3 Tips on How to Save for Your Next Vacation

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I’m actually really excited for today’s post! I would never call myself an expert when it comes to finances, but I alway love to read about it. And I like to pick up any tips that might help Kurt and I to be more savvy with our money. So today I wanted to share three of my tips on how to save for you next vacation. Kurt and I actually use these tips and we just booked a vacation that will be completely paid for!

It completely takes the stress out of booking a vacation when you already have money set aside or better yet, a trip paid in full! We personally like to take long weekend trips and aim to take one in the spring and one in the fall. It doesn’t always work out that way, but at least the trips are spread out a little and then you get more time in between to save for your next trip. This year we have lots of weddings, which is so fun because we haven’t had many in more recent years. So all of our trips this year will be centered around these weddings. Our first trip will be in April to Austin, TX which I’ve never been to. I’m excited to eat some barbecue, shoot guns and to catch up with friends.

Ok, are you ready?!

Tip 1- Open an Airline Credit Card

I know, I know, no one really wants to open a new credit card. But in this instance it is soooo worth it. We opened a Southwest card and have gotten five free tickets by using our points. Southwest has a hub in Chicago and they have been wonderful to fly with, so this might vary on where you live. What I love most about Southwest is your baggage fee is included. So you aren’t getting to the airport and having to pay $50+ in fees. It’s not a great way to start a vacation! I would so much rather put that money towards my spending money.

Usually when you open an airline credit card, at least I know it was this way with Southwest, you had to spend a certain amount of money in the first three months. But then you get a crazy amount of bonus points when you do so! So it is worth it.

My advice if you aren’t good with credit cards is to pay it off every week. You could even pay it off every day if you wanted to, but that just seems a little extreme! It helps to not carry a balance on the credit card, but you are still getting the benefit of collecting points and potentially getting a free airline ticket!

Tip 2- Save Automatically with a Qapital Account

This is the key to getting your next vacation paid for because you don’t have to do anything (besides set up an account)! What this app does is it saves automatically for you. It will analyze your spending habits and transfer money into your new account. It also has the round up rule. Meaning if you spend $1.50, it will take the $0.50 difference and transfer that into your account to help you save towards your goals. You will be astonished at how easy and quick you can save. We typically use this account to book our hotels and also for our spending money. It’s saving without even realizing you are saving!

Tip 3- Stash Away an Extra $25 From Your Paychecks

So my dad actually gave me this piece of advice and I actually listened to him. We opened a separate savings account that we call our ‘baby fund’ and we did this when we first started trying to have a baby. He knows I have champagne taste and he said- use this account for items you might not normally buy like an crazy, expensive onsie or just something over the top that you don’t want to have to dip into your normal savings account for. I really liked the idea! So every pay check, I transfer $25 into this account to help us save for ‘one day.’ Granted its taken us a lot longer to expand our family, but you will be SHOCKED at how easy this is and how much you will see it grow.

We don’t use this money towards our vacations because we follow tip #1 and tip #2 and find that we have enough for our vacations. But I wanted to include this because its a really easy and great way to save for your next vacation.

Do you have any tips on how to save for your next vacation?!