Planning the Finances for an Extended Summer Trip: Summer is close at hand, and many of us are already daydreaming of the perfect summer holiday trip. You might have some grand plans of your own, be they a domestic road-trip tour of the UK or a backpacking holiday around East Asia. Whatever your plans, you’ll need to fund them; how can you plan your finances for such a trip?
Planning the Finances for an Extended Summer Trip
Assessing Costs
Naturally, your saving efforts need to be informed by figures. How much do you need to save? Start with your ideal summer trip and the general costs that such a trip might entail. If you’re hoping to run the entirety of the North Coast 500 as a road trip, for example, you’d need to consider fuel costs and even potential vehicle rental on top of the number of stops you’d make, and the accommodation required for each stop.
For an international backpacking trip, your transport costs would be much higher and much more complex to figure out. From here, you can make key compromises to bring your trip budget back in line with what you might be able to save – more on which shortly.
Devising a Budget
From here, you can turn your attention to your finances. What do they look like? Your income, minus your regular monthly outgoings, will give you a handy net figure from which to start. Granted, not all of this will be available for you to save each month, but this figure represents the maximum you can save.
Simultaneously, you might start researching repositories for any money you do save. For bigger trips with bigger budgets, you might find yourself crossing the personal allowance threshold and reducing your saving potential; researching options such as tax-free ISAs can be useful for reducing that burden and maximising your travel fund. Alternatively, an easy-access savings account can get the job done with a lower interest rate, but potentially quicker access to funds.
Setting a Savings Timeline
With a relatively firm idea of the costs inherent to your dream summer trip, your next step is to set a timeline for saving. The end date on this timeline might be your departure date, or it might be a date on which you book all of your travel, accommodation and other confirmed costs.
Working back from this, you can set some guidelines for how much you need to save each month. This is your savings timeline – a roadmap for you to reach your goal and an easy way to track progress all in one.
Saving Money
All that remains is to put your hard work into practice. With a deep understanding of exactly what you can afford to save, and where to save it, it is down to you to follow your own instructions as closely as you can. It can help to automate parts of this process, both to eliminate human error in forgetting to transfer money and to eliminate any temptations you might have to skip a month.
There are also little ways you can chip away at your savings goal, beyond the obvious changes covered above. For example, the slightest of changes to your driving habits could help you save pennies upon pennies at the fuel pump, while at-home energy hacks can help with your utility bill.
Conclusion
Extended trips are an opportunity for unforgettable adventures but sadly, often come with a hefty price tag. Don’t let the burden of finances limit your experiences. Plan ahead with dedication and strategy and you’ll be travelling the world in no time!
Are you planning a summer trip?
*Disclosure: Collaborative Post
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Franca 💋
These are great tips.