I hate to admit this, but I have a terrible track record when it comes to sticking to a vacation budget. I always plan ahead, yet I rarely manage to stick to those plans. I don’t know what comes over me. There’s something about being on vacation that makes me spend a ton of cash when it’s totally unnecessary. On vacation, I’m in the mood for crab legs and $12 Bahama Mamas. I also don’t think twice about spending $15 at an ice cream shop or $5 for a cup of coffee on the beach. I would never purchase such things on my home turf. It appears that I become a frivolous spender when I am not in the safety of my home environment.
During our 2012 spring vacation to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, $300 in cash went totally unaccounted for in the Big Easy. For those of you who have been there, I’m sure you can imagine where that money went. Let’s just say that I have an affinity for street performers and booze served in giant fish bowls. I also love Cajun food, jazz clubs, and meeting new people. I’m not sure whether I really blew through that much cash or if I got robbed, but I sure did have fun! However, on our upcoming vacation, I am determined to not let such shenanigans happen again!
Expanding Our Budget
This is the type of stuff I love to spend my money on in New Orleans.
Since I want to actually stay on budget, I decided to make our budget a little more generous than in the past. Afterall, I don’t want to set myself up for failure. So after much contemplation, I decided that we should be able to keep our vacation under $1,000 for an entire week’s worth of transportation, food, and entertainment.
Things are slightly different this time because we are taking a family friend to help watch the kids. The condo we rented has an extra bedroom, so she can stay comfortably with us and the two kiddos. In exchange for a little babysitting, we agreed to pay her way and for her restaurant meals unless she absolutely won’t let us. We have never been able to afford to take a babysitter with us before, so I am very excited. Our kids go to bed early, so having a babysitter means that me and my man can go night swimming or out to have a few drinks!
The Budget
Here is the budget that we intend to stick to:
Transportation: $300
We are leaving the Prius at home and driving our gas hog minivan. Since we are bringing a family friend along, this is the only way that we can fit! Gas should cost between $200-$300 so I budgeted on the high-end.
Groceries: $150
We plan on eating most of our meals at home, so I am budgeting a reasonable amount in order to pay for breakfasts, lunches, and some dinners to be eaten at the condo. I am also bringing some prepurchased snacks along, so hopefully $150 will be enough.
Restaurants: $300
I am hoping that we can stick to this budget since restaurant spending has been a problem for us in the past. $300 should be enough to pay for 3 or 4 dinners out. Hopefully, we can score some good restaurant coupons from the visitor’s center!
Miscellaneous: $250
I wanted to budget some money just for fun spending. For instance, we may stop and get the kids some ice cream a few times. We may want to take the kiddos to play mini golf or rent jet skis. We have also talked about parasailing. I think that having some “fun money” in the budget will hopefully keep us on track.
Yep. This guy got my money too!
So, that is our vacation budget. For some of you, that may seem tight. Others may think that we are living like royalty. Regardless, vacation is really the only time that we spend superfluously on our selves the entire year. We’d like to hear what you think about it! Do you budget while you’re on vacation? Have we budgeted too much or too little? Let us know in the comments below!
About Holly
Great plan! I do budget when I take vacations because like you I want to see, do, and try everything the city has to offer. You’re are smart for expanding the budget this time around, so you don’t go over.
Yep, that’s definitely the plan!!! Thank you!
I think the budget is a great idea. It’s easy to rack up some serious spending while on vacation since at most destinations the price of everything is doubled. It seems like a reasonable amount to me. My wife and I usually try to keep vacations under $1,000. We don’t have kids yet but we would have hotel rooms figured in, so maybe those would balance out in the expenses. Maybe.
Yeah, we actually bought a week at this condo at a charity auction earlier in the year for $1500. So…. I didn’t calculate the cost of the condo into my budget since it went to charity. Kinda neat- I think- to be able to donate that much to charity while also getting a vacation out of it!
Love that idea for renting a condo. How did you get connected with the charity auction? Do they have a website to visit?
Also, I think your budget looks doable. Restaurant $ may be tight, but still realistic.
My husband is in rotary club and we “bought” a week at the condo at their annual fundraising auction. This auction in particular raises money to do lifesaving operations on children overseas. Basically, another rotary member donated a week at a condo they they own and we bought that week, giving that money to charity. I’ll ask my husband about their website….Greg?
