Everyone has something exciting coming up in the future a large vacation, wedding, or big graduation trip. Big events are where memories that last a life time are made, but at the same time they are also where credit card debt starts for many people. How can you have the event of a lifetime without paying for it for the rest of your life time? The answer may not be easy to do but it is simple, you need to budget before for your event ahead of time. Whether your trip is later this year or in a few years, you need to start planning now.
Research
First step is you need to fully plan out your trip ahead of time. Make reservations for things now, this will set a definite schedule making the trip real instead of a future plan. Also making reservations early will save you money instead of booking last minute as well as giving you a set price so you know what it will cost instead of an estimate. Planning your event as far in advance as possible gives you the luxury of shopping around with different options and getting a real idea of the cost of the event. This will give you time to figure out ways to lower any of the cost of your event if needed, like by grouping some of the items. The sooner you get the research done and finalized the sooner everyone that is coming to the event can start their budgets to make sure they get there.
Track your pennies
Now that you know what it is going to cost you need to find out where you are going to find the money to pay for it. If you don’t already have an up to date budget you need to make one. Start by tracking where every single one of your pennies end up each month. By putting it all on paper you will quickly and clearly see where you are wasting money or where you can tighten up on savings. Most people can save 5 to 10 dollars each day by just making breakfast and coffee at home instead of grabbing it on the way to work or by packing a lunch. When you add that up for the whole month you’ll see how quickly you can pay for that upcoming trip.
Set your Budget and Save
Now that you have your finances on paper and you know what you upcoming event is going to cost, you set your budget of what you need to save each month so when the time comes the event is paid for and you don’t have to start any debt. Where you set aside the money is really up to how disciplined you are. If you can just leave it in your checking account and let it save up until you have enough to pay for the trip, which would be the easiest. However, if you know you are the type of person that is going to spend money if it is there, you will need to prioritize your savings and move it to a whole separate account to remove the temptation. Obviously the sooner you plan the trip, the less you are going to have to save each month, it pays to plan ahead.
