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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2017 15:15:10 GMT
All the vacation posts made me curious on what people typically budget for their family vacation. I know some prefer to take multiple mini-vacations as opposed to one big vacation, so feel free to add them up if you prefer.
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pudgygroundhog
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Posts: 4,648 
Location: The Grand Canyon
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Mar 21, 2017 15:21:12 GMT
It varies by year for us. We are generally pretty frugal travelers (most of our vacations are outdoors based), but with limited time, we can't drive and have to fly - which is the biggest chunk of our budget.
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Post by pondrunner on Mar 21, 2017 15:25:35 GMT
Depends on the year, I can't narrow it down
Some years it's $1500 to go to the beach for a few days
Some years it's $15000 to go somewhere really exciting (this is very rare for us though)
I once got an unbelievable bonus at work and we used it to go to Maldives. This year I won't get a bonus at all and we will probably go to NYC or Boston on the cheap.
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Post by jennyap on Mar 21, 2017 15:26:09 GMT
I've voted for what we budget in an average year but what we actually spend can vary quite a bit. We try to have four years of relatively frugal travel and then save for one major trip every 5th year - those can be significantly more expensive! Travel is a priority for us so anything left over from other budgets tends to get added to the pot too.
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Post by cmpeter on Mar 21, 2017 15:27:25 GMT
We are probably on the more frugal side as well, in part because of how often my dh travels for work. We use airline miles for flights and either hotel points or our timeshare for lodging.
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Post by padresfan619 on Mar 21, 2017 15:30:33 GMT
Our favorite vacations are camping trips and since we live in Southern California it isn't too expensive to drive up to the Sierra Mountains. That is our annual summer vacation. We are saving up for a big international trip for the near future, but that is a once every five years kind of trip, we don't do a big trip like that every year.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2017 15:34:13 GMT
Creating this poll made me dig through my old spreadsheets (I keep a detailed itinerary with travel details, hotel, cars, prebooked excursions with all the confirmation numbers and pricing for most of our trips. I think what surprised me the most was just how expensive our WDW/Universal trip was (way back in 2013) it easily rivaled the cost of many of our international trips. Africa is definitely our outlier - damn it's expensive.
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Post by bc2ca on Mar 21, 2017 15:41:17 GMT
All the vacation posts made me curious on what people typically budget for their family vacation. I know some prefer to take multiple mini-vacations as opposed to one big vacation, so feel free to add them up if you prefer. If we are just adding up the family vacations, we are probably around $5,000. If I add in the mini-vacations DH and I take separately we bump into the next category. |
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
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Post by freebird on Mar 21, 2017 15:59:28 GMT
I think it really depends on how many ppl there are. it's just my husband and I so we can spend a lot more than someone that might have 5 kids!
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2017 16:01:32 GMT
All the vacation posts made me curious on what people typically budget for their family vacation. I know some prefer to take multiple mini-vacations as opposed to one big vacation, so feel free to add them up if you prefer. If we are just adding up the family vacations, we are probably around $5,000. If I add in the mini-vacations DH and I take separately we bump into the next category. Jealous! We need to do this more often. |
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2017 16:03:28 GMT
I think it really depends on how many ppl there are. it's just my husband and I so we can spend a lot more than someone that might have 5 kids! And even the bump from 2 to 3 kids is substantial as often hotels won't allow that many in a room (or if you travel internationally where rooms that will even accommodate 4 are hard to come by). |
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seaexplore
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Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Mar 21, 2017 16:03:39 GMT
We don't go on vacation. 2 kids under 5. I teach, DH is a SAHD/self employed contractor who works when I'm home on weekends and summer and vacations from school. It sucks. One day we will go somewhere awesome with the kids.
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sueg
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Post by sueg on Mar 21, 2017 16:05:21 GMT
I think it really depends on how many ppl there are. it's just my husband and I so we can spend a lot more than someone that might have 5 kids! That is us too. In our case, we are older empty-nesters, so we are making up for lost time! Even so, our vacation expenses range from very little - 5 days in Prague where we drove company car with provided fuel, stayed in hotel with points (thanks to DH having to travel for work) and really only paid for food (fairly cheap there) and attractions - to very expensive - flying to Crete for a week in a resort, staying in suite with private pool. We do tend to travel at the 'high end' of the scale overall, but we still do our best to maximise our travel dollar - travelling in off-peak seasons and on off-peak flights for example. |
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blue tulip
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Post by blue tulip on Mar 21, 2017 16:09:49 GMT
we are on a plan of taking big trips every 2-3 years, and a long weekend camping trip up north in the years between. in 8/14 we went to mexico all-inclusive with the boys, this next week (!) we are all going on our first cruise, to the western Caribbean. the camping trips cost about 1/7 of the big vacations, so there's a big difference! we're thankful that things are easier because we only have 2 kids, so we all fit in 1 room/cabin. if we had to have 2, our trips wouldn't be as big or often.
