Financing a Vacation – Contest Giveaway

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Financing a vacation can be difficult. You know where you want to go but you just don’t know how you’ll get there.

The average American family spends around $2500 per year on a vacation. Readers might guess that vacation spending would be down, with the economic “turndown” and an increase in cost of basic items like groceries and gas, but this isn’t the case. It seems as if consumers are putting more value on their vacation time, and according to the Travel Industry of America’s annual forecast, travel spending in the U.S. will increase 5 percent this year.

I don’t know about you guys, but my family saves up for our annual vacation in a variety of ways.

Save your change. Each of us has our own container where we place our loose change at the end of the day. This is a great way for the kids to save spending money. All those quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies can really add up. Last year we were able to save around $350 in total.

Have a garage or rummage sale. Once a year, my neighbors and I get together for a multi-family garage sale. We are usually able to earn about $400 per family by the end of the day.

Cut back on unnecessary spending. Our family used to eat out at least once per week. We’ve cut the eating out by 25 percent and are able to put aside at least $75 per month towards our family trip. That’s a savings of $900 per year!

Open a vacation savings account. I’m able to have my bank deduct $50 per paycheck and place in a saving account just for vacations. With my contribution alone, that gives our family another $1200 towards our travels.

Use SmartyPig to save. This company allows consumers to open an interest-earning account with a minimal deposit of $25. Your friends and relatives can even deposit money towards the goals you list with the account. Sounds like a simple, smart, savings plan.

So how does the average family finance a vacation? This is where you, our readers come in. Leave us a comment on how you finance your vacation and you will be eligible to win a $50 Gift Card to open a savings account with SmartyPig.com.

Contest will close April 8, 2008 at midnight EST.

The winner will be announced on Winning Wednesday, April 9. Giveaway is open to US residents and immediate family members of Traveling Mamas are ineligible to win.

SmartyPig.com

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April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Budget Travel, Family Travel, Travel News 

Comments

117 Responses to “Financing a Vacation – Contest Giveaway”

  1. susan varney says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    income tax returns

  2. Jeff Stein says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    yea, i will use your smartypig when i’m on vacation in sunny fla…

  3. Jen V. says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    I help save by vacation while getting healthy at the same time. For every mile I walk or run on the treadmill, $1 goes in our vacation fund. It adds up by the time vacation rolls around.

  4. Rozetta Harvey says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We always save our change, and are surprised at how quickly it adds up. We also try to cut back on nonessentials so we can add more to our vacation fund.

    guysrose at aol dot com

  5. phillip stacy says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Use profits from Ebay sales plus it is a paid vacation

  6. Shannon Baas says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    By saving my change.

  7. nan heck says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    I play the lottery, so all the money I win goes toward my vacation.

  8. Naomi says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Umm, travel with the grandparents?!

  9. Graham says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Substitute something less expensive for a recurring expense you have now and force yourself to put all the money saved each time into a savings account (then pretend the account doesn’t even exist until it’s time to pay for a vacation). For example, pay to download the only song you like on an album instead of going to the mall every weekend to buy a whole CD, and a bunch of other junk while you’re there.

  10. Elizabeth M. says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We used to charge our vacations and worry about paying it off later. However we carried the debt around for years. Now we save up the money and pay for the whole vacation in cash. Granted it’s been 5 years since we last took a vacation so it’s painful but we’ve had enough of debt. We’ve got a vacation on the books for this fall finally!

  11. Geri says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Finding the cheapest flight and hotel is the best way to stretch your vacation budget- and ebaying unnecessary things for pocket money helps too.

  12. Linda Lansford says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    play the lotto

  13. Mia says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Well, we travel when we can. That means some years we take trips and some we don’t. Last year, I made an estimate of how much I would have to pay in taxes and I save that for the year. It ended up that I had a refund so we used the refund + savings to take a trip!

  14. Terrance Carroll says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Cedit Card

  15. Ginny says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We don’t usually vacation often, but we do like to save change to go towards vacation. Also like to put aside some of our tax refunds for vacations.

  16. Anna says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    I keep a change jar for all my coins plus everytime I get a ten-dollar bill I stuff that in the jar too. I find that when I am paying for things, I try to make sure that I will get a $10 just so that I can put away more money!

  17. Noreen says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    I sell stuff via craig’s list

  18. Nora Scott-Platt says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We save our change and always put alittle extra from our paycheck into an account for vacation.

  19. jayne says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We always go with friends and split the cost.

  20. R Hicks says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    I STOPPED SMOKING AND SAVE THE MONEY FOR A GREAT VACATION

  21. Ann says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We save an amount of money each month and we keep our change in a big jar! Thanks for the great give away!

