This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you buy or book through one of these links, I may earn a small commission .
Some posts are more fun to write than others, and budgeting out your vacation days is not quite up there with the most riveting. That being said, it’s a post that needs to be written because it’s made such a difference in my life. When figuring out one’s travels, planning ahead for vacation time may not be your first and foremost thought. Usually, money is obviously one of the biggest factors one thinks of, even for myself. It probably won’t come as a shocker that I have a travel budget and separate travel savings account that I dutifully maintain on a daily basis.
That being said, being smart financially is only half the battle when trying to squeeze in travel, as time can often be the limiting factor.
I’ve written a separate post for all my 9-5’ers out there on how to maximize vacation days to travel more. Those tips have been everything for my husband and I, as we’ve done our best to be efficient with our time to see as many destinations as possible.
What’s been more valuable than those tips, though, is the fact that we map out how we want to use our PTO from work well in advance of our travel. In fact, I’ve got a spreadsheet going out two and a half years, which allows me to play with different scenarios for potential trips. This tool has been invaluable to me, and it’s only right that I share it with you here as well.
How To Create a Budget for Your Vacation Days
Every year I take as many trips as possible while holding down a demanding full time job. In fact, I’ve been doing this for about 5 years now. I’ve learned how crucial planning ahead is in order to meet all my travel goals. I’ve also found that it’s really not all that complicated though. It’s really just a matter of taking a moment to think about what you’d like to accomplish travel-wise in the next year.
When you see my spreadsheet, you’ll understand how easy this really is. I will take you step by step through my simple process for budgeting out PTO days and explain exactly how this helps me fit in all the trips I want to take.
Doing this is absolutely necessary if you have a full time job, and still want to fit a bunch of travel into your life. By laying out your future plans in advance, you can get a picture of how many days you’ll need and how much you can realistically do. Also, this makes sure your plans actually happen, as you’ll be able to see to it that your days are available when you need them.
Step 1: Set Up Your Budget
First things first, you’ll want to put your template together. If you’d like to skip this step, I can send you a copy of the one I use. Just enter your email in the sidebar and I’ll forward it to you!
If you’d like to create your own budget from scratch, just stay with me. All you need is Excel and you’re good to go. So go ahead and open up a new spreadsheet. The simplest way to set it up is to plan out your PTO days by month. Your five main columns will be Month, Activity, Balance, PTO used and PTO left.
You’ll notice in the Activity and Balance columns, I’ve included what I save to my travel account each month, and what I expect to spend on trips. I highly recommend you do this as well, since there’s no point setting aside days if the funds to travel won’t be available. This greatly helps me to visualize what I can and can’t do each year.
Next, set up rows for each month going down the left hand side, with corresponding lines for savings and expense like I have if you want.
At the far right, set up a column for the amount of PTO days you predict taking each month. Immediately next to it, create a column that shows a running total of how many days you’ll have left to use. Enter your total amount of vacation days per year at the top.
Step 2: Start Saving Money For Travel
Let’s back up a little. Do you have a travel savings account yet, or other method of putting aside travel funds? If travel is something you really want to do, this step is crucial. This is how you can make sure you have both the days and funds available when you want to plan a getaway.
However, this post is not about how to make a travel budget, or even a life budget, so I’ll keep this short and snappy. The best way to make your goals happen is to plan ahead for them – way ahead, if that’s what it takes. If you don’t have the funds now, you will have them later, but either way you need to start saving whatever you can ASAP. Start putting aside a little bit of money today for a dream trip or just a much-needed getaway.
As you can see, I shovel away quite a bit of money each month towards travel – $1,000 whole dollars actually. That hasn’t always been what I’ve been able to save, but as I paid off student loans, I slowly shifted those payments toward my travel goals. Obviously, having a dual income household with no kids yet helps as well.
The point is that each month I know I am going to put $1,000 into my travel savings account. By adding this to my spreadsheet, I can visualize how much money I’ll have when. This is so important for knowing how many trips I can afford, and what months I’ll be able to afford them.
Step 3: Start Thinking About Your Future Travel Plans
It’s time to start filling out this spreadsheet. First, add in any PTO days you know you’re for sure taking this year. For example, I love to take the day before Thanksgiving off, so I always set it aside right off the bat.
Next, enter any trips you definitely are taking in the next year in the row for the month when it occurs. We take an annual family vacation most years, so I always put that in the spreadsheet right away. By doing this, you will know exactly how many days are at your disposal for any additional traveling you want to do.
Once you have entered in any trips you know you are taking, we can start my favorite part. This is where you can play around with endless possibilities for trips in your budget. Start by deciding which months you want to/are able to travel in, and pick some amazing destinations to add to your spreadsheet. If you think you may like a weekend trip to Nashville next June, for example, go ahead and put it in the spreadsheet. Want to see how Santorini looks in your budget? Go for it! I’ve tried adding Santorini into my budget almost every year now. Maybe one of these times it’ll stick…
Step 4: Decide How Many Days You Need For Each Trip
After all that fun, eventually it’s time to settle on some sort of plan. Narrow down the potential destinations you added to your spreadsheet to the ones that are most feasible. Then make an estimate of how many days off you’ll need from work, and add that total to the “Used” column of your spreadsheet for each trip. Once this is done, take a look at your “Left” column. Does everything look reasonable? Do you have room for one more short trip, or do you maybe need to scale back a little?
While helping you to travel more often, this will also help you to not overextend yourself. You do not want to get to June and already be out of vacation days, or go over budget and have credit card debt. You never know when you’ll need a day for mental health or some other random thing that may come up.
Step 5: Revisit This Budget Often
All year, as things come up and circumstances change, you should be tweaking this spreadsheet. This makes sure the budget does its job of providing an accurate picture of your available travel days. That way, you’re free to plan a potential vacation when you want to. You can add and remove plans as needed, and change your mind as many times as you want.
That’s the beauty of this budget. It makes it extremely easy to plan out hypothetical scenarios and see how endless the travel possibilities really are! I am constantly updating my spreadsheet, and even have several tabs going out a few years.
Another benefit is that you know exactly how many days are in your bank at all times. Sometimes your employer’s payroll department may make a mistake in tracking this (I’ve seen it happen), but you’ll have the proof you need to correct any errors.
• • •
Hopefully that wasn’t too nerdy or dull. Either way, I’m afraid there’s no getting around this simple truth. If you want to become a more travel savvy individual and make your goals happen, planning out your time in advance is non-negotiable. Knowing exactly how many days you have to work with, and visualizing how you can use them changes everything. For the first time, you’ll be able to really see exactly how you can fit in that big trip you’ve been dreaming about. Just do the work, and thank yourself later when you’re sipping a margarita on the beach!
Do you budget your vacation days off from work, or want to start doing so? Enter your email in the sidebar and get started with my easy template!
