Point #1 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that this is an optional spending category.
You must spend money on shelter. You must spend money on food. You must spend money on health care. You don’t need to spend money on vacations. You could cut this spending category to zero and continue to live a perfectly pleasant middle-class life.
It’s something to think about if you are in a hurry to achieve a higher level of financial freedom. There are many middle-class workers who save less than $3,000 per year but who spend more than $3,000 per year on vacations. Workers in those circumstances who elected this year to save the entire amount that last year they directed to spending on vacations would gain an entire year’s worth of saving in their quest for financial freedom.
There are not too many budget categories that offer that sort of potential payoff.
Point #2 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that a lot of people don’t have all that much fun on their vacations.
Vacations upset your routine. People get sunburned on vacations. People get lost on vacations. People often find themselves bored on vacations. Spouses often experience frictions in trying to decide what to do and where to go on vacations. Children often get fussy on vacations. They cry. They whine.
Vacations are not always fun.
Sometimes they are.
But sometimes they aren’t.
Point #3 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that vacations almost always cost more than you expected they would cost.
If you don’t keep a budget, you are almost certainly spending more on your vacations than you think you are. I do keep a budget, and I like to take vacations. Most years, when my wife and I reconcile our budget numbers, we discover that some aspect of our vacation experience ended up causing the total amount of our spending on vacations to go higher than we anticipated it would go.
The reasons are numerous. One factor is that you cannot check out all the things you will be spending money on if the vacation spot is one you have not been to before. Another is that your guard is down when you are on vacation, so your mind goes into overdrive justifying additional spending on vacations. Yet another is that, if you are at a vacation destination that you do not expect to visit again soon, you feel strong pressure to experience everything there is to experience at that site regardless of price. You’ll never get another chance, right?
Point #4 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that planning vacations can be a lot of fun.
I don’t think it is fair to assess whether a vacation is worth the money by looking only at the fun you have for the seven days or so that you are actually on the vacation. I very much enjoy the process of planning a vacation, especially if it is to a place where I have never been before. The fun that I have planning what I will do and see on my next vacation is part of the value proposition obtained in return for the money I direct to spending on vacations.
Point #5 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that vacations generate memories.
I don’t like it when I spend on things that provide little life enhancement. I don’t mind spending on things that enhance my life in significant ways. There are few things that I spend money on that leave as long-lasting an impression as a good number of the vacations I have taken. I remember things I did on vacations that I took ten years ago. That’s a sign to me that I received my money’s worth from my spending on vacations in those cases.
You spend a lot on food when on vacation. And you spend a lot on hotels. And you spend a lot on tourist-type activities. But it may be that that stuff is not what you are really buying when spending on vacations. Maybe what you are really buying when spending on vacations is memories.
Point #6 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that going to new places and taking a break from your regular routine can open your mind to life-transformational ideas.
Have you ever had a friend who came back from a vacation with a firm resolve to look for a new job? I have. Vacations can change your life.
In theory, you could achieve the same effect by taking a week off to take walks in the park and think things through. But would you?
If it takes a vacation to cause you to engage in the going-down-deep thinking you need to engage in to turn your life around, you might be getting a bargain from your vacation spending no matter how much you find yourself spending on vacations.
Point #7 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that vacations can save marriages.
You know you love your wife (or your husband). You just cannot for the life of you remember why. For heaven’s sake, get about the business of planning a vacation!
Vacations are cheaper than marital counseling.
Vacations are cheaper than divorces.
A lot cheaper.
Point #8 to consider when deciding on how much to include in your personal budget for spending on vacations is that a fine vacation need not cost a lot of money.
One year my wife and I took a week off to visit tourist attractions in the town in which we lived (it was the Washington, D.C. area) that we never found time to visit during weeks when we were working.
No hotel expenses.
No restaurant expenses.
No travel expenses.
A good time in which we had a few laughs and a good number of long conversations we might not have had even if we had gone on a regular vacation at which we were fussing and fretting about which destination we had to get to next, and at what time, and by what route.
Spending on vacations is worth it if you really do have a lot of fun. It’s entirely possible to have a lot of fun without spending a lot on your vacation.