Stop me if you’ve heard this before, you're lounging on the beach sipping on a piña colada and listening to the beautiful blue ocean waves crashing onto the shore with steel drums playing in the background. The next thing you know, your boss is knocking on your cubicle, you’re startled and trying to figure out what he just asked you, and they roll their eyes and tell you to get back to work.
Why are you never actually on the beach? The number one answer to that question for many of us is that they just don’t have the money for that tropical getaway. The good news is that saving for that vacation is not only feasible, but it can also be fun if you make a game out of it. Here’s 5 easy ways to ensure that you can actually sip that piña colada and not worry about how much it’s gonna cost you.
While we all love going out to eat, not only can cooking be a fun alternative, but you can save money in the long run. Plus, a home cooked meal is a great way to boost your ego and you may even find that you’re good at it with a little practice.
Whether it’s pizza or something off of your favorite delivery app, those delivery charges and tips can add up, sometimes up to around $10! Ordering for pickup saves that much more money and the only person who can guarantee that it gets to you in a timely manner is yourself.
This can be anything from watching one more episode of that show on Netflix to catching yourself biting your nails again. Each time you catch yourself doing that activity, you put $5 in cash into a jar. This offers an easy way to save money and has the added benefit of helping yourself kick that habit!
When you’re going out with your friends or your significant other, ditch the movies and expensive restaurants, find some fun activities to do around the community. Social media apps like Meetup and community boards are great ways to find free activities around the community and you find the added benefit of meeting new people and finding more fun activities you never thought about before.
These types of challenges can be a lot of fun. How you do this is for a certain allotted time (maybe 2-4 days) you try to control all spending with the goal of not buying anything. This includes pantry food, morning coffee, and anything else that could be considered frivolous. If you do spend money on these items, you have to put the exact amount of money you spent on these items into your savings for vacation. This both brings out a creative side and also makes you think twice about spending that $60 on that paid of jeans you liked at the mall.
You want to enjoy everything about the vacation you're going on, and the longer you wait, the more you have to overthink how much you're spending. Nobody wants that! Money should be your last concern when you're listening to those waves crashing on the shore.
We plan your trip so you you don't have to. Time to relax, we'll take it from here!