Vacation Tips: Plan Ahead

I just got back from a wonderful, kid free, vacation.  It was much needed as now I feel refreshed and ready to face life again.  My kids had a blast too as they got to spend a week with my inlaws at their farm. 

I didn't have computer access while I was away (side note - it was wonderful to have a technology break for awhile) but I kept thinking of little tips that would be helpful towards saving money that I wanted to share with my readers.  I'm going to share some over the next week or so and today I'm going to start with pre-vacation planning.

I don't know about you, but I'm always stressed with last minute to do's right before vacation.  This time I started planning months ahead and it really helped.

We began by looking at how many days we would be gone and seeing if we had enough clothes to see us through.  I realized I needed 1-2 more pairs of shorts and a wrap or cardigan so I set out to check out the deals.  By not waiting until the last minute I was able to find rock bottom deals.

Once we had clothes under control, we moved on to the little things.  A month before we left, we stocked up on any toiletries we were low on and refilled all medications that would be running low by vacation time.  I'm bad about thinking of these things the week before vacation and then not having time to get to the store to get the needed items.

Finally, I dislike coming home to a messy house so we started cleaning it up a few week's before we left.  It helped knowing that my kids and inlaws would be staying at my house for a day or so while we were gone.  Nothing like the pressure of someone else living in your house while you are gone.  By picking up the piles of junk ahead of time all I really needed to do before leaving was some quick maintenance cleaning.

Your list probably contains more than this but these are a few things to start thinking about.  Before you leave on vacation, I suggest making a list of everything you might need to do and then breaking it down so that you can leave on vacation relaxed and ready instead of thinking of everything you didn't get done.