Vacation Your Way on a Budget

Still groggy, with the early morning sun filtering through the blinds, I can make out a shape moving stealthily to my side of the bed. Our eyes meet, my 13-year-old daughter grins sheepishly, “sorry, mom” grabbing my mobile from the side table. My husband rolls over, puts his arm around me, and we drift back to sleep.

We’ve packed up our family and headed to southern Alberta to a beautiful place filled with elm-tree-lined streets to our south and coulees to the west. Yesterday, we played a raucous game of mini-golf, lingered at the park while the dog checked out her new neighbours, enjoyed a leisurely coffee with a relative and baked a simple fresh, salmon infused with herbs and lemon for dinner.

After the dishes were cleared, we played a board game our daughter created from scraps of paper and her Boogie board. Once she was tucked into bed, my husband and I uncorked a bottle of wine and relaxed, watching the sunset in the window behind us—me curled up on the couch with a book, my husband in the corner chair with his tablet.

This is our holiday. And for us, it’s perfect. We budgeted for our vacation and followed these money-saving strategies.

We’re staying in an AirBnB, buying our day-to-day groceries, planning and cooking the majority of our meals. There are indulgences, but they’re within our budget, offset from the savings we have from renting a home and cooking (let’s be honest, the grill is in high demand) our meals.

We’ve had a couple of takeout meals and we’re on day seven of our vacation. Do we feel like we’re sacrificing, scrimping and saving by not eating out for every single meal? Nope. We’re now locals at Bread, Milk & Honey over-indulged on pizza, savoured a spicy Mexican fiesta, cooled off in waterparks, and day-tripped through Waterton Lakes National Park. All within our budget.

We have $1000 to spend over the next two weeks. I set-up a dedicated vacay account, where I deposit money each month, to pay for our vacations. There will be no lingering credit card debt to remind us of our down time—we have Google photos for that. And that same account will fund our 2024 trip to San Diego.

At the beginning of the year, my husband and I forecast our earnings. Then, we identify our goals. We have said good-bye too early to too many friends and watched loved ones struggle in the waning light of their lives. We’re aware you can plan each day—but you can’t control it. So, we choose (and budget) a life filled with good things today, but are mindful of the experiences/ life we want tomorrow.

The best vacation is the one from worry. Don’t get me wrong, we worry (although I’m consciously working to dial this down too) about many other things, but money, especially the accumulation of debt, is not a mental weight.

For us, carrying non-mortgage debt and its constant companions, fear and anxiety, are too much of a burden. Instead, we choose a simple life.