Money for the Rest of Us

This is the tenth post of the series “15 Tips for Cheap Travel.” You can navigate the rest of the series by going to the 15 Tips for Cheap Travel Index.

When you’re on vacation, you should be on vacation. You shouldn’t be stressing about paying the next bill or how much going to a certain museum is going to cost you. I’m writing today’s post as a precursor to the last 5 pieces of “15 Tips for Cheap Travel.” The last 5 posts are going to focus on how to save money once you’re actually at you’re vacation spot (like how to save on food and transportation). But, before we get to those posts, we should think about the overall question of “How do I enjoy Myself Once I’m There?”

See, there’s a difference between trying to save money and being stingy. I’m stingy sometimes, and I’ve been stingy on vacation. And it’s no fun. It’s not fun to look back on a trip and think, “Why was I too cheap to pay the extra $5 to see the mummies at the Cairo museum?” (Yes, they charge you an additional fee besides the entrance fee to see the famous mummies at the Cairo museum.) It’s not fun to look back at a trip and think, “If only we had paid the extra $10 a day for an automatic shift, so I wasn’t so worried about driving on the skinny, winding roads of Ireland and then I could have enjoyed the view a little more.” You don’t want to look back on your vacation with regrets. And you don’t want to be worrying throughout your entire trip. Here are some tips to make the most of your vacation:

1. Have all your bills set up on automatic payment. This way you won’t have to worry about your home finances while you’re away.
2. Plan how much you are going to spend each day. Have this money in your wallet/money belt and know that you can spend all of it on whatever you want.
3. Be willing to spend a little more than you had budgeted. If you come across something really cool be willing to spend a little extra money. Just because you only budgeted $25/day for activities doesn’t mean that you can’t spend $30 or even $40 for something that you’d really regret not seeing.
4. Stop and think about what you really want. If you come across something that you really want to see/do/eat and it’s not in the budget, stop and think about how much you really want it. Go sit on a bench in a park for a minute (and if you’re hungry or thirsty get a snack or drink) and try to figure out what about it intrigues you. Does it just sound cool? Yes, going to the Spam Museum may sound really exciting at first, but is it worth the 2 hour drive from Minneapolis to get there? Maybe it is to you, but just stop and think about it for a moment.
5. Consider whether you’d take lots of pictures. This may sound strange, but if it’s something you’d want to take a lot of pictures of, then it’s probably worth it to see/do/eat because that means that you’ll want to remember the experience.
6. Think about if you’ll want to tell someone about it. If you think that after you see/do/eat something you’ll immediately want to call your spouse/best friend/mom to tell them what you did, it’s worth it to you to spend the extra money.
7. Don’t break the bank. While it’s ok to go a little over your budget, do not justify going into debt over something that you “can’t live without.” Just because you’ve always wanted to drive a Ferrari, and now you have the opportunity, does not mean that it’s ok to go $2,000 into debt over. You don’t want to get home from a wonderful vacation and spoil your memories because you will be over your head in bills.

As you read the rest of the 15 Tips for a Cheap Trip Series, think about to what extent you want to follow all of the tips—just because I recommend making sandwiches for lunch, doesn’t mean that you should do it everyday for every meal. You may look back on that with regret.