  22. Tonya Keener says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    My daughter and I have no way to finance a trip but with your help maybe we can. I live check to check and she is paying for college. When my daughter was 5 my parents took her from me because I was an alcholic. I moved to florida 4/4/2007, the day my daughter turned 19, with 10 1/2 years sobriety, my car payed off and money saved for the move after working 2 and 3 jobs for years. If I am confindent enough to do that I’m sure confident enough to wear pink. Me and my daughter really need this trip together to catch up on all the years we missed of each others lives.

  23. Michelle H. says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We try to put money aside whenever possible.

  24. Marissa says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    We save our money like a weekly allowance, but put it in our PayPal account to accrue a little interest at the same time. And, we don’t spend our change, we just save it for our end of the year count up. It’s amazing how fast everything adds up nicely.

  25. Rita Singleton says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Add a little to savings each month

  26. Christine E. says:
    April 6, 2008 at

    Try to save up points for free airline tickets and hotel nights.

  27. Renee Turner says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    About once every couple months, I go through all of my family’s things. If there is anything we no longer want or need and it is worth something, I put it on Craigs List and save the money I earn from that for vacation.

  28. Crystal Donahue says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We do really well at saving for retirement and for our son’s college… but when it comes to vacations we just never seem to stash anything away. So when our tax return comes we use that to finance our vacation. Big return = big vacation (or possibly 2) and little return = small vacation.

  29. R Hicks says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    save pocket change

  30. susan varney says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    save ectra money

  31. sandy says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    coupons

  32. L Harrison says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I enter sweepstakes and hope to win a trip. If I don’t win, we don’t go. if I happen to get lucky, we have a vacation. I’m wat over due to win!

  33. Mary says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Rob Peter.

  34. Kathy Scott says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We put the change in a piggy bank at the end of the day. About once a month we wrap it and take it to the boys savings account.

  35. Michael says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I always have change

  36. Jennifer says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Direct transfer of $50 a week into a savings account.

  37. Nata says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    After spending 11 years as a stay-at-home mom, I returned to work part-time. I work those hours that my 2 kids are in school. Half of my small paycheck goes into savings and the other half for vacations — we’ve had really great vacations these last 2 years!

  38. Leslie says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Terrific

  39. Patrice says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We are very frugal, and rarely buy new clothes, household furninshings, etc. The money we would have spent on those things goes into our savings account.

  40. Lea Mall says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I try to put aside $25 a week toward a vacation. I try to get rid of any unnecessary items in our household on the local tv classified websites.

  41. Vicky Boackle says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    i just save a certain amount each payday depending on the cost of the vacation.

  42. cathy miller says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    we scrape and save for a vacation our change and what ever we can save

  43. Amy @ The Q Family says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I have done several things since we want to travel regularly.

    - I start using coupon for grocery shopping and am able to cut it down 50%
    - Save the tax refund
    - Will save the stimulus tax rebate
    - Cut on eating out
    - Start making homemade breakfast instead of frozen pancake/waffle.
    - Sell stuffs on ebay and craigslist
    - Look for way to entertain my kids for free. Check out my latest blog on free admission to children’s museum.

  44. s. ross says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    the stimulus tax rebate will fund my vacation

  45. T. Lindeman says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Change adds up and usually funds part of a vacation, the rest is just saving

  46. Jason says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I also use my tax refund to fund vacations.

  47. Florence Bellamy says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Income tax return

  48. Dominique W says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We have an annual garage sale. The money we make is what we use to budget our vacation with.

  49. phillip stacy says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    This year – income tax refund.

  50. Dan Smith says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I sell items on Ebay

  51. Anthony Hedden says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Enter me

  52. Susan Smith says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We take $50 per paycheck our to fund out vacation.

  53. Carissa Davis says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I save my change.

  54. sarah says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    credit cards

  55. Alicia Zemer says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I love pigs

  56. Michelle H. says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We save when we can.

  57. Debra Dout says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Use airline miles from our credit cards and include a certian amount in our budget monthly

  58. Robert Dout says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    take money from savings and use airline miles from credit cards

  59. Joanna Connor says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Income tax refund.

  60. Ed Nemmers says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Sugardaddy, I wish.

  61. Mike Weisberg says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    i want to win

  62. Donna Hunt says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I use coupons whenever I can. After I’ve saved money from the trip to the store, restaurant, etc., I put the savings aside. This has allowed us to save money for many things including vacations. Thank you for the contest!

  63. Catherine copeland says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I really need to stay on a budget. Smarty pig seems like just what I need to keep on task when saving for a vacation

  64. Linda Lansford says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    hard work

  65. Christine Estrada says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Save up a little at a time.

  66. Judy A. says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We have nothing else to “give-up”. Therefore, no vacation this year, unless, amazing good fortune comes my way!

  67. Kate Davis says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We only take one vacation a year, and we save for it all year long. A little from each paycheck, a little from the tax refund, and a little from selling stuff on eBay. One week a year of not here, it is worth anything to make sure it happens.

  68. Beverley Justice says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I save all year long, starting the day after vacation.

  69. Brittany Rebello says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I save most of my extra money each week in my savings account.

