Published on Aug 19, 2015
Last week I took the week off from work to spend time with my family at their cabin in Northern Minnesota. We had a blast canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, hiking Mount Josephine, whizzing down the alpine slide in Lutsen and playing a round of golf at Superior National Golf Course. Then, on the way home, we took a pit stop in Duluth to do a little shopping and have some delicious eats at Grandma’s Saloon and Grill in Canal Park.
We had such a great time that we are already thinking about our next trip, but we don’t really know where to start. So, I turned to Google for help and found a few articles to steer me in the right direction. Here are four simple steps to help start your planning process!
- Decide where to go
- Create your budget –Create a spreadsheet with hotel, flight and rental car information so you’ll have an estimate of how much these things cost. And, don’t forget to budget for activities and spending money. Once you have a general idea of the cost of the trip, you’ll want to determine how much you need to set aside each month. Save some extra cash by putting those hotel points and airline miles to use, if you have them.
- Secure lodging and transportation
- Plan your itinerary
Seems easy enough, right?
Now that you know how to plan a vacation and create a budget, it’s time to start saving! I highly recommend opening a Thrift or Vacation Savings Account at the Credit Union. This will allow you to set money aside specifically for your trip. And, for a visual savings reminder, setup a savings goal in Money Meter; this will help keep you on track.
Do you have vacation planning tips you swear by? Share them with us in the comments, below. Happy travels!
Taylor Y.
