Studies show that close to 75% of Americans every year go into debt when they take vacations.  Either they put all the money into multiple credit cards or spend beyond their limit.  A family of 4 regularly can spend around $4,800 per vacation.  This can equal as much as 9% of the average income and the worst part is that more than half of what you are paying may be taxes.

There are solutions out there for those who want to cut the cost of their vacations, here we will give you a few strategies you can use to benefit your mental health and your bank account.

It’s always a good idea to plan ahead of time.  Don’t stress out during your trip that is not why you are going on vacation.  The first suggestion is…

Start a vacation fund.

When you plan your vacation ahead of time every dollar you save as a right now, is money you are going to need during your trip.  If it’s hard for you to do this, just visualize yourself having a great time with your family.  Open a bank account only for vacations, pay close attention to those pesky maintenance fees that banks love to impose, and then weekly or monthly make a deposit.

Make big payments in advance.

If you find those amazing flight tickets deals or hotels discounts just make the payments right away, once the deals are over you will find yourself paying usually more.  Always make sure to check cancelation policies and travel insurance, life happens! Be ready.

Establish a budget and use your common sense!

Make sure you go over your credit card terms.  How much is the interest rate, international payments fees and so on.  When you know how much time is going to take you to pay your credit card debt it will be easier to make important decisions.