FINALLY…It’s Summer!
There’s a good chance that at some point between now and Labor Day, you’ll pack the kids into the car and head somewhere for beach fun, or mountain camping, or the Magical Kingdom. This year, the Murray’s are heading to Dauphin Island just off the coast of Alabama, and I can’t wait!
Summer vacations are AWESOME! You know what isn’t awesome? Getting home and having to make payments for the next 12 months on that vacation before you do it again NEXT year. That’s called having your vacation follow you home. It can be really stressful, right?
So here are a couple of tips to help you plan for your family vacation so that when you get back this year, the only thing you’ll take back home is great memories (and maybe that strange odor coming from the back of the car – but I can’t help you with that).
How to Plan for Your Summer Vacation
- HAVE A PLAN – This is the most important thing! PLAN on how much you’re going to spend on food, transportation, and entertainment. We spend tons of time planning what we’ll do on vacation, so let’s research what it’s going to cost, too.
- SHARE WITH YOUR KIDS – What a great way to teach kids about responsible spending! Share with them what it costs for, what our boys call, “sweaty family time”. They’ll appreciate the things you do on vacation. Several years ago on the drive home from vacation, we made a game of what our vacation cost with our boys and it really made an impact on them. Besides, what else is there to do on a 16-hour drive home?
- SAVE FOR YOUR VACATION – If you can have a Christmas budget, why not start a vacation budget? My wife Jules and I have a vacation budget that we agree on. And I’ll tell you from experience that when you’ve saved the money up and said “This is for us to spend relaxing on our summer vacation,” you can spend more freely, you can enjoy it more and most importantly – your vacation won’t follow you home.
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