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How not to overspend on your summer vacation

Summer is here, which means it’s time for lounging on the beach, exploring national parks, hopping on international flights and more. But when the warm weather hits, and you’re in vacation mode, it’s easy to overspend.

While it’s important to enjoy your time off and hard-earned money, it’s also important not to hinder your progress toward your saving goals. Consumer fintech banking platform shares steps below that can help ensure you stay on track to hit your milestones, whether they’re as short-term as paying for a car repair or as long-term as retirement.

“Too often people go on vacation trying to de-stress or get a break from work and thinking about all this stuff — but then if you come back home with credit card debt, it defeats the purpose,” says Adrianna Adams, head of financial planning for Domain Money.

Figure out how much you can spend

The first step to making sure you don’t overspend on vacation is figuring out how much you can spend. Adams recommends you start by assessing your and retirement savings. Financial experts typically recommend that you have enough money set aside to cover at least three to six months of your expenses should the unexpected happen, such as losing your job or getting hit with a surprise vet bill. 

When it comes to your retirement savings, you want to make sure you’re saving an adequate amount every month or year to help secure a comfortable retirement down the line. That will look different for everyone, but a classic rule is to save 10% to 15% of your pretax income annually.

Once you have those bases covered, consider how much savings you have on hand and how much you spend each month on your essentials (housing, utilities, groceries, etc.). Mapping all this out will leave you with a better sense of what you have left over to take on vacation.

“Then you can really figure out how much fun money you have without feeling guilty or wondering if you should have put it somewhere else,” Adams says.

Monitor the cost of flights and accommodations

Airfare and hotels are often the most expensive part of a vacation — but when you book can make a huge difference. The experts at travel app Hopper that you start monitoring prices at least three to four months out for domestic trips, since they’ll increase and decrease frequently and tend to drop a month or two before the flight takes off (but nearly double in the last three weeks). For international trips, you’re going to want to start monitoring seven to eight months in advance.

Traveling on certain days can also help you save money. If you’re traveling within the U.S., flying midweek can save you roughly $45 per ticket, or about 15%, according to Hopper. For most international trips, you’ll save the most by avoiding the weekend and flying early in the week.

Last-minute hotel room bookings in popular vacation destinations tend to see a price surge, so you’ll want to plan ahead when it comes to where you’ll stay. And if you can, skip the weekend: Hopper found that travelers who check in to their accommodations Friday or Saturday and stay through Sunday can expect to pay 20% to 23% more than those who check in on Monday. Be sure to check online travel agent apps such as Priceline, Expedia and Hotwire. You can simply enter where you’re headed and which dates, and you’ll get a list of the best deals along with ratings (though you may have to forego knowing the actual name of the hotel until after booking, depending on the service).

Plan ahead

Ideally, you’re saving for your vacation in the months leading up to it. That way, you can have a savings goal in mind — say $5,000 — and know you need to set aside $500 a month for 10 months to have enough to cover the cost. If you are planning a more expensive trip or don’t have enough wiggle room in your monthly budget to save $500 each month, then you can push the trip out a few months.

But if your trip is coming up quickly, don’t panic: There are still ways to save. Make reservations in advance for restaurants and activities so you have a better understanding of what you’re spending before you get there, says Thomas Van Spankeren, a wealth advisor and chief investment officer at Rise Investments. That’s especially important if you’re traveling with a large group.

“When you’re in a big group, people tend to overbuy,” Van Spankeren explains. “When you have too many opinions together, you don’t want to offend people. If one person wants X and one person wants Y, you tend to get both and then you’re left with too much.”

Stick to a budget

When you’re on vacation, you’re probably pulling out your wallet for meals, transportation and souvenirs. But having a sense of how much you can spend each day can help keep you on track.

Let’s say you have $700 saved for the trip, and you’re going for seven days. Aim to spend around $100 per day so you don’t come to the end of the trip and realize you blew through your budget in the first few days.

“If you know there’s something you want to do like jetskiing that is $50, then maybe that day you plan more casual stuff for the meals,” Adams says. “But if there is a beach day when you’re not doing much, make that day your fancier dinner.”

You only want to spend within your means, but if you’re super nervous, you can also check to make sure your card has to ensure you won’t get charged if you make a mistake and spend more than what’s in your account.

Use your credit card

Credit card travel rewards points can go far on vacation, especially when it comes to booking accommodations and flights (plus, they tend to have better fraud protection than other cards, which is important when you’re on vacation with your guard down). Look into what your credit card offers and be sure to take full advantage of rewards when booking your accommodations and activities.

“Even if it’s not a ton of points, it can definitely help chip away at some of those costs for flights or hotels,” Adams says. She adds that if you’re using only one card, it’s easy to look at the charges throughout the trip to keep in line with your budget.

You want to make sure that when you’re spending on vacation, you’re earning something for every swipe, such as rewards for future trips or points to redeem for cash back.

Consider all your options

When it comes to planning, get creative.

“If it’s somewhere more local, plan in advance and carpool,” Van Spankeren says. And if you’re traveling somewhere that a relative or friend lives near, consider staying with them even if it means driving a bit further to your destination — such as a city’s downtown — as opposed to shelling out for a hotel. Driving so that you can bring equipment like tennis rackets and boating tubes instead of renting can also pay off.

And of course, consider low-cost activities once you’re there. Packing sandwiches and heading to the beach or going for a hike will be much less expensive than spending the day at Disney World.

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