We made a travel budget, but not like you think
Years ago my spouse and I talked about setting a travel budget. It wasn't a budget like most people think, though. Instead of being a limit on how much we could spend it was a goal for the least we wanted to spend.
We like to travel. But we're also frugal. On the one hand we think about all the places we'd love to go and things we'd love to do. On the other hand we fret that we could stay home, or maybe just do something way cheaper and nearby and save all the extra money instead.
Don't get me wrong; saving is good. Saving is how we'll be able to do more things later. But we can't hold out for "later" at the cost of today. There's a balance, a middle path. We can do some of each.
Ironically the idea of setting a travel budget came when we were at a timeshare sales presentation. No, not the one in Hawaii last April. It was over 15 years ago. I was sitting, bored, in the sales pitch so I started working out in my head what the effective annual cost of a timeshare is. ...No, not just the annual dues you pay, but the per-annum value of the money you've got tied up in the ownership. Yes, when I'm bored sometimes I do math in my head. For fun. Anyway, the answer was $5,000. I calculated that to owning and using a timeshare is essentially spend $5,000 each year for a week of vacation.
We ultimately decided not to buy that timeshare, either. Like I noted in April, it's never worth it to buy new. The salesguy cried. That was so unprofessional it was kind of funny, actually. But Hawk and I agreed, "How about we plan to spend $5,000 a year on whatever vacations we like and see how much we enjoy it."
At the time, $5k/year was way more than what we were spending on vacations. Like I said, we were frugal. And we were pressed for time with our jobs. But starting from that trip we had a new goal: spend $5k- or more!- every year on travel we enjoyed.
We didn't always hit $5k the first few years after that. That's okay; it was a goal. In thinking about how to reach that goal more regularly we reconsidered work-life balance. We decided our jobs should not leave us sapped of energy to enjoy ourselves on our time off but should leave us looking forward to all the fun things we could do outside of work.
Nowadays we routinely spend more than $5,000 per year. Inflation is part of that. $5k fifteen+ years ago is easily $10k today. And our spend is not all cash. Up to half of it is points from airlines, hotels, and credit cards.
Making a budget. Sometimes it's about helping you know when to say no. Other times It's about helping you know when to say yes.
We like to travel. But we're also frugal. On the one hand we think about all the places we'd love to go and things we'd love to do. On the other hand we fret that we could stay home, or maybe just do something way cheaper and nearby and save all the extra money instead.
Don't get me wrong; saving is good. Saving is how we'll be able to do more things later. But we can't hold out for "later" at the cost of today. There's a balance, a middle path. We can do some of each.
Ironically the idea of setting a travel budget came when we were at a timeshare sales presentation. No, not the one in Hawaii last April. It was over 15 years ago. I was sitting, bored, in the sales pitch so I started working out in my head what the effective annual cost of a timeshare is. ...No, not just the annual dues you pay, but the per-annum value of the money you've got tied up in the ownership. Yes, when I'm bored sometimes I do math in my head. For fun. Anyway, the answer was $5,000. I calculated that to owning and using a timeshare is essentially spend $5,000 each year for a week of vacation.
We ultimately decided not to buy that timeshare, either. Like I noted in April, it's never worth it to buy new. The salesguy cried. That was so unprofessional it was kind of funny, actually. But Hawk and I agreed, "How about we plan to spend $5,000 a year on whatever vacations we like and see how much we enjoy it."
At the time, $5k/year was way more than what we were spending on vacations. Like I said, we were frugal. And we were pressed for time with our jobs. But starting from that trip we had a new goal: spend $5k- or more!- every year on travel we enjoyed.
We didn't always hit $5k the first few years after that. That's okay; it was a goal. In thinking about how to reach that goal more regularly we reconsidered work-life balance. We decided our jobs should not leave us sapped of energy to enjoy ourselves on our time off but should leave us looking forward to all the fun things we could do outside of work.
Nowadays we routinely spend more than $5,000 per year. Inflation is part of that. $5k fifteen+ years ago is easily $10k today. And our spend is not all cash. Up to half of it is points from airlines, hotels, and credit cards.
Making a budget. Sometimes it's about helping you know when to say no. Other times It's about helping you know when to say yes.