It’s time of year when the decision to go on the annual family vacation falls, usually during the summer vacation or during the High Holidays. Booking a vacation involves a considerable investment of time in its planning. Thoughts about the desired vacation style are mixed with thoughts about the expected cost, conducting market research, comparing prices, forgoing too expensive vacations and finally purchasing the vacation that best suits personal tastes and financial ability.
After all the planning, the stress of the last few days before the trip and taking care of everything necessary for the absence from home and work – we finally happily and together embark on the big annual family experience – our dream vacation.
The plan is simple – enjoy as much as possible and accumulate pleasant experiences and memories, which will accompany us even many months after returning to routine and give us strength for the future. Research shows that a person’s sense of happiness depends to a large extent on their ability to accumulate positive experiences through activities such as vacation, and we all hope to accumulate exactly such experiences on vacation.
So here we are, the vacation has begun and with it the sense of liberation we have longed for for so long. The family is finally together, with the goal of having fun, not thinking too much and enjoying every minute. The feeling of liberation is often accompanied by a desire to put aside financial matters and financial pressure, forget worries for a few days and rest, but really.
What makes a good vacation?
What memories come to mind when you think about your last vacation? Is it a rare moment with the children, a big laugh you laughed together, a beautiful view you suddenly discovered, or just a moment of silence in a magical place.
When you think about your last vacation, do you regretfully recall something you ultimately didn’t buy? Do you think about the restaurant you gave up because it was too expensive or a particularly attractive activity you decided to trade for another? Probably not, the memories that remain with you after the vacation are based on the sense of family togetherness and shared experiences and not on the concessions you gave up.
Vacation is a confusing time, habits change for a limited period of time, boundaries are undermined and with them the way decisions are made – this is also part of the magic. However, and for precisely these reasons, during a vacation it is even more difficult for us to stick to a budget and save on expenses, we feel that everything is allowed and everything is possible, and therefore the vacation often ends with a hole in the pocket, much larger than what we planned before the trip.
5 Things to Do When Going on Vacation
- Coordinate family expectations before going on vacation – Sit down with your family and plan what your vacation together will look like. A vacation doesn’t necessarily mean going on a shopping spree. When we are free, the credit card trigger is much easier – it is very easy for us to buy much more than we really need, and also much more than we planned in advance. Coordinating expectations of all family members and defining vacation style before leaving home will help us avoid the trap of unbridled shopping.
- Setting a daily budget for vacation – allocating a monetary amount to use on each of the vacation days, will provide a framework for expenses. The budget will be used for expected daily expenses such as food, activities, travel, as well as buying souvenirs or other things we want.
- Use of designated money for the benefit of the vacation – you can allocate cash in advance that will be used for all days of the vacation, or alternatively travel with a prepaid card in which you have preloaded the amount designated for the trip. Separating the money earmarked for vacation from the usual means of payment will help meet the planned budget.
- Track your expenses during your vacation – At the end of each day, it’s a good idea to take a few minutes to summarize the day’s expenses. If the daily vacation budget has been exceeded, the planned activities can be updated in the following days.
- Financial analysis of the vacation that was – the vacation is over and the charges have dropped, it’s time to sit down together and check how much it really cost. An examination of the actual amount of expenditure relative to what was planned – will help us draw conclusions for the next vacation.
