Now that vacations are over and you had the time of your life. Do you still feel yourself dreaming about the beaches, adventure, time spent with family, relaxation and those holiday vibes around you. The longer a trip lasts, the more intense the post vacation blues may be. Its time to plan and start saving for your next vacation.
We get wiser by each passing vacation experience, we figure out for ourselves the things which went right and wrong, we now clearly know our Do’s and Don’ts which will help us in Acting S.M.A.R.T
S- Smartly
M- Manage
A-Another
R-Round
T- Trip
Five steps towards Acting Smart and beating your post vacation Blues. These will save time, money and help make most out of the vacation.
- Start planning or book for next vacation : This is the best therapy to beat the post vacation blues.This offers a distraction and also provides the person something to look forward to. Also, booking for things like flights, hotels and other logistics well in advance will save lot of bucks. Make your well-deserved vacation even more relaxing with some thoughtful planning.
- Overcome the Cash crunch :Do you feel that sizeable amount of your savings have gone in the vacation and now you have to squeeze to get your routine expenses into place. Immediately try and bounce back and start saving from regular income to get back into discipline..this will also help you have next vacation even more smoother. For some time, some expenses can be cut down like eating out, unnecessary shopping till the things are back on track.
- Track your expenses: Track your expenses which will in turn help control your expenses. Prepare a budget every month and then take a call on what needs to be pruned. The expenses that can be chopped initially are lifestyle expenses Living beyond your means is a common phenomenon nowadays. Don’t let this happen to you. By the time we realize that our Finances are taking bad shape, i.e., no savings, higher expenses, living from pay cheque to pay cheque, we are already in a debt trap.
- A.S.K : Answer seek Now. Narrow down your destination search by finding answer to few questions.
- Where to go: The same can be answered keeping in mind who you are travelling with. For example: Travelling with old parents for a trek destination will not be a wise choice
- How to travel: what will be the best and suitable mode of transport to reach your destination.
- When to go: Once you have decided upon the place, find out the best time to visit that place.
- What to spend: Find out the approximate cost that will be incurred.
Start with Holiday fund today: It doesn’t matter if it is started with small contributions initially. It will be easier to allocate some amount regularly out of your salary if you visualize yourself having the time of your life and enjoying your vacation to the fullest. The best way to do is get into commitment and start saving in a forced investment every month in a disciplined way and the same should be debited directly from your bank account in the first week itself without any fail. One such option is doing Systematic Investment plan for the same (SIP).
” I am glad that vacation is over and I have to go back to work “
Said NO ONE EVER !
About the Author: Gurleen Kaur is a Financial Consultant and devotes her timeto her company www.hareepatti.com. She has done her Bachelors in Finance and Investment Analysis(BFIA) from College of Business Studies(CBS, Delhi) and MBA from IMT, Ghaziabad. She can be Contacted at gurleen@hareepatti.greatestdesignever.com