Great post! Budgeting for a vacation is an excellent idea! My family and I are actually going through the same thing right now as we’re set to go on vacation in three weeks. We’ve budgeted for vacation the last few years now and found that it works out great for us. Vacations should be fun, but at the same time you don’t have to go hog wild and just throw all sense out the window. Before we budgeted for vacations, we too would come home and wonder where all our money went…and it usually was on crazy stuff or just plain could not remember.
The key is to allow yourself some generous room to have fun and enjoy yourself without breaking the bank and feeling guilty. And by the looks of it, you’re doing just that.
Great idea on bringing a sitter to watch the kids! My Dad is coming with us to help watch the kids this time, so we’re looking forward to a night or two out. That just does not happen with little ones running around!
Have a great vacation & thanks for the post.
Thanks John! I am very excited to bringmy family friend along. She is an older lady and hasn’t seen the ocean in 20 years. Plus, the kids love her!
I’m the same way in that I tend to blow a lot of money while on vacation. It seems that since you’re on vacation it is so much easier to justify all that splurging. Then again sometimes you do need to just let go and have a good time.
I also agree that it’s an awesome idea to bring a babysitter along. That way you can find some time to really enjoy yourself. Plus you can be sure that babysitter will go out of her way to help you with any future babysitting.
Yes, definitely! I am counting down the days to vacay!
Now that you know what you are like on vacation…expand your budget
Ha,ha! I’m working on it!
Sounds like a great plan! Good luck sticking to it and have a great vacation
Thanks, Rebecca!
Haha, I’m so terrible at budgeting my vacations. I see something fun or think of some good food to eat and money is no object. A little shoulder Satan appears and whispers to my ear: “hey, you’re on vacation, spend that money!”
Oh, me too! Afterall, part of the reason that I live a frugal lifestyle is so that I can afford to do the things I want, like vacation!
After just getting back and tallying up the final score, we barely held on to our budget. To me that is good news, since I didn’t think twice about any expenses and actually enjoyed myself. My best tip for vacation budgeting is overestimate and oversave.
Yup! I totally agree. Hopefully we will come in under budget. Since our little kids are in tow, that should keep the partying part of the budget very, very small!
Obviously, while on vacation, there are things you can’t skimp on too much. You have to go see the sites of the city! If you’re just going to stay in the hotel to save more money, you might as well not go on vacation? My thing is; spend money on tickets to shows and sites, but save on food and transportation. Also, look for coupon codes before getting to your destination! If I were going to go on vacation now, I’d do my homework first. Sometimes, there are deals online that you can print out, buy ahead of time, or couple with other deals. Some days are cheaper than others for site-seeing as well, so again…do your homework! And the food? We just eat *most* of our meals through grocery-shopping like you said. Yes, I believe that while on vacation, you should definitely check out the city…and a lot of times, eating at the restaurants is a big part of the experience and culture. But just don’t overdo it! Maybe a once-a-day dine-out plan is a good idea. Have fun! So jealous as we’ve bypassed all vacations this year.
We are just doing a beach vacation….so thankfully most of the entertainment will be free! The condo complex has a pool and it’s oceanfront so the kids can just play in the pool and on the beach. Free!
Having a generous vacation budget takes all the guilt out of it. If you have the money and just budget for it, then go ahead and blow it. It’s why you’ve worked hard, so you can play hard!
We found out early that allowing ourselves breathing room in the budget actually halped us save more money! Because , in the past, once we blew the budget, we stopped caring and really overdid it. Now we just set a large enough number that allows us to not think about it, but doesn’t really kill our long-term goals.
I totally agree. I think we actually take better and funner vacations now that we give ourselves breathing room. Who wants to go on vacation and eat pb&j all week? I sure as hell dont!
I smiled when I read that you spent $15 on ice cream on a vacation. My husband and I spent that much just for the two of us to have 2 basic ice cream sundaes in Cabo San Lucas. It was hot out and seemed nice at the time, but we soon realized it was kinda silly of us. A beach vacation sounds lovely. Enjoy!!
Oooohhhhh….Cabo. That is one place that I definitely want to go! I’m jealous!