We all know money is tight right now. Even those families with savings, it seems smarter to save it instead of spend it, with the fear that things might get worse before they get better.
But let's face it...it's depressing when the purpose of going to work each day, or doing something to make a little extra, is just to put food on the table and pay the electric bill. Get up and go to work just so you can come home, sleep, and get up and do it again.
Family vacations, even if it's just a weekend at the beach, are vital to happinss! They bond family members together (forcing siblings to play with one another instead of friends), can enrich your children's education by letting them experience new cultures and histories, and refresh Mom and Dad to be able to continue with the everyday grind.
But how can any of us do it right now? You'd be surprised. One way we have found to save up is by using a water jug for our change and $1 bills. Sometimes if I come into money I wasn't expecting I drop a $10 or $20 in there, too. When it's time, we cash it in and this becomes our "spending" money on our trips. It doesn't pay for hotel rooms or expensive dinners out usually, but it DOES pay for souveneirs, Tshirts, Arcade games on the boardwalk, lunches and tips for waitors and housekeeping. When the money is gone, no more extras. So, it also helps teach the kids to budget and decide what they really want to spend on, and what they can do without.
Then of course, there's the "meat" of the vacation. Cruise fares or hotel room/house rental, flight tickets, even paying a housesitter or kennel for your pets while you're away really adds up. We used to try using our regular savings account to save for vacations, but needed to dip into it way too often for that to be effective.
I used to see all of the commercials for a pre paid credit/debit card and think they were just for people who couldn't get checking accounts. But one day I filled out a survey on line and got a free account for doing so.
Now its our "vacation" card. It works like a credit card so I can use to book/pay for hotel rooms and leave it on file on a cruise ship (usually required as most of them don't accept cash on board).
I'm not going to sell you one of these-there are tons of them out there and they pretty much all work the same so just Google it.
The KEY to saving in this way is to have a funding source that ONLY funds the card by being linked to it directly. For me, it's my Clickbank account. Everytime I make any money with my affiliate marketing account (usually between $200 and $400 a week, sometimes more or less), it gets deposited onto the card.
Out of sight, out of mind...I keep the card on ice (literally-in my freezer!) and never use it until it's time to book a vacation!
So don't cheat yourself and your family. Vacations, big or small, aren't just indulgences. They're necessary to family bonding and happiness! You just need to find a way to not only MAKE a little extra, but to save it at the same time.
But let's face it...it's depressing when the purpose of going to work each day, or doing something to make a little extra, is just to put food on the table and pay the electric bill. Get up and go to work just so you can come home, sleep, and get up and do it again.
Family vacations, even if it's just a weekend at the beach, are vital to happinss! They bond family members together (forcing siblings to play with one another instead of friends), can enrich your children's education by letting them experience new cultures and histories, and refresh Mom and Dad to be able to continue with the everyday grind.
But how can any of us do it right now? You'd be surprised. One way we have found to save up is by using a water jug for our change and $1 bills. Sometimes if I come into money I wasn't expecting I drop a $10 or $20 in there, too. When it's time, we cash it in and this becomes our "spending" money on our trips. It doesn't pay for hotel rooms or expensive dinners out usually, but it DOES pay for souveneirs, Tshirts, Arcade games on the boardwalk, lunches and tips for waitors and housekeeping. When the money is gone, no more extras. So, it also helps teach the kids to budget and decide what they really want to spend on, and what they can do without.
Then of course, there's the "meat" of the vacation. Cruise fares or hotel room/house rental, flight tickets, even paying a housesitter or kennel for your pets while you're away really adds up. We used to try using our regular savings account to save for vacations, but needed to dip into it way too often for that to be effective.
I used to see all of the commercials for a pre paid credit/debit card and think they were just for people who couldn't get checking accounts. But one day I filled out a survey on line and got a free account for doing so.
Now its our "vacation" card. It works like a credit card so I can use to book/pay for hotel rooms and leave it on file on a cruise ship (usually required as most of them don't accept cash on board).
I'm not going to sell you one of these-there are tons of them out there and they pretty much all work the same so just Google it.
The KEY to saving in this way is to have a funding source that ONLY funds the card by being linked to it directly. For me, it's my Clickbank account. Everytime I make any money with my affiliate marketing account (usually between $200 and $400 a week, sometimes more or less), it gets deposited onto the card.
Out of sight, out of mind...I keep the card on ice (literally-in my freezer!) and never use it until it's time to book a vacation!
So don't cheat yourself and your family. Vacations, big or small, aren't just indulgences. They're necessary to family bonding and happiness! You just need to find a way to not only MAKE a little extra, but to save it at the same time.