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iluvpink
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Post by iluvpink on Mar 21, 2017 16:35:14 GMT
It varies for us. Until a few years ago it was generally under 1k or less. Or not at all. Our trips were all in state, long weekends. No budget for more except for one year when dd and I went to WDW with my mom and sister. Dh is a self employed contractor and times were super tight.
In 2014 we took our first big out of state family trip. DD was 14. We did a road trip and went to Chatanooga TN, WDW, Hilton Head and Asheville NC. It was 2.5 weeks and we spent a lot. It would have been just WDW but dh had a modest inheritance from his grandpaents and we used some for the trip.
The last two years we went to Hilton Head and spent a week in a condo at the beach. It was a little over 2k. Same this year except we are getting a bigger condo so it will be a bit more.
Not sure about next year, will depend on several things. With dh's work, our income can really vary from year to year, depending on the economy.
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Post by Tammiem2pnc1 on Mar 21, 2017 16:43:46 GMT
We generally can't afford a really great vacation. But we try to go to the beach every other year for a week. The year in between we do a staycation. This year we are going to the beach again. The condo rental was $1000 for the week. We buy our own groceries and eat out once or twice during week. In total, including food, souvenirs, activities and condo rental we are generally under $2000 for the week.
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Post by beaglemom on Mar 21, 2017 16:53:26 GMT
I voted for what we spend on average in a year. We fly or drive to CO from CA at least 4 times a year - dh, me, dd (6), ds(4), ds (1). So plane tickets for 4 or hotel for 4. Season pass for skiing for dh and dd. Ski lessons for dd and ds. Then we do at least a week in Yosemite at a hotel. Every other year we go to Cabo for 2-3 weeks. We have Disneyland season passes - which is at least $2,500 on their own. Add in the hotels, food, stuff 4-5 times a year.
Hmm maybe I didn't say enough...
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Post by jassy on Mar 21, 2017 17:13:10 GMT
We're at about $6K for a "nice" vacation for our family of 4, but we only take a true vacation every 2nd (sometimes 3rd) year.
We also do a weekend away with the kids every year and a weekend alone. Next week we are taking the kids for two days in Chicago and will spend about $1,000.
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peagia13
Full Member
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Sept 2, 2016 19:52:32 GMT
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Post by peagia13 on Mar 21, 2017 17:25:07 GMT
We take a week per quarter together--it's just husband and me--up to Calgary.
The children each go to camp for three weeks each summer.
We don't travel together.
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Sarah*H
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Post by Sarah*H on Mar 21, 2017 17:25:56 GMT
Ours also varies by year. We alternate every other year with a family beach vacation vs. a more extensive trip. If we do Disney, it happens during the fall or winter of a beach year. In contrast to your experience, I'm always a little bit surprised at how inexpensively we can do Disney but we do always try to take advantage of codes for the resorts or free dining. We just had that discussion because we told the kids we aren't going back to Disney until Star Wars Land opens which seemed like a long time away when we said it but it's coming up quickly and needs to be incorporated into our schedule.
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tracylynn
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Post by tracylynn on Mar 21, 2017 17:34:48 GMT
It really depends. Last year I took a 3 1/2 week vacation from Hawaii to Sydney on a cruise ship. Airfare to Hawaii was $550, airfare from Sydney was paid for by miles so only cost me $65. The cruise was somewhere around $2400. And with other incidentals, I probably was into that vacation for $4000 for just myself.
This year we're doing a roadtrip to S. Dakota from Washington State. A lot of the hotels are booked on hotel points to either reduce the nightly rate or get it free. So between gas, hotels and food (taking some of our own and staying in hotels that provide breakfast), probably looking at less than $1000 for just myself. Plus I'm flying to California for Christmas - so whatever that airfare will be.
