Watch out Dallas, here we come!

-

Vacation number two is coming up and we are headed to Dallas. When you are planning a vacation, do you budget? Or do you go on vacation and pay for it later? Whether you are planning an extravagant trip to Hawaii or a quick trip to see family, budgeting is key. 
The average vacation costs $1,145 per person.
JP and I are headed to Dallas at the beginning of April. We are going to a friend's wedding and it will be another quick trip. We have found ways to cut costs by using points for our flights, using Priceline for hotels and using Uber instead of renting a car. One handy trick that I found out is that you get a lower rate on Priceline if you call in the hotel reservation versus reserving online. I will usually do all the research online and then call the number and reserve over the phone and it saves you more money. We have been debating what we should eat while we are there since this is Texas but it is such a short trip, we will not have much time for eating out really. Side note: Dallas has one of the best fried chicken places that everyone should check out, Mike's Chicken.

 When I was researching if we should rent a car on Turo again or just use Uber, Uber was the one that made the most sense. It saves us on gas, hotel parking charges, plus we would need an Uber anyway for the wedding, so it just made sense to not rent a car. I like to use Uber Estimate to find an estimate cost of a ride from one destination to another. This is how I was able to determine to use Uber over Turo as well. We would need an uber from the airport to the hotel, uber to the wedding and back and an uber back to the airport. All other times we will be able to walk since we are staying downtown.

Above is how we record our budget to actuals, we do this for every trip. After this trip, I will usually include notes for our next trip to that place. Like, bring cash, eat at x restaurant, budget more for food, etc. Doing so has really helped for when we return to cities, like New Orleans. Since this is a quick weekend trip to Dallas, we don't really have any other items to plan for. But you should thoroughly plan out what you are doing and how much that may be. You should also check your hotel stays and see how much the parking fees are. But this trip is pretty straightforward for us and not much to really have to budget. We did increase our DIA parking so that we can park in the garage this time. We did not have a great experience parking in the lots and taking the bus to the airport on our Houston trip. Upgrade, please!

 How do you budget for your trips? What is your most expensive category when traveling? Be sure to comment and subscribe.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

$300 Tax Deduction

-
Image
I have been majorly slacking off on my blog, but I just had to inform you all about a t ax deduction that everyone needs to do for 2020 taxes. If there is one thing you do before the end of the year, you should read this and take action. For a pre-covid tax year, the only way that you could claim any charitable donations you have made is if you itemized your taxes. In December of 2017, Trump signed The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that significantly raised standard deductions. When I say significant, he nearly doubled it; It is the highest deduction in American history. Before this, 46 million people would itemize their taxes and charitable donations were included in this and deducted, it is down to nearly 16 million since this new Act. I do not mean to say that this Act is bad, it is actually great and very beneficial to many. But for those that can no longer itemize, it meant that they could no longer take charitable tax deductions ... until this year. For this year only, thanks to the CA...
Read more

Payroll Taxes

-
Trump recently signed an executive order which includes payroll taxes. He is wanting to stop payroll taxes from being deducted from your paycheck effective Sept 1 to bring relief to the American people. The problem with this is that he is not forgiving these taxes, you will still owe this money, he is just delaying the tax. As someone who works with clients who are struggling to manage their money, I see this as a huge burden to the American people. What are Federal Payroll Taxes ? Federal payroll taxes are collected by federal authorities and are deducted on an employee's pay stub. Federal payroll taxes cover Social Security and Medicare contributions.  How much will I get from the payroll cut? The executive order applies only to the 6.2% Social Security obligation. Based off a salary of $50,000, you would receive about $258 per month during the Sept 1 thru Dec 31 period.  When is this owed? If these taxes are not forgiven by the federal government, individuals will be respon...
Read more

Is Starbucks making you broke?

-
Image
Have you heard the debate that getting Starbucks everyday is killing your finances? I once worked in an office where Starbucks was in the lobby, it was no big deal... until the fall came and so did the Pumpkin Spice Latte. I had received a gift card to Starbucks and treated myself to a few until my card ran out. But then I kept getting them. Not only did I spend way too much on Starbucks in October that year but I also gained 5lbs from all the sugar. This year I told myself I would not get Starbucks, and the only time I have is when we were on a road trip to/from Florida and I needed coffee on the drive.  I often debate with my peers about getting coffee everyday or even grabbing lunch out. My stance is it is a waste of money and your money can be working harder someplace else. In the last 3 years, I have paid to eat out lunch less than 10 times. My brain also works differently than most because when I eat out, I think about how much that meal would have cost me to make at home ...
Read more