a bonus fell our way. When that was pretty much done, we had a few years of huge vacations. Our kids do not do expensive activities - park and rec and school stuff.

Next year will be an expensive vacation year again because my daughter and I are going to Europe on a school trip (the boys don't want to go), and our family vacation is a cruise. There is also a girl scout trip for my daughter and me, but that is cookie money.

 

[eliza61]

Totally agree with everything you have said so far. OP seems very rigid in her plans yet admits to barely being able to afford this type of vacation.

I didn't get that at all. I got that she has too much going on. while many people can afford stuff money is not limitless so I got that she was asking for suggestion on how to make all 3 work.

Just this past summer I've spent over 1K on my dog. first I had a 400 dollar kennel bill, then I spent 500 bucks on his teeth cleaning and just last month I found out the stupid mutt (I love him) has diabetes and I have to buy a 150 glucometer, 150 bucks on blood work and now I've got a monthly insulin bill.
Among this I have a girls weekend planned to the world in September plus I've got to get son number 2 back to cincinnati for college. Whew!! while I've got a budget for it, I'm spending way more than I want too. so I'm cutting back in real life. LOL
Money's not tight but it's definitely flying out my house faster than I'd like.

Now as to being rigid, one thing I always try and suggest to people is to know how they vacation truly. I'm rigid in some areas. I too cannot and will not ever go back to staying at a value. So I may ask for other suggestions. Some people can eat pop tarts for breakfast and be totally happy. my family cannot so that maybe a line in the sand for me.

I simply think she has to admit to not being able to do all 3. a wedding, a dance competition and a family vacation is a lot.

Some times its not about as much affordability as it is prioritizing.

I think we are too "rigid" here on these boards. there is a wide space between not being able to afford some thing and limitless spending. We get these dollar amounts in our head and some how any thing over is excess. some say 8K is a lot, for others 8k is rather routine and not lavish in the least. I've done both gone way over and stayed way under. neither is wrong.

 

[rosiebean]

In recent years, we've spent about $3000 to $4000 a year on vacations. These are mostly small weekend trips, camping/cabin in state parks, and vacations to visit family. When we do a 'larger' vacation (renting a beach house with family, for example) we tend to do fewer weekend trips. We probably spend about 3% of our annual income on vacations, maybe less. Most of our funds now go into retirement, paying down our mortgage (15-year loan with extra applied to pay it off early), etc.

Even when we visit family, we don't get off quite as cheap as we could, because there's usually one to two hotel nights involved (I hate the 10-hour drive to visit husband's family and usually break it up at least on the way there). And almost all vacations include us having to board our dog...he's BIG and expensive to board (if we get another dog in the future, it will be a very small one, lol).

I'm doing a kids and mom only trip to Disney this year (husband is saving his vacation days to work on an addition to our house). The money will be more than I'm used to spending, but it's not unaffordable...I've actually been putting a little money to the side for the last few years for a 'just because' fund and have more than enough to pay for it.

But...I don't want to go overboard. We have a Thanksgiving trip and Christmas trip coming up, both to see family, and there will be hotel and boarding expenses involved. And even though we can 'afford' to splurge on multiple things like MNNSHP and character dinners, I just don't know if I'll do it. We're meeting up with family at Disney, so my kids will have cousin time, which they'll enjoy and remember just as much as the park. I got a really good rate on plane tickets and a monorail hotel, we're staying at cool place the kids will LOVE. I'm tempted to go all-out and splurge more, but I won't. We'll eat counter service in the parks, and if we see a character, great...if not, no big deal. My personality is split between wanting everything and wanting to save as much as I can.

But those are my choices for my family, and everyone is different.

There are options for saving money in the OP's stated Disney budget. She can spend less on stuff at the parks, bring a stroller rather than rent one (even if it's a pain gate checking it on the plane), mail snacks or do green grocers so cut down on out-of-pocket spending even if they have free dining, forgo the babysitting...and if they don't have free dining, not do so many character meals. There might be ways to set aside money for the dance competition...cheaper meals at home, less dining out, clipping coupons, etc. She can drive to the dance competition...yes, even if it's a long drive, it might be a pain, but it's a way to save money.

It does seem like the OP wants to affirm her choice rather than look for suggestions to do both trips and save money...but it's her family, and she's got to make the choices.

Edited to add: I like what the poster above said. It's about prioritizing. I hate the long drive to Canada and it's usually a 'line in the sand', but if we were trying to save for an unexpected expense, I'd probably grit my teeth and deal with it. The OP needs to figure out what she can deal with, I suppose, because the way things are don't seem like they will work.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Question- have you ever been to a dance competition? I'm sorry but they are so boring even for adults, I cannot even imagine trying to entertain 3 other young kids during it. Sure it's exciting when your daughter is performing but you literally have to sit there for hours watching others perform as well as downtime in between competitors. Your daughter is 7. There will be plenty of other competitions, sporting events, etc in her future. She might cry for a bit when you tell her she is not going but just start hyping up Disney and I'm sure she will get over it pretty quickly.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go to the dance competition but it seems that if your husband can't get off work and you can't afford both, then you need to make a tough decision. Personally, I would choose Disney but its your decision to make. I would go with what makes the most sense for the family. Maybe it doesn't seem "fair" to her to miss the dance competition but is it "fair" for the other 5 members of the family to miss out on Disney just for her?

She's correct in that competitions can be long and boring. The amount of time that your dance school competes at these events is not that long for the amount of time you are there.

My sister had her 3 girls in dance for years.

When I say over the years she had spent over a 100K on dance is not an exaggeration.

Between dance classes, and all the different shoes, clothing, recitals, competitions, travel expenses, costumes for the recitals and competitions, private lessons, fees, etc., it goes on and on and it adds up real quick.

Also, I can't tell you how many times we had to plan trips and activities around their dance schedule. Be careful, because it can run your life if you let it.

 

[TwistGrl101]

I really appreciate everyone's suggestions.

One option I am considering is to allow DD to go with another family whom we know well. This would save us money, time off work, and instead of me going with my oldest and leaving the youngest 3 home, it would be the opposite.
Another option is for me to bring a helper while DH stays home to work or for him to keep 2 of the kids home and have someone help. But this won't really save us much money for our Disney trip.
Hmm, brainstorming here, maybe my mom could bring DD...this way she is with a family member, gets to go on her trip, and I wouldn't be digging too deep into my pocket (I would offer to pay for my mother's airfare, not sure if she would accept.)

While I won't give up Beach Club, I could possibly shorten the trip by a day, cut out some character meals, and limit spending money.

What I will not do is opt out of the competition. This is something DD has worked hard for and something she is very much looking forward to, and I think it's a great opportunity for her.