The thing though, is that as a kid my thought of a summer vacation entailed visiting Sea World or King’s Island. I can remember one trip where we stayed away from home for more than one day. (Which was when my grandma paid for my family to go to Disney World.)
The whole reason our childhood vacations were very limited wasn’t due to money but was due to the fact that my Dad was a homebody. He just didn’t enjoy travelling.
And this has rubbed off on me.
I am sometimes an odd one out. I don’t really care about travelling and I definitely don’t like spending the money.
But I almost feel obligated to go on some type of mini vacation. If just to give myself a little break and take my kids somewhere fun.
So the big question is how much should you spend on a vacation? What’s appropriate? What amount is crossing the line?
Let’s find out.
Average Spent on Vacations in the U.S.
Are you curious what other people in the U.S. spend on family vacations? Yes. Well I was too.
I stumbled upon this article which states American Express ran a study in 2012 with the following results:
- The average amount spent on summer vacation in the U.S is $1,200 per person.
To me this number seems a little scary. Here’s why: the median household income is around $50,000. If a family of four spent $1,200 per person per year on a vacation they’d be spending almost 10 percent of their income! That’s a lot.
But again, this number is an average of what people spend on vacations. Some people spend far more and others spend far less.
How Much Should YOU Spend on Vacation
I’ve already admitted the fact that I don’t really care about travelling. It’s not that I hate vacations it’s just that I’m not the type of person who gets excited about the possibilities of travelling the world.
It’s just not my style.
Which makes this articles a bit biased. You see, just because I’m not a vacation type doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t be either.
Here’s what you should think about when deciding how much money to spend on vacations:
- Your life priorities. You only have one life to live so if travelling the world and seeing new sights means something to you, you should by all means save up for vacations.
- Your financial situation. If taking a vacation means funding it with credit cards or personal loans your vacation isn’t a good idea. Save up and pay cash for a vacation. Creating memories is important but your life will suffer if you rack up a ton of debt.
Don’t let other peoples choices dictate what you do. If you’re not the type who is crazy about travelling don’t pretend you are.
Likewise if travelling is something you’re passionate about and would rather live your life on the road, that’s awesome too.
The amount of money you spend on vacations is for you and you only to decide. There really is no right or wrong answer.
How Much I’m Going to Spend
It is important that I make some amazing memories with my family and luckily, I don’t have to spend much money to do that. (Right now my kids think going to Chuck E. Cheese is the greatest thing in the world.)
So this year I plan on spending about $600 on a family vacation. I’m not sure where we’ll go or what we’ll do yet. But with my bargain hunting skills I’m sure I can stretch that money pretty far!
How much do you plan on spending on vacation this year?
Photo Credit: Winnond