Let's Create a Vacation Budget!

Did you know you could create a budget for just about anything? When you sit down and do the basic (yet crucial) steps that involve creating a budget you become aware of how far (or not far) your money can get you, no matter what it is being used for.

Let's take an example that we can all relate to - vacation! Let's say you have $600 in your vacation savings account and a friend asks if you want to go to Chicago for the weekend because flights are only $100 - yep! Your hotel, for three nights, is $200 (splitting with your friend). You head to Target and buy a couple of new shirts and some toiletries, $75 (at least!). 

Once you get to Chicago, you buy the 3-day train pass for $20 because your hotel isn't as close as you wanted it to be. You start figuring out that you are spending $80 a day on food, two quick meals and one sit down restaurant. By the end of the weekend you will have -$35 with the new food expenses. You still have a concert you planned on going to and a couple of local museums, so you put the rest on your credit card and will figure it out when you get home.

Well, here we are. Home with more credit card debt. This is an endless cycle that creating a quick budget could have solved. Maybe you don't run to Target the night before. Maybe you get a hotel a little further out since you will have the train pass. Maybe, you can't go? 

Let's practice! Create a sample budget of a past vacation - write down all your expenses and what categories they fall in. Once you're done, use this as a template for future trips and rearrange money as needed (maybe you need less restaurant money but more flight money).