Want a vacation but think you can’t afford it? Money-saving tips

Vacations are often considered more of a luxury and not a necessity when it comes to paying the bills. When scaling back expenses, a trip is usually one of the first things to go when money gets tight. However, if you are like most people, you would enjoy taking one. Everyone needs to get a break once in a while to re-energize and revitalize.

Image credit: Leigh Goessl

The good news is, even if your budget is tight, you can take a vacation. All it takes is a bit of pre-planning and making a commitment to stick to a financial plan. Plus, getting a little creative in your day-to-day spending helps too. All added up, a carefully planned vacation is entirely possible on a budget.

Vacations come in all shapes and sizes, and the great thing about planning a vacation on a budget is there is plenty of wiggle room to customize a trip that fits your financial situation.

Budget vacation as a weekly expense

Each pay day, pull out a pre-designated amount of money and immediately put it aside. It doesn't have to be a lot, especially if you plan your vacation well ahead of time. If you can manage to swing $10-$20 a week, by the end of the year you'll have saved $480-$960. Quite an addition to a vacation budget!

Cut back on the little expenses

Do you head off to Starbucks or your favorite coffee shop for your morning cup? If so, make a temporary deal with yourself to forego this luxury and have your cup at home. Put this money saved into your vacation fund. You can do this with breakfast, lunch or any other smaller expense that adds up over the course of time. Even an afternoon candy bar every day can be foregone and that money placed into your vacation coffer.

Image credit: Leigh Goessl

Be willing to be flexible

While your dream vacation may entail a Hawaiian beach in a 5-star hotel, this is not realistic for everyone. Instead, consider another dreamy beach locale that is more within your budget. You can find some pretty good deals online, especially for destinations that are a "region's best-kept secret". Look for the out of the ordinary instead of getting sucked into the heavily advertised destinations that typically cost top dollar.

Plan to use discount travel sites

This ties in with flexibility because if you are a little flexible on dates and times, you can use travel sites to get low prices for the destination you want. The drawback is, in order to get the discount is you don't always get to choose the hotel or flight. If you are flexible with your dates, you can typically obtain even cheaper deals this way too.

Piggy bank

If you make a habit of saving loose change, you'd be surprised how many dollars can amass in a year's time. Each time you empty pockets, clean the car, dump out your purse, take all those coins and put them in your money box.

Timing is everything

One great way to plan a vacation you can afford is to go in the off-season. When you plan at a low-traffic time for specific destinations chances are you can get good deals on things such as airfare, hotels and entrance fees to attractions. This is tougher if you have children and you need to plan around their school vacations, but if you do have a degree of flexibility on time frame, do take advantage of it. Saving for a vacation seems discouraging, but once you set your goals, adapt your spending and look for ways to save on vacation travel plans, that seemingly out of reach vacation will suddenly become attainable.

Image credit: Leigh Goessl