Since going on vacations, our budgeting has been great.

[Disneyluv111]

We've started going on a vacation about 1.5 years ago. And this WDW trip will be the biggest. With that said, since planning vacations, we've gotten our finances in order. Vacations really do that to you because for most people, they have to budget and save. I am thankful for vacations because it makes me budget and save like never before!
Before, we didn't go on vacations and we spent frivolously with no purpose in mind other than a savings account, emergency account, etc. Going out to eat, shopping, buying things we don't need! Now, we save very purposefully! We have a great reason to save.
Yay for vacations!!! Can anyone else relate?


ETA: English is my second language. Sorry if grammar isn't all that great.

 

[Keira1387]

We've started going on a vacation about 1.5 years ago. And this WDW trip will be the biggest. With that said, since planning vacations, we've gotten our finances in order. Vacations really do that to you because for most people, they have to budget and save. I am thankful for vacations because it makes me budget and save like never before!
Before, we didn't go on vacations and we spent frivolously with no purpose in mind other than a savings account, emergency account, etc. Going out to eat, shopping, buying things we don't need! Now, we save very purposefully! We have a great reason to save.
Yay for vacations!!! Can anyone else relate?

I never thought of it that way, but you are right! I find myself clothes shopping and thinking to my self if I would rather have that money in the disney fund.

 

[Disneyluv111]

I never thought of it that way, but you are right! I find myself clothes shopping and thinking to my self if I would rather have that money in the disney fund.

Yes, I'm starting to think that way too! And eat out much less because I want to save that money to "shop" at Disney. Just a bunch of little things like that!

 

[lauradis]

Its weird what motivates people to find money to do what they want.

 

[Marionnette]

Its weird what motivates people to find money to do what they want.

Yup! Vacation money is just a part of our budget and always has been. It's not what motivates me to keep spending under control. For me, it was always about getting the kids through college debt-free. Two more semesters and our youngest will be finished with his undergraduate degree!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I know what you mean. Knowing that we have an upcoming trip helps to convince our middle DD to stay away from the mall. And every spare $ we have goes to the vacation fund because if we don't use it for this trip we'll use it for the next one.

 

[marmalade]

I have a vacation account that I put money in every week, but I am trying to sneak in a extra short trip in December. We're skipping Disney this year and going to Clearwater in February but I still want my Disney fix (even though I was just there in May and December 2014).

I was just thinking about my budget and where I could save and if it was possible for the December trip, then I went to the grocery store for lunch stuff for the kids and ended up spending $250.

 

[JanaDee]

Yup! Vacation money is just a part of our budget and always has been. It's not what motivates me to keep spending under control.

Same here.

 

[sydneysmom]

I totally agree..... It's something nice to look forward to and you don't feel at all like you're "doing without" because you know something really great is at the end of the rainbow. I'm saving for our Universal Vacation now (for June 2016)...I've got the approximate amount of our vacation figured out and then all the "extra" money from our food shopping envelope, gas envelope, rebates, Checkout 51, Ibotta, Savingstar, etc goes into the Universal vacation envelope. To prove how fast it adds up, I've got $ 950 after 4 months. Just from already budgeted money that we didn't spend each month... my DH calls it "the squirrel envelope". When he found out how much I had saved already, he was floored. My goal is to have about 80% saved by the time we're ready to put it in the budget to 'begin saving'!!

 

[eliza61]

I think the key word is actually "goals" or "purpose" not so much as vacations.

When we wanted to buy a new car we were more aware of our budget because we wanted to save a lot for down payment.

Same thing with college savings and vacations.

I am much more away of my spending when I have a goal in mind.

Now I'm on retirement count down. LOL 4-5 years so I'm saving like a crazy women because I plan on living la vida loca in my retirement.

 

[The Princess]

totally agree!

 

[Disneyluv111]

I know for us it's the vacation part. It's the vacation that is forcing us to save since we've already have the college, savings account, life insurance, all of that taken care of.

 

[Disneyluv111]

I think the key word is actually "goals" or "purpose" not so much as vacations.

When we wanted to buy a new car we were more aware of our budget because we wanted to save a lot for down payment.

Same thing with college savings and vacations.

I am much more away of my spending when I have a goal in mind.

Now I'm on retirement count down. LOL 4-5 years so I'm saving like a crazy women because I plan on living la vida loca in my retirement.

Yes! That's the word I need to use. Our goals now is vacation planning!

HAHA! If you plan on living la vida loca don't forget about us here!!

 

[elaine amj]

I get motivated every time I sit and crunch our overall budget numbers. *sigh*

And yes, vacations are a big goal for us and it's nice because I can easily see that "saving $100 here = 1 night at a Pop".