Summer weekends can be expensive, with lakeside getaways, music and food festivals, and trips to national parks. However, overspending can happen easily, especially during the summer when people throw their budgeting cares out the window to enjoy time in the sun. Consumer finance expert Andrea Woroch says that those who don’t pay attention to their spending and come up with a plan to combat their overspending will face a much more difficult path to financial recovery.
Assessing Summer Expenses
Woroch recommends assessing how much you spent and where you went overboard by reviewing your bank and credit card accounts after the weekend is over. This will help you devise a plan to save and avoid overspending in the future. Awareness is often the most important step to prevention.
Next, look for ways to pay off purchases or replenish your savings by making budget compromises. If you typically eat out once a week, maybe you can swap that plan for cooking at home for the next two weeks. If you were planning to stay at a hotel for your next weekend trip, consider replacing that booking with a camping trip. You could also pause unnecessary subscriptions or memberships and DIY some of the activities you usually pay a professional for, such as pedicures.
Pre-Planning and Budgeting
When recovering from an expensive summer weekend, the best way to minimize the angst you may feel post-vacation is to pre-plan as much as you can, says Anjali Jariwala, a financial advisor and founder of FIT Advisors. Jariwala creates a spreadsheet to help track expenses and after the trip is over, she reviews how much her and her family actually spent compared to what their budget was, which allows her to understand how much their trips cost on average and how best to budget for future trips.
Jariwala says to consider opening a high-yield savings account where you store this money so that when your credit card bill for the trip comes due, you can reimburse yourself from the savings account. Don’t forget to put in a cushion for incidentals like souvenirs, excursions and anything else you enjoy when you travel.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
