Travel costs money. More money than I would like sometimes. I met my husband travelling and it is no surprise that our family loves to travel. That means that we have to choose how to manage our money to ensure that we get to travel.
As one of my favorite travel quotes describes, you always need more money when you are travelling than you budget for!
When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller
photo credit: Denni Schnapp via photopin cc
Budgeting for travel is hard. Really hard with twins and a husband that doesn’t earn a consistent income, but we manage. So, how do we do it?
1. We rarely eat out. While we do get coffee when we are out, we do not go out for meals as a family when we are home. Why? Because eating at home is cheaper and we love to eat out when we travel. Staying home for meals on a regular basis allows for more money in the travel fund.
2. We track all of our household spending down to the penny using a combination of a phone app (Mint) and a home computer program (Quicken) to ensure we are staying on top of our spending.
3. We make travel a priority and set aside money monthly for travel. We also take a percentage of additional income earned and put it aside for travel.
4. We research our trips and have a realistic budget for what the trip will cost. I love using this website to create a budget estimate for my trips.
Budgeting isn’t rocket science but it is hard to stick to. If you have a travel a goal whether it be to a neighboring city or to a country far away set a goal, create a savings plan and then make it happen!
Kerrie blogs at Family Food and Travel. She is a mom of twin boys (born March 2010) who she often refers to as the ‘twinado’. Kerrie loves, writing, travel, photography, and fabulous food. Prior to kids, Kerrie was an avid reader and scrapbooker and hopes to one day return to those activities. Kerrie once considered herself successful, that was until she attempted toilet training twins.
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