How to Develop a Family Vacation Budget

If your family is anything like ours, you probably struggle with developing a family vacation budget. Even though we are out of debt and work really hard to stay on top of our finances, we just can’t seem to get a handle on setting up a budget for things like family vacations. And since the best way for me to figure things out is to do the research necessary and then make it my own, I decided to share what I’m learning with you so that maybe you can do better with this, too.

Why You Need a Family Vacation Budget

Before we talk about how to develop a vacation budget, let’s talk about why you need to. Why can’t we just buy some tickets, hop on a plane or in the car, go someplace awesome, eat whatever we want, and buy all the things?

The main reason that we need to develop a family vacation budget is so that we don’t take on debt. Many of us have worked very hard to get out of debt (or we are getting closer), and we don’t want to find ourselves right back where we started. Knowing how much you can afford to spend and then saving it ahead of time will set your mind at ease that you aren’t going to be paying for your vacation for years to come.

Along with not taking on debt, we want to avoid the stress of spending money on vacation but not being 100% sure that we can afford it. If your kid wants to go to an amusement park in the city where you are vacationing and it’s going to cost $400 just for admission, you need to know whether or not that’s in your budget before you spend it. Otherwise, you may enjoy the amusement park but have to go into debt to eat the rest of your meals for the duration of your vacation. And that is not my idea of fun.

You also want to stick to the financial goals you are trying to reach. If you just pull your credit card out willy-nilly while on vacation, you are going to set yourself up for a much harder time in reaching your goals. Wouldn’t it feel great to return home from a wonderful, relaxing vacation and see that you are still right on track financially?

What to Consider Budgeting For

Now that we’ve established why we need to develop a family vacation budget, let’s talk about what kinds of things should be in our budget.

Vacations can run the gamut from a road trip just a few hours from home to a plane trip to the other side of the world. Once you know where you want to go, you can start adding things that you know you’ll need to pay for. If you need airline tickets, you want to jump on that as soon as you can. Ticket prices are almost always cheaper the earlier you book them. For a ton of great ideas on getting the best price for airline tickets, check out this post from Thrifty Nomads.

If you are taking a road trip, figure up how many miles you will be driving and how much gas you will need. Also, add your hotel or other accommodation costs to the budget. Don’t forget to add things like taxes and fees for hotel rooms, and cleaning costs for things like an Air B&B. Are you going to be camping? Consider the hook-up fee, laundry machines, and any gas you will need for cooking.

Food will likely be the next highest ticket item on your vacation budget. We all have to eat several times a day. Vacation offers so many options for meals that it can be overwhelming to figure out what to budget for it but hang tight…we’ll get to that in a minute. Just know that you need a food line in your budget.

I think the thing that costs the most while on vacation is the sightseeing and the souvenirs your family wants to bring home with them. If you are going on a week-long camping trip, you probably won’t have anything too outrageous as far as sightseeing expenses go but if you are flying to Paris, that’s another story altogether. Are you doing a week at Disney? Again, that’s a whole different set of expenses. The key is to know what you want to see or experience on vacation and plan accordingly.

How Much to Set Aside for Travel and Accommodations

Hopefully, you now have all the necessary items listed on your budget and awaiting amounts. You should have a line for travel costs, one for accommodations, food, and sightseeing at the least. Add anything else that you know you will need money for like souvenirs, host/hostess gifts if staying with family, WiFi charges, and cell phone roaming or data charges if you will be out of the country.

To figure the amount to save for each of these line items, you’ll need to do some research. For example, if you’re flying to your destination, what days of the week are the cheapest flights available? Which airline offers the most for your dollar? Get a handle on your travel costs first, whether that’s gas, airline tickets, or whatever means you are using to travel.

Next, you need to get prices on your accommodations. When you book your hotel room, ask for the taxes and the daily fees up front so you can add those in. Taxes can easily add another $100 or more to your final bill so be sure to ask about those so you aren’t surprised when you start to check out. Again, if you are staying anywhere else, a campground or an Air B&B, ask about all the charges up front and add them to your budget line for accommodations. And just like with flights, ask what days of the week are the cheapest to stay.

Food, Glorious Food

Ahhh, my favorite part about vacation…all the yummy food that I didn’t have to make. Let me tell you, no food tastes as good to a mother as food that somebody else makes and sets down in front of her. Food can be tricky to budget for but there are a few tricks that will make it easier.

First, determine how many meals you will have to eat while away. Break those down even further by asking if there is a free hotel breakfast where you are staying. If so, you don’t have to include those in your budget. Yay! Free breakfast can be a huge money saver and if you have a huge breakfast, you won’t need as big of a lunch.

Can you bring a cooler along and pack lunches every day? Or go by a grocery store in the city you’re vacationing in and grab lunch supplies? If so, you will not only save a ton of money, but you can also figure the costs pretty close to perfect ahead of time for your budget.

When it comes to dinner, if at all possible, look online at what the choices of restaurants are where you are going and decide where you want to eat. You can go as far as deciding what you will have but let’s not take all the fun out of it. You can also set a daily amount for each person for the dinner meal. If you aren’t much for fancy restaurants, you can keep your daily dinner budget lower and maybe add in a little more for one special night out.

All the Extras

Once you decide where you are going and what you want to see, you can start researching prices to see how much you need to set aside.

If you’re doing Disney, you can either set your own agenda or you can have someone else plan your entire trip. Either way, you will have the dollar amount it will cost to see the things you want to see. If you’re traveling overseas, perhaps you have a friend you can ask about pricing. You can also poll people on social media about their experiences and the costs. A simple Google search will turn up prices for many popular sights.

Just like with the dinner meal, you can set a daily budget amount for souvenirs and sightseeing. If your kid really wants to buy something or to see something specific, they can buy it or do it if they haven’t used their daily amount and it will cover it. And, of course, it goes without saying that you are going to want to pad this budget item because there is no way to plan for every cool thing you will want to do.

What to Do with Your Budget

At this point, your budget should have amounts filled in for all the line items. Please know, these will not be perfect. You can’t plan for every little penny you will need, so just relax and do the best you can, knowing that you can add a cushion on the top.

Maybe when you added it all up, it freaked you out just a little bit. That’s okay. Just think of how ahead of the game you will be since you know what you need to make this vacation happen. If the figure was bigger than you thought it would be, just think how stressed you would be if you came home in that much debt. Knowing the amount up front will save you both stress and money.

Now, you get to start saving! But what if you aren’t sure where this money is coming from? If you don’t actually know how much you have available for saving, you need to start by getting a handle on your monthly cash flow. This one small step will allow you to see how much you have that can be set aside for your vacation budget.

I developed my Easy Budget and Financial Planning Spreadsheet pack for families like yours and mine who are working hard to get our spending under control and know what we have to work with every month. Fill out your budget sheets and you will know exactly how much cash you can set aside every month for your awesome vacation!

Let’s face it, vacation isn’t relaxing if we are worried about how we can possibly afford all the fun we’re having. Make your next vacation better by developing a family vacation budget now and taking the steps to prepare for it.

Ah, vacation just got a whole lot better.

More Family Budget Tips:

5 Family Budget Tools You Should Be Using

Get Your Family Budget in Order Once and For All

Christmas Budget Spreadsheet

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