When you are living on a medical school budget (translate – when you have NO money at all) you would think that extravagant vacations, like an entire month in Hawaii, would be completely out of the question. You would be wrong. This last summer Kris and I went on our dream vacation to Hawaii for an entire month. There was a lot of thought and planning that went into this trip but I can sum it up in three tips.
- Plan in advance! Planning ahead of time will give you plenty of time to find the best deals and get your budget in order. Identify how much it is going to cost you to make your dream trip, over estimate a little. We decided that we were going to Hawaii almost six months before it actually happened. We were able to consider lots of different flight and hotel options before making a decision. There was no pressure to choose something because the clock was ticking and we were running out of time. It also gave us time to save a little money each month.
- Analyze your spending habits and figure out how much you spend each month. Divide it into categories, groceries, clothing, entertainment, eating out, etc.
- Make a budget! This is the key step. Figure out how much money you need to put away each month. Divide the amount of money you need by how many months you have to get ready. We needed to put away $3000 and we had 6 months so we needed approximately $500 a month. Go over your list from step two and figure out where you can cut back, cut back till you reach the amount you need to save each month. Try limiting your spending to needs ONLY. When I did this I was shocked to realize that we could easily eliminate $500 from our spendings each month by cutting back on clothing, eating out and a couple other things.
And that is the secret to how we could afford our dream vacation and travel to Hawaii on the poorest budget you can imagine.This process took quite a few hours of planning, analyzing and calculating, and it took months of disciplined spending, but it was SO worth it. Next on the list of things I need to budget for… A new car.
2 Responses
I’m mightily impressed. It takes a lot of self-discipline to stretch a tight budget even tighter and to realize what things are worth the sacrifice.
It took a lot of self restraint (mostly for me). But it was SOO worth it.