Today’s post will be brief, because technically I’m on vacation now…. 🙂 My family and I are spending the week in beautiful Tarpon Springs, Florida, and as I type, I’m sitting out on the porch of our vacation house enjoying the perfect temps, light breeze, and beautiful view. The topic of today’s article–having a great vacation, of course!
At least two important things come to mind for having a good vacation: preparation and attitude. Preparation has to do with the title of this article: the fun side of budgeting! It’s not always the most pleasurable activity to set out at the beginning of each month and assign a purpose to each and every dollar of income. But, doing a budget helps you allocate your income in the right priorities and gives you the ability to, among other things, save up for a cash vacation. We stopped by the ATM on the day before our trip, and have enjoyed buying and doing the fun things we want without the guilt of putting them on a credit card. Are you putting money into savings for a future trip now? If not, why not start today by visiting the ThriveWealthy page and building your budget for April?
The second component of a successful vacation is attitude. It’s very easy to let a vacation turn your eyes onto yourself and become self-centered. Ironically, in vacations, as in the rest of life, looking out for your own interests at the expense of others will cause you to enjoy yourself less. Instead of falling into this trap, start each day of your trip with the attitude, “I’m going to have a blast today, no matter what activities we do!” Let the small stuff run off you like water off a duck, and keep your focus on doing things that will make your trip mates happy. And remember, some of those frustrating, annoying moments where nothing goes right turn into the lifelong memories that you’ll share year after year… 😉