Steve Repak's Blog - Posts Tagged "choose-now"
Money Can't Buy Hapiness but a Vacation Might!
If you didn’t know…. Money can’t buy happiness… well maybe not long term happiness anyways. But it can certainly buy you a vacation, and with it being summer time I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how to vacation without going bankrupt.
If you are working hard isn’t it ok to sometimes also play hard? Vacations are a time when you can reconnect with friends and family and recharge your batteries. What happens many times though is we either spend too much or finance our vacations the wrong way… and yes, I mean finance them through the use of credit cards. I have two tips that you can use so you can enjoy your time on vacation instead of worrying about how you will have to pay for it.
1. Pay Now or you might have to Pray about it Later
When I say pay now…that means pay for your vacation with what you have in your vacation fund. Most everybody has heard of the envelope system where you set aside money in envelopes for each of your spending categories. I use a variation of that concept for my larger expenses throughout the year like property taxes, home owners insurance and family vacation. For me I actually have a separate account that is not linked to either my checking or savings. It is a second savings account that I have at another financial institution. The reason I do that is so I am not tempted to use that money for anything but paying for my vacation. I set my budget for our annual family vacation and then I create a draft or automatic bill to transfer a portion of this to my vacation account each pay period. For example, let’s say I am budgeting $2600 for my next vacation. If I am paid bi-weekly this works out to be 26 paydays per year, so I would set up a draft for every two weeks to transfer approximately $100. If you get paid weekly that would be $50 dollars a week. If you do this for an entire year you will have $2,600 saved up for your vacation next year. The best part is that you won’t have to put it on your credit card!
2. Sometimes Cheap Meat is Good
I like to tell people that cheap meat isn’t good and good meat isn’t cheap, or you get what you pay for. The exception to that rule can be vacation time. To save money consider vacationing off season. You can find some great vacation packages by not taking them during the peak months. Also, instead of staying at a resort, consider renting out a condo or apartment. What I like about that is that you have the ability to cook some or all of your meals instead of eating out. If you have a family of four or more, taking everybody out to eat three times a day for a week can eat up your entire vacation budget alone! Consider cheaper methods of travel. If you have the time, consider traveling by train. Yes I said train! Believe it or not train travel is becoming increasingly popular as a way to get to your destination and see some of this great country along the way.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NIV) “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their told all of the day of the life God has given them under the sun”.
Most people work extremely hard and I believe it is perfectly acceptable to invest some money on a vacation. The memories you will create are priceless. They will stay with you and your family for a lifetime; you just don’t want to spend the rest of your life paying for it!
via http://nicoleodell.com/2014/06/money-...
If you are working hard isn’t it ok to sometimes also play hard? Vacations are a time when you can reconnect with friends and family and recharge your batteries. What happens many times though is we either spend too much or finance our vacations the wrong way… and yes, I mean finance them through the use of credit cards. I have two tips that you can use so you can enjoy your time on vacation instead of worrying about how you will have to pay for it.
1. Pay Now or you might have to Pray about it Later
When I say pay now…that means pay for your vacation with what you have in your vacation fund. Most everybody has heard of the envelope system where you set aside money in envelopes for each of your spending categories. I use a variation of that concept for my larger expenses throughout the year like property taxes, home owners insurance and family vacation. For me I actually have a separate account that is not linked to either my checking or savings. It is a second savings account that I have at another financial institution. The reason I do that is so I am not tempted to use that money for anything but paying for my vacation. I set my budget for our annual family vacation and then I create a draft or automatic bill to transfer a portion of this to my vacation account each pay period. For example, let’s say I am budgeting $2600 for my next vacation. If I am paid bi-weekly this works out to be 26 paydays per year, so I would set up a draft for every two weeks to transfer approximately $100. If you get paid weekly that would be $50 dollars a week. If you do this for an entire year you will have $2,600 saved up for your vacation next year. The best part is that you won’t have to put it on your credit card!
2. Sometimes Cheap Meat is Good
I like to tell people that cheap meat isn’t good and good meat isn’t cheap, or you get what you pay for. The exception to that rule can be vacation time. To save money consider vacationing off season. You can find some great vacation packages by not taking them during the peak months. Also, instead of staying at a resort, consider renting out a condo or apartment. What I like about that is that you have the ability to cook some or all of your meals instead of eating out. If you have a family of four or more, taking everybody out to eat three times a day for a week can eat up your entire vacation budget alone! Consider cheaper methods of travel. If you have the time, consider traveling by train. Yes I said train! Believe it or not train travel is becoming increasingly popular as a way to get to your destination and see some of this great country along the way.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NIV) “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their told all of the day of the life God has given them under the sun”.
Most people work extremely hard and I believe it is perfectly acceptable to invest some money on a vacation. The memories you will create are priceless. They will stay with you and your family for a lifetime; you just don’t want to spend the rest of your life paying for it!
via http://nicoleodell.com/2014/06/money-...