But next year we're doing a cruise of the Baltics from England. The cruise itself is around $3300 per person. Hoping for free airfare with miles. But I'll probably still be into that vacation for $4500 for just myself.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 21, 2017 17:40:59 GMT
Ours also varies by year. We alternate every other year with a family beach vacation vs. a more extensive trip. If we do Disney, it happens during the fall or winter of a beach year. In contrast to your experience, I'm always a little bit surprised at how inexpensively we can do Disney but we do always try to take advantage of codes for the resorts or free dining. We just had that discussion because we told the kids we aren't going back to Disney until Star Wars Land opens which seemed like a long time away when we said it but it's coming up quickly and needs to be incorporated into our schedule. We were definitely impacted by peak travel times which of course equaled peak travel pricing. We also stayed on property, so no condo/flat rental which we've found can be a huge money saver internationally. But really the biggest difference was while flights were marginally cheaper (we're pretty far from Florida and peak travel - so not cheap) the daily cost of the parks was way more than we'd typically spend on activities other places - especially because we did 3 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal - so essentially daily pass rates. I'm sure we missed a ton of deals as it was our first trip to Universal and only second to WDW. |
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Post by bc2ca on Mar 21, 2017 18:16:16 GMT
If we are just adding up the family vacations, we are probably around $5,000. If I add in the mini-vacations DH and I take separately we bump into the next category. Jealous! We need to do this more often. It has been a big perk of the kids getting older and being able to look after themselves for a few days.  |
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Post by Really Red on Mar 21, 2017 18:31:41 GMT
Ours vary by year AND by person. I haven't been on vacation in 3 years, but I sent all my kids to Europe last year. Used miles for travel, so that cost under $300 for all 3. They stayed with family, so nothing there and my girls have PT jobs and they paid for their incidentals and my son worked at his uncle's when he was there (legally as he is a citizen there, too). So super cheap!!!
This year I want to do something fun because I want to go on vacation. One of my girls doesn't want to do want I want, so I save that money. It's almost better to ask per person, as I think about that a lot.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 21, 2017 18:44:40 GMT
I checked $2K, but that's not really an average. Most years we don't take a true vacation at all, we go to our lake cabin (which really isn't a vacation from anything for me, LOL) on summer weekends which has its own expenses and easily costs as much as a nice vacation annually. On the years when we have taken a family vacation somewhere, it has been to places like WDW where the costs rack up pretty fast.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Mar 21, 2017 19:56:57 GMT
It depends on the kind of trip. This summer's Europe Extravaganza is expensive - the most expensive vacation we've taken. Just the part with the tour group was over $8K, and we've added a 2nd part of the trip with a friend and her DD. Truly once in a lifetime for us, at least as a mom-daughter duo. We booked 2 years ago and have made monthly payments to make this happen.
That said, this isn't a normal vacation. Our normal vacations vary a good bit - I don't like to do the exact same thing twice, even if we are going to the same location. We've done long weekend trips, two week mega trips, trips with free or almost free condos, deluxe hotels, roach motels, sometimes we drive, and sometimes we fly. I usually set a budget up front and then we make decisions based on that - is this going to be a shorter deluxe trip or a longer moderate/value trip? I'd say average is probably $4K, but we've done everything from $1K for a long weekend to $8K for a week with all the amenities.
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Post by melanell on Mar 21, 2017 21:56:30 GMT
For us vacation money is extra money. After we save some money, pay bills, take care of day to day expenses, we have fun money, and we have extra money. Fun money is money we spend on fun things from week to week. Extra money gets shuffled from one thing to another depending on where it is needed or what we want to do. So, some years we save every bit of extra money possible and we have a large vacation fund. Other years things happen that are unexpected and instead of hitting our savings we use extra money. One year we chose to use the extra money to add in for a deposit on a car. This year we'll be spending some of the extra money on several pieces of new furniture and an appliance or two. So instead of going away for a long trip we'll be doing inexpensive day trips with our fun money all summer instead. Therefore our vacation budget varies widely based on what we want (or need) to do with our extra funds each year. I did choose an answer on the poll just because it was what we typically spend on a average yearly vacation for us. As opposed to a super fabulous vacation which we may save for over a longer time period. |
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Post by Crazyhare on Mar 21, 2017 22:03:36 GMT
I checked the $2000-??. But we usually stay between $1500-$2000. We usually rent a condo at a beach resort. We stay by the pool, which is cheaper than beach front. And that works better for us right now. I daughter and her cousins will go to the pool anytime they can. We do the beach a few times.
We eat breakfast and lunch in the condo. And I cook a few dinners and we eat out a few dinners. That helps keep our budget low.
My family stays the whole week. My sister's family comes for 3-4 days. So I think we do pretty good to stay around $2000 for 4 adults and 3 kids.
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Post by polz on Mar 21, 2017 22:17:03 GMT
We last went on vacation (well it was a weekend trip to Australia) in 2011. I won 10K in a competition so that's how we paid for it (Didn't spend the whole lot on the trip). DD is having a year abroad in the US this year. That's 15K, so no vacation for the foreseeable future. I like the staycation and exploring the forests in my area, so I make day trips my vacation. Next year DH is buying a trip, so that's our vacation money gone. By the next year it will be something on the house. I need to win more money so I can have a trip away.
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PrettyInPeank
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Post by PrettyInPeank on Mar 21, 2017 22:30:00 GMT
We go on a big trip on average every two years. In between is smaller, local trips or camping. Today we bought Disney and Lego tickets for our family and it alone was $1,000.
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