|
|
Mom Life Features :  Back to Momlife |
|
| Finance and Investing Beauty and Style Home and Garden Relationships |
|
| Family Life Astrology Taxes |
|
| Vacations And Travel |
|
Tips For Vacation Planning |
|
What would you want to do during the holidays? Would you prefer staying at home watching TV or going on vacation filled with fun and adventure? Everybody would prefer going on a trip over staying at home. If you are going on a holiday, you have to have the money.
You know that you need to save money, but what can you do to collect the needed amount? “Stop shopping and cut down spending completely!” This would be impossible, especially during the holiday/ festive seasons. However, there are plenty of other ways that you could cut down on spending and save for the perfectly planned out vacation.
But before everything, you should calculate how much you need for your vacation. You won’t know how much to save if you don’t know how much you’re going to need. Include everything from airfares to food & lodging to interstate/ intercity transportation, when arriving at the sum you need. To be on the safe side, add another $500 to that sum. Now comes the hard part, ‘Saving’. Listed below are 10 tips that would help you save the much needed money for your dream holiday.
- Don’t shop frenziedly. Before buying a good, just ask yourself whether you really need it, or you’re buying it simply because you feel good having it. This will keep you off of most unnecessary items and will help you save thousands of dollars a year.
- Save a fixed amount every week. $10-$20 a week can add up to nearly $500-$1000 a year, and banking these savings monthly would earn you an interest over the amount saved. If this doesn’t seem to work out, have a till or a jar where you and your family could put in the change (you have in hand) everyday. You would be surprised to see how much you’ve saved over a year.
- Write down your weekly spending on a diary. Categorizing your spending habits on a weekly basis would give you a clear picture of how much you have spent on what goods, and on what areas can you probably cut down on spending.
- Use those ATMs of ‘your’ bank. This might seem a little silly; however, the savings can be significant. For Eg:- Using your ATM card once a week (4-5 times a month) at ATM machines of other banks, you are likely to be charged over $3.50 for each transaction. This could add up to nearly $20 a month and $240 each year.
- Avoid having too many credit cards. The more you have, the more you are likely to overspend and fall into debt.
- Use cash or debit cards (instead of credit cards) on purchases. The use of credit cards is likely to put you in trouble since you tend to overspend due to the huge credit limit offered by your banker.
- Lower your credit card balances. The more the balance, the more the interest you are going to pay. Work on reducing or eliminating your credit card debt. Always give a try to pay a few dollars more than the minimum and attempt to settle the credit card debts before the lapse of the interest-free credit period.
- Roll over your 401(k) if you change your job. Don’t cash it out because if you do, the government will charge you over 40%. Get advice from a finance official to save this money.
- Keep a close eye on your credit report. Take care of any problems right away. Some credit companies have credit report monitors on their site (online) and would inform when your credit rating changes.
- The 4 R’s – Review, Revise, Retry and Repeat. Once you have tried these money saving ideas, review it to find out what works and what doesn’t. Make revisions to your plan to make it work more efficiently. Retry those revised techniques to see whether it works and repeat those ones that worked for you.
What next? It would be time for you to leave for your long-awaited dream vacation. |
|
|
|
| Featured Advertisers |
|
 |
|
|
