How Couples Can Save Money to Afford a Great Vacation Together
Everyone deserves at least one vacation a year. If you are a couple, you absolutely need it. Nothing guarantees a greater time for couples than a vacation.
There are several benefits to couples vacationing together. One of the obvious benefits is that your relationship can grow stronger due to the quality uninterrupted time you’ll share together. Individually, a vacation gives you an opportunity to unwind from the stresses of the outside world, and just relax with no aspect of your normal everyday lives gnawing at the back of your mind.
So, how do you save for a vacation as a couple? You’ll be surprised how much money you can put aside if you take a deliberate and intentional approach to saving. Here are some effective ways you can save money as a couple for your next vacation:
Move in Together if Your Relationship is Serious
If you consider yourself a serious couple and you are currently living in different houses, you are doing it wrong. While making the decision to move in together should not be based on finances alone, you stand to gain a lot money-wise if you do decide to share a living space.
For starters, once you move in together, you’ll have the equivalent of one partner’s monthly rent to stash away. Other savings that you can make are on utilities, food, and general house upkeep costs.
Share Monthly Subscriptions
Under no circumstances, as a couple, should you have different accounts for the same service when you can easily share one account. Having two different subscriptions for services such as Netflix and monthly magazines is a total waste of money.
If you live together, you should absolutely share one account for such services. Audit your subscriptions and see if you have double subscribed to any of the services that you can comfortably share.
Rethink Your Purchases
The desire to keep up with other couples has brought many young couples to their knees financially. Besides you, no one really cares how you live or what you posses. Everyone is busy living their life and dealing with their own problems.
Trying to impress them with luxury purchases you don’t need is counterproductive Buy only those items you need. Where possible, buy used so you can save money. Also, buying things like grocery in bulk can help you save money in the long run. Some of the things you can buy in bulk include frozen food, toilet paper, and drinks.
Take Advantage of Free Shipping
A significant number of couples do their shopping online. It’s amazing how many people never shop around to find online stores with better deals on the items they want to buy. Consider using coupon codes to get you extra discounts when it comes to check out.
There are so many online stores today, that it is almost guaranteed that you can find a better deal on whatever item you want to buy. If one store does not offer free shipping, chances are you can find another store that offers free shipping with just a simple Google search.
Sacrifice One Thing for One Month
Every couple has at least one thing that they splurge on. It could be tickets to games, expensive date nights, regular meals at fancy restaurants, or even weekly comedy shows.
Since you are saving for a vacation, you can afford to sacrifice one thing that isn’t essential to your daily life for a month so you find the money to fund a vacation together. When you think about it, you really will not be making such a big sacrifice–as the benefit of the vacation will far outweigh any inconveniences that the sacrifice might cause.
Go Easy on the Expensive Gifts
Until you have found money to fund your vacation, you should stay away from very expensive gifts. The whole point of giving your lover a gift is to communicate that you care about them. You can still do this without spending a lot of money.
When you eliminate money from the equation, you can find very creative ways to make your partner feel wanted and loved. Usually, the thought put into the gift is what counts.
Choosing an Affordable Destination
Travel companies now provide amazing travel packages for couples. There are even luxury resorts that have been specifically built to cater exclusively to couples. Be sure you are picking an adults-only resort rather than an family-friendly resort if you are looking for a more intimate experience. You don’t want to miss out on such joys just because you lack financial discipline.
Not being able to afford a vacation is one of the excuses couples give for not taking trips together. This is an excuse that is easy to overcome if the couple becomes proactive and decides to take definite steps toward putting away money specifically for a vacation.
Actively Track How Much You Have Saved
What gets measured gets accomplished. By actively tracking how much you’ve put away to fund your vacations, will allow you to spot opportunities where you can make savings.
You will also be more motivated to keep saving for a long time. The longer you save, the more chances you will have be able to save enough for a couple’s vacation.
Be Patient
Saving for a vacation may seem like it’s going to take forever, but by following these tips, it’s likely to go by a lot faster. You and your partner deserve to have a vacation every now and then, and unless you are extremely wealthy, it’s likely you have to make some sacrifices along the way. Try applying one or many of these tips when saving for your next vacation. You are going to be much happier knowing that you aren’t going to come home with an excessive amount of stress and credit card bills to pay off.