  70. Kirsten says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Income tax returns

  71. Lisa Fosses says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    with money from my side job

  72. JUlie T says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    by selling stuff on ebay

  73. Heather C says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    We usually just either use our tax refund to finance a small vacation or put everything on a credit card and pay it back in a couple of months.

  74. C Duran says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I just set aside a little extra money when I have it and use it for vacation.

  75. kiyana says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    Everyone in the family tries to put aside a minimum every paycheck or allowance that they receive.

  76. Patricia says:
    April 7, 2008 at

    I want to go to Australia, but I am afraid to spend the money……but you cannot take it with you and I am 68!

    If I should win, however, I would start a savings account for my first grandchild who is expected in the last of May!

  77. R Hicks says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    My bank drafts $1 for every debit card transaction and it goes into a separate account. Sort of like a xmas fund

  78. Catherine copeland says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    It’s like everything else. You have to begin to budget. I plan a year ahead of time and decide how much I need to put away each week to meet our goals

  79. Elizabeth M. says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We live on one income and any other income that comes in (from garage sales, ebay sales, refunds, rebates, etc.) is saved. That eventually grows large enough to use as a vacation fund.

  80. Bobbye Fussell says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I cut coupons and answer surverys and with that money I can usually save enough over a years time to afford a small vacation for the family.

  81. Kelly says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    What vacation?

  82. Paul says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Save change

  83. Brooke says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We generally piggy back on business trips so one of us is working.

  84. Marilyn R. says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I use my tax return and money saved from surveys, gift cards and etc.

  85. Veronica Garrett says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We finance our vacation with overtime pay.

  86. sarah woods says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Very simply we save all aluminum products and put in a special bank; we take income tax if any refund and apply to family trip; then any change from paper money/coin change go in aspecial container in each of our two vehicles. Thanks, it really all adds up.

  87. TheAngelForever says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We save all of our change and also partition some of our tax return for vacations.

  88. Jeanine P says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Ebay!!

  89. Dan Smith says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I sell on Ebay

  90. Susan Smith says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I have garage sales

  91. Stacey M says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I save all of our change and on occasion I put evxtra money I get from selling things on ebay into our savings.

  92. phillip stacy says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    credit card

  93. Liz Baer says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We work it into the budget for the first few months of the year.

  94. dorothy says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    go during the off season

  95. Patrice Pruitte says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I use coupons and always try to buy items that are on sale or clearance, so I put all the extra money we are saving into our savings account.

  96. kathy pease says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    we rarely go on vacation :(

  97. Nina says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We use our tax refund…thanks!

  98. Christine Estrada says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We used to vacation while visiting family or friends and stayed with them to save money.

  99. jennefer sweitzer says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    saving our change

  100. Carissa Davis says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I save my change and look for good deals.

  101. Tisa says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We save all of our change through the year to help pay for the yearly family vacation. It really adds up fast! ~ :)

  102. Lea Mall says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Hopefully a tax return.

  103. Susanne Troop says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Tax refund!

  104. Samantha Crossley says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Income tax refunds and prize wins.

  105. Joanna Connor says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    tax return

  106. Forest Honerkamp says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I keep all my change in glass jars.

  107. Florence Bellamy says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Income tax check.

  108. Rachel Robertson says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We have a piggy bank which has a sign on it saying “this little piggy went to..” we fill in the sentence with the place we want to go on our vacation. Everytime I save money on our food budget I put the saved money inside. I also put any extra we have at the end of the month. Our children put a portion of their allowances in the pig and they all get a little money from neighbors for mowing lawns, taking trash bins to the curb etc. They put a portion of that inside the pig as well. When the pig is full we buy travelers checks and put them aside and fill up the pig again till we have enough money. Everyone loves taking part in this as we all know everyone pitched in to make it happen and so it truly is a family vacation! We start in Jan so we have enough come summer.

  109. Sylvia Belle says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I have a vacation fund that helps finance my trips.

  110. Miranda Allen says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Please enter me thanks

  111. Terri Wagner says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    I just put aside money whenever I can.

  112. Anne Witkavitch says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We take advantage of famiy memberships at children’s museums and zoos. Often the cost of membership is paid off after two family visits; so in addition to enjoying local day trips throughout the year, which feel like “mini-vacations,” we also get free admission to other museums and zoos across the country when we travel. At the same time we’re contributing to these important not-for-profit organizations — and a portion of our membership is tax-deductible!

  113. charles pellin says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Recycling has a big part in my vacation plans.

  114. Timothy Sternberg says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    Income tax returns

  115. Betty Curran says:
    April 8, 2008 at

    We usually visit family so we can avoid hotel or motel bills, travel during the off season to get better airline rates and only buy what we absolutely need the rest of the year to save money.

  116. Lily Kwan says:
    April 9, 2008 at

    save, save, save

  117. Lesha says:
    April 9, 2008 at

    Garage sales :)

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