Tips for Smart Spending During Summer Travel

Summer is here and you have already made your summer travel plans. Unfortunately, money is probably tighter than you had planned for it to be since the cost of gas (and everything else) seems to have risen dramatically since last summer. This means that you don’t have as much cash as you would like to have for the vacation that you’re about to take and that means that you’re planning to use credit cards to cover some of the expenses. This isn’t the worst idea in the world but it requires the responsible planning and use of those cards if you’re going to be able to enjoy the vacation and still come home without a lot of regret about the bills that you racked up on the trip

Here are some basic tips to keep in mind when using credit cards to pay for summer travel:

1.        
   Budget, budget, budget. It is true that budgeting for your family vacation isn’t very fun. However, you need to know in advance what you can afford to spend and what you can’t or you’re just going to create financial problems for yourself down the line. Sit down and look realistically at what you can afford to pay for this vacation up front. Then determine how much you can afford to add to your credit card debt and design a reasonable repayment plan for that amount. If you aren’t going to be able to pay off the summer vacation by Christmas, you’re going to need to rethink your plans. Create a budget for the trip that will allow you to do this.
2. Use your rewards. If you’ve got any sort of credit card rewards stocked up, now is the time to use them so that you can reduce the cost of the vacation. Even if you don’t have airline or travel rewards, you may have rewards that would be useful. For example, you may find that you can purchase the new luggage that you need using your credit card rewards points. Or you may find that gift cards to restaurants can reduce the amount you spend on dining out during your trip.
3. Use only one credit card. It’s much easier to stay responsible with your credit card spending if you’re only using one credit card at a time. There is almost never a need to take more than one credit card on a summer vacation with you so just leave the rest at home and avoid the trouble of racking up debt on multiple cards.

The most important thing that you can do for yourself when using credit cards to help pay for your summer travel is to not do so blindly. It’s not fun to think about the finances of a trip, especially when you know that it means incurring debt. However, it’s the best way to go about it because it will help you to make wise choices that won’t leave you so financially in the lurch that you regret even taking the vacation. Be smart and spend wisely and you should be fine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.