Travels and vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but the process of preparation can become exhausting sometimes. This often happens when you’re constantly stressing about how you’re going to pay for all your travels.
In a perfect world, we’d all have fully funded vacation accounts to pay for our annual personal or family getaways. However, the world is not perfect, and reality is different. That notwithstanding, with a little creativity and compromise, you can raise enough money to finance your trip, without going into debt.
If you are one who cannot afford their every desire on a wimp, then a little more financial planning is required to sponsor your travels.
There are a few tips well be sharing with you, to make going on that trip a lot easier.
Firstly, you have to save money
Saving money is something many of us struggle with, but a dream vacation should be great motivation to start “stacking your coins”. So how do we save up?
– Open a Dedicated Vacation Bank Account
One easy way to save for a special trip is to open a dedicated vacation savings account. If you choose a high-yield savings account, your money might even grow a bit while you’re looking forward to your trip. You can open a savings account at your local bank, and when you do, don’t get an ATM card for that account. I say this because if you have an ATM card for this account, you’ll be more likely to withdraw the money. If that happens, you will most likely not achieve your goal.
– Open a Fixed Deposit Account.
This is also another form of saving your money. In this case, you don’t have access to the money until a specified time. The best way to fund these accounts; the savings and fixed deposit, is to set up automatic payment plan into the account. Simply put, authorize your account officer to deduct a certain amount of money from whatever money enters your major account into your travel/savings account.
In addition, ask for the help of a financial expert.
Secondly, get a side hustle if you can.
Don’t rely solely on one source of income. If your present job can accommodate a second or third job, then do it. The extra cash coming in can help you sponsor your travels.
Thirdly, create a budget.
If you budget for your trip in advance, you don’t have to spend time stressing over your spending while you’re on vacation.
Research the costs of your expected expenditures, such as airfare, rental cars, gas, hotel stays, meals, souvenirs, special excursions and tickets to attractions or events. After totaling those costs, you’ll have an estimation of how much you’ll need to save.
After you’ve done your budget, divide your estimated vacation cost by the number of months you have before taking your trip to figure out how much money to save aside each month. For example, if you’re taking a 240,000 naira vacation a year from now, you’d need to save 20,000 a month to fund your getaway.
Do not exceed your budget. Be disciplined enough not to overshoot, so you don’t land in debts.
Lastly, cut back on some indulgences and excesses.
- Sacrifice fun now for fun later
- Eat out less. Cooking and eating home cooked meals will save you from spending excess cash on eating out.
- Don’t buy stuffs you don’t absolutely need. This will also help you save up more money.
- Live within your means. Don’t be outlandish with your spending.
Be realistic about your travel expectations and you could enjoy the best time, every time.