Living Wisely: How to save enough money for summer vacation, starting now. Cutting back on a few simple luxuries each week can add up to an August getaway!

“I need a vacation.”

If you’ve been saying that to yourself lately, it’s probably true. Vacations aren’t just about letting loose and having a good time—they help people de-stress, feel happier, and even boost productivity and mood.

But, summer is already here and vacations cost money. ValuePenguin found that the average cost of a four-night domestic trip is $581, and the average cost of a 12-night international trip is $3,215.

Say you want to plan a vacation for August — that gives you approximately three months to save. A long international trip may be out of the question, but that’s likely more than enough time to save for a shorter (but still rejuvenating) domestic trip. After all, you don’t have to jet-set halfway across the world to unwind and take a break from work.

1. Cut back your weekly expenses. Going by the ValuePenguin study, a domestic trip would be $144 a day, meaning a 5-day trip would come out to about $720 on average (for one person). The simplest way to save that much money in a short amount of time is to break it down into what you need to save each week. To save $720 in 12 weeks, you’d need to figure out how to save $60 a week.
2. Bring lunch to work two more times per week. Many of us opt to buy lunch out at least a few days a week — and each time, it sets us back an average of $11 as opposed to the average brown-bag lunch costing $4. Cutting two lunches out per week ($22 total) in favor of packing a lunch two more times ($8 total) could save you $14 per week.
3. Opt for outdoor & home exercise over the gym. If the gym truly motivates you to work out, try to find your savings elsewhere. But if you’ve been neglecting your membership basically since you got it, it’s probably not worth it for you. The average cost of belonging to a gym is between $40 and $50, meaning cutting that expense could easily save you $10 per week.
4. Make coffee at home. You’ve likely heard it time and again, but for good reason: buying coffee out adds up. In fact, Americans spend an average of $2.70 for one cup of regular drip coffee. If you buy that every day before work, that’s $13.50 a week just to stay caffeinated. Making a cup at home, though, could cost you as little as 18 cents, or less than $1 per week. You could easily save $12 a week.

Of course, your personal trip costs may vary. Perhaps you are only driving two hours to Orlando. Or, maybe you have your heart set on going somewhere with greater-than-average plane ticket costs. Your personal expenses will vary, too. The point is not to follow a prescriptive plan for saving money on a trip, but rather to comb through your own spending habits to find the little ways you could be saving more — because they surely add up.

At Hoskins, Turco, Lloyd & Lloyd, our experienced team of bankruptcy attorneys are dedicated to guiding our clients out of difficult financial situations. Led by Bankruptcy Attorney and Partner Colin Lloyd, our firm’s Bankruptcy Department has helped thousands of clients make a fresh start and get back on their financial feet. During your complimentary bankruptcy consultation at any of our offices in Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, and Okeechobee, we’ll sit down with you and take the time to discuss the personalized bankruptcy or foreclosure option that best fits your particular scenario.

To set up a FREE Consultation with a Bankruptcy Attorney in Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, or Okeechobee, call us today at 866-460-1990 or Chat Now!