Afford a Dream Family Vacation

Yes, you can have your dream vacation. Whatever your budget and whatever your dream, with careful planning and a few tips that dream family vacation can become a reality.
Long to stroll the streets of Paris with your stroller? Dream of showing the U.S. to your kids? Always wished your family could cruise to the Caribbean? Well, you can. Here's how.

Examine your Expenses
Odds are fairly good you are wasting money somewhere. Buying a latte each morning on the way to work? Getting lunch at a drive-through instead of packing a lunch? Going out to the movies weekly?

The best way to isolate unnecessary spending is to have every adult and any older children carry a small notebook for two weeks. Write down every single expense, even the tiniest. Quickly, the wasted expenses will jump out at you. Eliminate them.

Think the little things don't count? Think again. A venti mocha every weekday adds up to more than $1,000 a year.

Create a budget
Once you've determined the weak spots in your budget, you can set aside money for that dream family vacation by creating a budget.

Determine how much you can save, and trim where you can. Do you really need to spend $200 weekly on groceries? Start clipping coupons. Can you rent a movie and buy microwave popcorn instead of hitting theaters?

Stash it in savings
Start stashing every spare penny into savings. If you can, have your payroll direct deposit your budgeted amount straight into savings. Many banks will allow automatic transfers from checking to savings each paycheck.

Don't touch the money once it's in savings. Tempted to splurge on something? Stay focused by posting pictures of your dream destination in your checkbook or wrap a magazine article around your credit cards.

Put a large jar in your kitchen, and drop change and dollar bills from your pockets each day.

Sell it on eBay
I can almost guarantee there is something in your house you don't want or haven't touched in years, but that you could sell on eBay.

Go through those boxes you still haven't opened since the last move. You'll get a double benefit of clearing out unwanted clutter (and making room for souvenirs).

Priotitize your dream vacation desires
Just because it's your dream vacation doesn't mean you have to stay at the best hotels or dine at the finest restaurants.

Figure out what is most important to you. If it's a fancy hotel, concentrate your money there and make your travel budget tight elsewhere.

There are many ways to save on travel. Drive instead of flying. Camp instead of staying at a hotel. Look into an apartment exchange.

Plan to have nice meals for lunch, not dinner, when they tend to be much cheaper. Find a vacation rental so you can prepare your own family meals and save cash.

Plan to visit in the shoulder season instead of the peak season, allowing you to save in many areas.

Watch your dream vacation happen
If you implement all of these tactics, your dream vacation will be within reach faster than you can imagine.

Simply decide what your dream is, start saving and, when you have enough money, go. Your dream family vacation awaits.