Every year my family would go on a vacation. We all had earned it as a family and we were all going to enjoy it as a family. My parents taught us if we work hard we could play hard. One family vacation I remember well, because we went across the United State for a family reunion. We all had to help to save for the vacation because we were a family of fourteen. When you think about lodging, gas, food and spending money. This family vacation was going to cost more than the other family vacations. As a family we started to save money and worked to add more money for our vacation. For your family vacation why not get the children involved with saving, planning and helping out. I know we enjoyed the vacation more than when it was just given to us.

Family Vacation

With the family sit down and plan out your family vacation Have the kids tell you what they would like to do and places they would like to see. Talk about how many days and nights you will be staying and how many meals you will need. You can plan this on a poster board, so all the family members can see the plans for the vacation. They kids will all be happy and excited about going on vacation. They will want to talk about it and read about were they are going. Than you can sit down and talk about the budget of the family vacation.

Budget of Family Vacation

With the family make a list of all of the thing which will cost money to do and the amount by them. This will let the kids see how much the family vacation will cost and maybe they can come up with ways to save money. You may be able to find better deals together as a family. You might want to find a friend to stay with or camp instead of sleeping at a hotel. There may be attraction, with which the family may decided not to go to or shopping trip that will not be taken. As a family you can chose which you would like to do. If you have a budget than you can start saving for your vacation.

List for you Vacation Budget

• Airfare
• Hotels
• Car rental
• Gas for travel
• Food
• Entertainment
• Restaurant
• Attractions
• Shopping
• Spending money

Vacation Bank Account

When the budget has been decided, you can open a vacation bank account. With this bank account you can put money in every week, as the amount go up the children may want to help save with you. The bank account will give you some interest, so the money will grow. You can bring the kids with you to deposit the money and may even their money too. Since you have worked on a budget, opened a bank account and planned out your vacation; you can work towards your goal.

Create a Vacation Money Jar

While your working toward your family vacation, you can place a money jar to collect coins. On your jar you can place a photo of where your family will be going and everyone can place extra coins in it. This will help with any extra expenses you may have on vacation. The kids may get into saving for the vacation and look for money to place in the jar. When your family works together to go on vacation, they may seem more likely to appreciate it.

Finding odd Jobs

With the older children they may be able to find odd jobs to save spending money for the vacation. With younger children they may want to have a lemon aid stand to save money for the vacation. When kids learn to work and save money, they are learning valuable lessons in budgeting, saving and  finances.

Here are just a few tips in where your family can come together to save for the yearly family vacation. You may find they enjoy the vacation more because they felt apart of the planning, saving and budgeting. I hope this will help lead you to a stress free financial life.