There is this notion that “budgeting” for a vacation never really works as well as you think it might. According to a certified financial planner who also happens to be a psychologist called Brad Klontz, our brains respond to the word “budget” the same way it responds to words like “diet” and “fasting”. The overall connotation invokes thoughts of suffering, deprivation, agony and even depression.
He goes on to say that while we can muster the courage to put up with a budget for the short-term, in the long run, we often end up falling short. This is because our brains start to think of the money we are saving as “things we could have instead”.
You know, a new gadget, new clothes, a night out with friends…basically, it becomes harder and harder to save the money because your brain begins to imagine how much fun you are depriving yourself thanks to all that saving.
So how do you budget for a week-long vacation without blowing it?
Instead of budgeting, plan
Granted, the idea is still fundamentally the same but if you think about it as planning as opposed to budgeting or saving then you will be more likely to achieve your end goal. The trick is to trick your brain into thinking that the vacation is a goal that must be achieved as opposed to being a reward for saving. Does that make sense?
Okay…here’s a simpler explanation. Break down your week-long vacation into sections that must all come together and plan for each section independently. Here is how you go about it.
Think of the overall travel expenses
The very first thing you are going to need to consider is your overall travel expenses. You have to get where you are going somehow, right? Now, “overall travel expenses” means:
- Air travel and fare: If you are flying to your location, say you are coming to the Maasai Mara for a week, then you will have to plan for your return flight into Kenya.
- Overland fare: You will need transfers to and from the airport (on both ends of the trip) as well as to your desired destination. You will also need money for other forms of transportation in case you need to travel about during the entire week. This is easy enough to do since there are apps such as Uber that can help with this aspect.
The air travel should be planned and paid for in advance. This way you will save money. You can easily do that by checking out…
Cheap Flights to Nairobi
Think of the accommodation
Where are you going to stay? Are you going to use Airbnb or are you going to stay at a hotel? Maybe a hostel? It doesn’t matter. Once you decide where you are going to stay, the next step is to see if you can pay for it in advance or pay for it on a weekly or monthly basis prior to your vacation time.
With user platforms such as Airbnb, you can simply book the dates and pay for them well in advance so that budget is off your plate. The same goes with other forms of accommodations – if you are headed to the Mara, there are several excellent resorts that will let you pay them in instalments as long as you clear the bill by the time you get there or on the day you check out.
Read: Child-Friendly Lodges in Maasai Mara
Think of your meals
You are going to eat whether you are on vacation or not so this shouldn’t be that big of a deal. The only difference is that now you are going to have to buy every meal. Think about how much you spend your meals every day in your regular life. Now mark that up by about 50%. Call it the “exotic dishes tax”. The easiest way to make sure you have this money is to tell yourself that you will just cook at home for about a week to recover financially.
Squirrel away a “Vanity Fund”
When it comes to this section, there are no two ways about it, you will have to save some money. Your “vanity fund” is essentially the money you will need to use on things that you will want to buy. Think:
- Souvenirs.
- Local clothing.
- Local gadgets.
It might even be money you will spend on your nights out with the locals. How much do you spend on a night out at home? How often do you go out? There is a very good chance that these tropical destinations (or wherever you are headed) are not that much more expensive than your home town unless you intend to go on a luxury safari. The same amount that you spend at home will more or less be the same amount that you spend on a night out when on vacation.
- Pro Tip: You must, however, bare in mind that the exchange rate comes into play and that sometimes sends costs skyrocketing. So do the calculations first to see whether or not the expense is warranted.
Either squirrel that money away or put it on your credit card (not very advisable but it’s a viable option).
Think of emergencies
You will need to have cash on hand just in case of an emergency. There are two ways to go about this:
- Actually put some money in your checking or current account for emergencies (make sure you can easily access that money when abroad).
- Take up a travel insurance policy so that your major emergencies are covered.
Buy Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Once you have these five major sections covered, you pretty much have a week-long vacation handled. The idea is to make sure that you pay for bits and pieces of your vacation every month until the day you get to go. That way, you will have already committed money to the trip and can’t flake and you will not be approaching it all from a “budgeting” perspective so it won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Do you have any other tips on how to plan (read: budget) for a week-long vacation? Share it with us in the comment section below.