After a long year of working and attending school, your entire family could benefit from going on a long, relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, if you’re living from one paycheck to the next, it can be downright impossible for you to try to save up enough in order to start planning your next adventure. There are many ways for you and your family to save up money so that you can start planning ahead.

Bring in Extra Money

There are lots of ways for you to bring in some extra money that can be put directly into your vacation account. You might choose to sell some unused furniture or items that are just lying around the house. You can sell these either by holding a yard sale or selling them online to local buyers. If you don’t have much to sell off, you might want to consider taking on some overtime at work or doing some freelancing.

Refinance or Consolidate Older Debts

If you’re in a significant amount of debt, it can be suffocating to try to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you’re trying to save up some cash for a vacation while tackling debt, you probably won’t be able to meet your monetary goals. For this reason, you need to either refinance or consolidate the debts that you have. If you have old student loans, you can refinance them to save some money and get a longer repayment term.

Set Up a Special Account

The problem with trying to save up money for a vacation in your regular checking or savings account is that you’ll be tempted to use it. Your account is running a bit low, so you simply take it out of the savings. You need cash for an emergency, so you dip into what you have saved up. It’s a good idea to create a special account specific to going on vacation. You may even want to set a restriction that you cannot dip into these funds until it comes time to travel.

Send Funds Automatically to Your Vacation Fund

You can automate your savings in order to prevent forgetting to put into the account. Most banks allow their customers to set up automatic transfers that allow them to choose the amount and time to send money over to a separate account. You won’t even realize that money is being put into this fund each week, and you’ll have significant savings when it’s time to take a trip with your loved ones.

Plan Ahead

The earlier you plan for your trip, the cheaper and more affordable it is going to be. Likewise, you’ll be able to get a feel for how much the vacation will cost so that you have enough time to save up for it. You can check flights and hotel fees well in advance to actually needing them. If you have the money for it, don’t hesitate to establish some bookings while you are able to get them at their absolute cheapest and most affordable.