Young woman relaxing on beach, ocean view, Vacation Outdoors Seascape Concept

Ways to Save on Your Next Vacation

Man relaxing on the beach

As the spring and summer months quickly approach, we are all looking forward to some much needed vacation time. There are typically two types of people when it comes to planning for a vacation. Read the following sceneries and honestly reflect on which one relates most to your approach.

Scenario 1:

You and your friends/family decide to take a sporadic vacation to Mexico during March. The timing works perfectly for everyone, so you buy your tickets at a high season price. As the date quickly approaches, you all have completely forgotten about planning or buying a hotel, so you scramble to find a bouge place to stay. You end up spending way more than you should have due to your lack of planning.

As your relaxing on the beach with friends and family, zero thought goes into what you purchase or where you swipe your card. By the end of the stay, you have racked up a $8,000 bill for your luxury 4-night stay. Was it worth it?

 

Scenario 2:

You and your friends/family decide to take a vacation together at some point during the year. Everyone sits down and searches for the cheapest times for tickets, hotels, etc. Once the perfect date is settled and hotels and flights are purchased at an offseason price, you decide to make a daily budget to follow.

On vacation, you closely monitor your spending and aren’t just whipping out your rewards credit card to exercise your wrist. On your budget, you’ve accounted for extra spending each day so even if some days are more expensive than others, you have the necessary funds for it. Once it’s time to leave, you have a $4000 bill on your rewards credit card, but have enough money in the bank to pay that off immediately due to your proper planning.

 

Some tips to prepare for your next vacation:

  1. Budget. BUDGET! The last thing you want to do after coming back from a relaxing stay at the Bellagio is worry about paying off a credit card that you don’t have the money for.
  2. Use a rewards credit card for purchases. There’s nothing wrong with putting everything on a credit card. As a matter of fact, it’s what you should be doing to avoid having your account compromised. Earn extra money, miles, or gifts by putting everything on your rewards credit card and then pay the balance off to avoid high interest charges.
  3. Book in advance and during offseason if possible. Scenario 1 and 2 stayed at the exact same place but paid completely different prices. Booking well in advance will relieve stress as well as get you the best price. It’s recommended to start planning your vacation a year in advance to give you plenty of time to budget and find tickets.

According to CheapAir.com 2018 Annual Airfare Study, they determined that you should book this far in advanced for the following seasons.

  • Winter: 62 days in advance
  • Spring: 90 days in advance
  • Summer: 47 days in advance
  • Fall: 69 days in advance
  1. Figure out local transportation. You can easily save money by checking if there are local trains, busses, Uber, Lyft, etc. Taking a taxi everywhere will cost you an arm and leg.