Do you build it into your budget? How do you decide what you can afford? Do you ever charge your vacation and then worry about paying it off later? What would you advise someone is a "safe" amount to spend on a family vacation as a percentage of their income?

__________________
Read my Mommysavers Blog: Forget the Joneses
Check out the Mommysavers Group on Facebook

Download my free eBook full of savings ideas for the holidays Click Here

We usually take two trips a year.... and budget for them monthly all year long.

The first is usually a trip to Vegas (not our choice, but we go for my DH's Battalion's Marine Corps Ball) we have to pay for food, a nice hotel, transportation, the tickets for the ball, uniform expenses (always more than $100), and gown/accessories for me (usually a few hundered dollars) and so much more.

Our second trip is to go "home" to see both sides of the family every Christmas. We have to fly and that is our biggest expense. DH gets the dates for his Christmas leave sometimes only a couple days before we actually leave....so of course the prices are through the roof! Sometimes we also have hotel and other expenses if we take a ski trip to Sun Valley while we are there.

I could never charge a vacation, I would worry just too much. What if you had an emergency? How much stress is it going to cause just so you can relax?

Family vacations are important, because we all need some relaxing time with our families so we can re-evalutate what is important. But these trips don't need to cost a lot. Why not go camping or even explore your own city like you were a tourist? As far as a percentage of income it would be really what you are comfortable with. Every year we probably spend equivlent one month's income.

To save money when we went to Hawaii for two weeks we made sure our hotel room had a full kitchen that way we could make our own breakfast and pack our own lunches and snacks for the beach!

It really depends on so many things...I have no idea what the 'right' amount would be, since every family is different and what they want to do is different. We really enjoy travel and have done a lot of it with our kids domestically and internationally. Would we go into debt over it? Of course not! We don't build it into our budget per se, if we didn't have the funds for it, we wouldn't do it. Period.

FOR US:

We go to Myrtle Beach ever summer with my family. So we share a condo therefore splitting the price of lodging. We also don't "do" a whole lot. Our idea of vacation is not rush, rush, rush and see and do all you can. Our idea is slow down and relax. The hotel we stay in has a great pool and lazy river and private access to the beach. A normal day for us is sleep in, eat breakfast in the condo (we go to walmart when we first get there to get what we need like milk, eggs, cereal, snacks, whatever) then go to the pool/beach and play all day. We go back to the condo around 3pm and shower and leave. Then we go to an early dinner, which saves money and is beating the rush. Then we go walk around one of the outdoor malls (looking only we don't buy) or play mini golf or go walk the beach. Then we go back to our condo and play cards or board games together or go swim again.

We spend nine days away. We leave on a Friday afternoon, get to Myrtle Beach Saturday evening. Then leave Myrtle Beach the following Saturday afternoon, and get home Sunday. For the condo, cheap hotel there and back, gas, food, and very minimal (sp?) entertainment we spend a grand total of $3500.

Part of our money for vacation is from our tax returns. We take out about $2000 from taxes (use the rest for debts and this year bought a new bed YAY!!!!!). Then we take about $35 a week and add to our vacation money. This has always worked for us. We love going to Myrtle Beach and look forward to it!!!

__________________
Jenifer
Proud wife to one amazing man
Proud mom to four awesome kids

Fall is my favorite season!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

I put airfare, car rental, hotel on a credit card as there is no other way to reserve them. We always have a very comfortable amount in savings, so it doesn't impact our budget at all. We find good deals. This year our trips are small - 5 days in maryland to visit family. The airfare was only $91/person. haven't booked the rental car yet. My cousin arranged a discount at B&B so big breakfast is included. My cousins will be feeding us and I know my uncle will treat us to a crab dinner, so no money issues there. A week in Colorado - airfare was free via our credit card points. We have enough points to cover the rental car as well. We stay with friends when we go there. We'll mostly pay for food, horseback riding, and activities.
When we go to Europe, we cut back a bit more & make it part of a major gift expense, like Xmas or anniversary as well. Also, our Europe trips were paid for via inheritances.

__________________

The last two years we have vacationed in Port Aransas in a condo on the beach. It doesn't look like much from the outside but it has everything we need and we all fit in it. We spend 6 days there and we eat all meals at the condo. We make a stop at the local grocery store and shop by a menu I have prepared before we get there. We do budget before we go but we always have a few bills to pay when we get home. Total for the trip is $800 including gas. The year before it was a little less expensive but that was due to the price in gas.

I don't really know if there is a right or wrong answer to this. I usually feel guilty for going when we still have bills to pay.

__________________
Want to save some green? Join a coupon train.

I started saving monthly for vacations. Every family is different. Using simple math, take the cost of the vacation and divide it by the number of months I have left to save for it.

We don't generally take a full vacation. Somehow they are usually tied to work. Like dh's job wanted him to go to a BIG conference that is held in Las Vegas. I went along - we went a couple days in advance with not much out of pocket. Before kids, dh and I got asked to do a Christian youth camp in Estes Park Co. We stayed 2-3 days extra.

We save a little bit each month for "vacation". It usually goes to little get aways. Right now dh is talking about him and I getting away in a couple of weeks - if we can find a good deal and then in late spring go down to Indy with the kids for a couple of nights to go to the Children's museum and Zoo.

We may put it on credit card but we have the money saved up for it.

We go to Disney every year, we are DVC members so our hotel is already paid for, our room has a kitchen and washer/dryer, we eat most meals there. We can usually find a decent price for airfare, car rental (some years we use Disney transportation instead). I buy 10 day no expiration park tickets so we only have that expense every other year.

We save out of every paycheck for our vacation and the 2-3 Nascar races that DH and I go to every year. If we couldn't afford our trips we wouldn't go.

__________________
DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

We travel twice a year to Florida, once in July, and again over either Christmas or Thanksgiving to visit family for a week each time. We stay with my inlaws which is great! The kids get to play with their cousins and we spend alot of family time together. Our only expense for those trips is airfare for a family of 5, because we don't have to pay for a hotel and my inlaws always treat us to Disney, Seaworld and meals out and souvenirs for the kids.
We go to Great Wolf Lodge the weekend before school starts every year for 3 nights/4 days and then take a week long family vacation to a different place each year. This year we are going to Gatlinburg, TN.
We budget everything! I have envelopes in my drawer marked with different destinations and how much we will need for each. I even have one for Hawaii, even though we won't be going for 3 more years!