Where is travel listed in your priorities/budget?

[Mrs. Ciz]

Well, sorta both. It is a priority, but it does have to wait until we have 'extra' money.

We do travel, but less than I'd like because DH is a 'stuff' person while I am an 'experience' person so we have to compromise.

This! My carpets totally need replacing and the wallpaper in our master bath screams 1997---but bring on the cruise ships and mickey bars! Seriously, the carpets can always be replaced later--but memories can't be replaced. We've started to encourage my aging parents to travel with us so we can guide them along and assist them as needed. Pictures/videos with grandparents and grandchildren can't wait....and who knows what the future brings.

We have a vacation account where I put any extra money we have after regular bills and savings---travel is probably one of our highest priorities (beyond necessary expenditures at home including private school tuition). We have friends who fret about the cost of vacations, yet they just had new furniture delivered. To each their own.....it's all about what we value, right?

mrsklamc - I remember you saying this on another thread several months ago and it really stuck with me. I am def an experience person!.

emma'smom - I feel ya on the whole carpet thing. I also have friends who keep saying they want to travel, worry about the money, end up not going on any trips but then trade in a 2 year old car for a brand new one b/c they didn't like the old one anymore. It's all about priorities.

 

[TravelMommy]

We don't have expensive hobbies, like my uncle's golf habit, lol! However like many posters above we make travel a priority after the necessities.

 

[Happyjen27]

Keep in mind that you're posting this on a site devoted to travel!

You might get drastically different answers if you posted on a real estate investment forum, where they think we are crazy for spending money on vacations instead of building our fortunes.

 

[Pigeon]

It's way down at the end of my list of priorities, well past saving for retirement and my kids' college funds.

I like travel, but if money isn't readily available for it, it's no big sacrifice to spend vacation at home.

 

[lurkernj]

For us, travel ranks pretty high. We drive old cars, live in a much more economical house than we could probably afford and pinch pennies everywhere we can so that we can afford to travel. My friends think we have WAY more money than we do because they only see where we go, they don't see the tight budgeting in the rest of our lives to make it possible for that to happen.

This is us too. We don't have giant tvs or new cars (in fact mines 11yrs old and DH's is 14), our house could use some improvements. But every month, $500 goes in the vacation account as if its a payment, because I need to know I have something to look foreward to. My sons friends all think we are loaded because we are going to Hawaii for the third time next year, and we just got back from Costa rica. These trips are all planned out carefully and I haven't yet had to pay for airfare to Hawaii thanks to FF miles, and sometimes we have hotel points, so my Hawaii trips are cheaper than renting a beach house here in NJ.

DS18 just started college, and an expensive one too, and all our friends are like "oh, I guess your traveling days are over". Nope, that money is still going in the account. For years, there have been multiple separate accounts, one for education, one for vacation, one for bills, and one for misc spending (and there is an emergency account but not 8 months worth). So college is separate from our every day living.

You never know what the future holds, so I am going enjoy my life before it's too late.

 

[nunzia]

and again, it isn't an either/or decision..my B & SIL are about the same age as us, house paid off, cars paid off, pretty healthy retirement savings (in this world you can never say 'enough') . We wanted to do home improvements...got carpet, slowly tiling other rooms, did a mild kitchen makeover..about $2,000 for new stove/refrigerator,paint and hardware for cabinets, faux new count-tops..did it ourselves. Windows are the old crank type so buying new cranks as we think of it. B & SIL have slowly retiled whole house on their own, then had a professionally redone kitchen over 20K and all new energy efficient windows put in..another 20K +..we are both happy with our decisions..we bought some extra DVC points and still spent less..we take multiple trips and threw in an 8 night cruise before my DH began a depressing 6 month medical treatment and still spent less. It's all choices, and long as folks are happy with their OWN choices, good for them.

 

[reginaastralis]

Taking time off to relax is a pretty high priority for us, but that doesn't necessarily involve travel. I don't know that I would be able to put $10/month aside for vacationing and then allow myself the freedom to spend it on a luxury when there are necessities that need to be paid for. However, I'm at a different stage in my life from where you're sitting right now. My house is paid off. Never carried debt other than my student loans from the 1980's. The kids are nearly finished with college. Our retirement funds are doing well and our business is thriving. Travel is high on my list of priorities only because we have all of the other more pressing financial matters on autopilot.

It sounds as if you're just not at a place in your life where travel is going to happen easily. But you can still make magical memories with the kids. Pitch a tent in the back yard. Toast marshmallows over a fire pit. Catch lightening bugs. Tell ghost stories. Sing camp songs.

Or take them fishing at a state park. Pack a picnic. Show them how to skip rocks. Pick some wild flowers.

It doesn't have to cost money or happen in a distant location in order to be memorable.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I always have loved your advice, but what you've said this time is completely true.

We are in a similar place as your family (minus the bad business debt). We are both in school full time, and I'm currently a "SAHM" (minus the school, lol) so there isn't a lot of money left over. We've found amazing local state parks where we can go for a hike and then bbq after. We live in Florida, so we're really lucky to have a lot of neat things to do nearby, and we put Disney passes in our budget, but other than that there isn't much left over. We might only have $10 a month sometimes to put away, but we save for than nice vacation as much as we can.

It's about setting your priorities and making sure you're able to hit them. While the kids are only going to be young once, the Grand Canyon should be there for their whole life. My fiance and our daughter are scheming to go to Celebration in California in 2015, so they know for the next 18 months they have to make sacrifices to be able to afford it.