How to Save Up For Your Dream Vacation

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Follow along as I show you how you could save over 50% of your expenses if you want to go on a vacation. This is the ultimate guide to saving up for your dream vacation.

You’ve always wanted to go to that place for a vacation, it’s your dream vacation.

In your mind, you’re all set to go right when you take your laptop and see the overall expenditure it will take you…Bamm you can’t afford to spend so much money. Then you crawl back to that sad place where traveling is the last thing on your mind. 

That’s because you haven’t saved up for your dream vacation.

I can’t see you in such grief, so follow along and I’ll show you 10 smart ways you could follow to reduce at least 50% of your overall expenses (if not more).

10 Tips to Save for Your Dream Vacation

1. Plan Your Travel Time

Here’s me being honest with you: if you have debt right now on your shoulders, it’s best if you avoid traveling. All you should be focusing on is getting rid of that nasty cruel debt from your life.

So I suggest you get out of debt first then get out of your house for travelling. 

Also, there is a term known as off-season, if you travel during off seasons of the country you want to visit, you’re surely going to save a lot of money on flight tickets. 

Even a tour guide offers lower prices during off-seasons. Plan a trip to a place during the off-season, it might just be 40 – 50% cheaper than visiting during peak seasons. 

According to a few statistics, hotels charge more on Fridays and less on Tuesdays and Thursdays, flights are cheaper on Sundays and more expensive on Tuesdays. 

What does this tell you? Strategically book tickets and you’ll save a lot of money. 

Also don’t say no to travel agents to plan your trip. 

Some don’t charge you anything for their service because they get their Income from hotels, flight tickets, and other connections they have in the travel industry.

2. Create a Solid Budget

Once you know the when and the where, it’s time for the most important thing – Making an expense list! I would suggest you use Excel to maintain a record of all your expenses. 

It would be great if you could use Google Sheets as editing on Google Sheets is real-time, so if you or any of your family members or spouse adds or deletes something, it will be updated in real-time. 

Write down all your expenses properly one by one, this should include everything right from your flight expenses to your food stall expenses. Plan out everything just like an itinerary and write the approximate cost you’ll spend for that in the next column.

You shouldn’t be doing any unnecessary petty expenses but even if you are, all your petty expenses need to come here. 

3. Set Up a Dedicated Travel Savings Account

You get your first paycheck, you cut all expenses, and the money that remains is distributed strategically in various investments and some are kept in a savings account. Good job!

But did you save money for your vacation? Having money in your savings account is different than maintaining a separate account for travel only. 

Once you have a firm budget, you need to open another savings account, especially for your travel. Here every single month you will be transferring a certain amount to this account.

Ask your bank to automate this process for you each month. For example – if your total cost (budget) for the trip is Rs 1,00,000 and you have 10 months before your trip, starting today you need to save Rs 10,000 each month till you accumulate 1,00,000 in your travel savings account. 

It’s 10 times smarter to have a separate account for your travel and tourism than to mix it with your personal savings account.

4. Reuse Clothing: Skip the Shopping

You can borrow or use your existing clothes when you go on a trip. Trust me it’s not compulsory to buy new clothes just because you’re going for a vacation!

Shopping especially for a vacation can toss your budget easily. 

I often borrow clothes, sunglasses, or something else from my friends if I don’t have one. Honestly, they don’t mind and I save a fortune.

5. Dine In and Save Up

If there’s a trip I want to save up for, I start right away. I try to cut down on weekly outside munching. I meet my friends weekly and have a habit of eating every time, so if I have to save some money for the trip, I restrict myself from eating. 

After all, each day I’m on vacation all I’ll be eating is delicious outside food. So cutting down now will surely pay off later.

Stop eating outdoors and start meal prepping. If cooking every day is a big task for you, try meal prepping on a day (preferably Sunday) for the entire week. 

Whether it’s eating a small sandwich for Rs 100 or a pizza for Rs 1000, it doesn’t matter, outside munching is always more expensive than home-cooked meals plus Rs 100 sandwich may not seem like a lot but over time these numbers will shock you. 

Do yourself a favor and eat home-cooked meals. 

6. Traveling with a Group

Traveling as a group has its advantages and traveling solo has its own, I’m not debating on that. 

What I’m saying is huge costs like stay expenses, and travel expenses can be reduced drastically if you travel together as a group. You must have seen rooms that say single occupancy, or double/triple occupancy. 

The more people you have the cheaper the room will cost an individual. Sometimes you also get combo flight deals, so that’s another way to save extra money on a vacation. 

Even group rates for amusement parks and museums are way cheaper when calculated individually. If you’ll save up on these things, you can spend money on other things like traveling more!

7. Opt for Airbnb Over Hotels

Have you ever used Airbnb? Not yet? Airbnb in a few words means affordable vacation homes. Instead of spending 70% of your budget only on stay, try Airbnb. 

Airbnb is perfect for anyone of any age to rent a house for a day or a week at an affordable cost. The only downside: If you want to stay in a big hotel where there’s a casino or all sorts of fun things to do, you may be disappointed. 

Honestly, when you go on a vacation, staying in a place filled with its culture is much more amazing than staying in a standard-looking hotel with a game zone in it. My final suggestion: Airbnb will make your vacation budget cheaper.

8. Savor Local Cuisine

80% of travelers say that the two reasons they go for a vacation are to relax and to experience the local culture of the place they are visiting. 

I’m an Indian and I love Indian food but if I go to an Indian restaurant in Paris tomorrow, I’m sure it will be extremely expensive. I would rather try the local cultural food from Paris. 

It will be less expensive and I will learn more about their culture. It’s all about experiences and the best and frugal way to enjoy this is by eating locally. 

Embrace the location and everything it has to offer and you’ll have a vacation you’ll never forget!

9. Embrace Public Transportation

I get it, luxury before anything else. So you’ll probably prefer to travel in your private vehicle. Do that only if you have that kind of money but if you’re still reading this, I feel you want to have a frugal yet amazing vacation. 

For that, I suggest you choose public transportation like buses. On the way to your destination, you can talk to locals there, and ask them about the beautiful places to visit. 

The locals staying there know some of the best places to visit, you’ll save time searching for it and of course, money-wise public transportation is quite affordable.

10. Prioritize Experiences Over Materialism

Understand this fact – materialistic things give you only temporary happiness while traveling gives you happiness for a long time. 

It’s a tough call but I urge you to not spend on any of your wants, save up all the money, and spend it on traveling. You should also sell all of the unnecessary items and clothes you have, accumulate all that money, and put it in your vacation fund.

You’ll learn how to save money and you’ll get to travel more often. How cool is that!

Sage Tip: The best way to ensure you enjoy your vacation and not cry later is to ensure you have enough money. Take up a part-time job somewhere to make additional money, at least till the time you go for your vacation. The excess money will help you reduce your financial burden.

How to Financially Prepare for Your Dream Vacation

It’s almost impossible to spend less on a vacation. We have the habit of going overboard with our expenses. But by trying out these 10 tips, anyone can make sure they save money while still enjoying every single bit of their vacation. 

All you need to ask yourself is this,

Do you prefer two vacations a year or one vacation and luxurious items?

Do you plan out your budget strategically? How do you save up for your Dream Vacation? Tell us in the comments below.

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