The most dangerous disadvantage of using credit cards while traveling is their inability to prevent a total loss of self-control when it comes to buying souvenirs for you, your friends, and family members. If you aren’t careful, that holiday in the Caribbean may leave you without the funds to support the family!
However, for those who know how to exercise a modicum of self-control, this isn’t usually a problem.
Of course, the best way to avoid the post-vacation overspending blues is tried-and-true financial restraint. It never fails! Then again, it also doesn’t hurt to make sure that the credit card in your wallet is designed with the holiday traveler in mind. Thankfully, there are plenty of websites that can help you find the perfect travel card for you.
On the other hand, if you are already facing large credit card debt from your last vacation, it’s time to get to work and pay off your plastic. Here are a few of the very best ways to pay them off as quickly as possible:
- Make double payments.Yes, this is rather obvious — but doubling up on the minimum payments will go a long way toward retiring your debt quickly. It may be hard to believe, but people who insist on paying only the minimum balance every typically require many years to retire even the most modest credit card balance.
- Use your bonuses. If possible, if you get cash back bonuses for your spending, use them to help retire your balance.
- Cut back on spending.The faster you retire a loan, the more money you’ll save on interest payments. Consider eliminating — or at least cutting back — unnecessary items and services that are more “wants” than “needs.”
When you’re on vacation, there are ways you can avoid the temptation to overspend on entertainment, food, and shopping by simply adhering to a few common sense rules. For example:
- Carefully budget every travel expense before you go on holiday — including the souvenirs
- Look for free attractions in every city you plan to visit
- Before you purchase airfare, check out and compare various travel websites for any special deals being offered by the airlines
By following these basic recommendations you’ll ensure that you never find yourself with a post-holiday debt hangover. Have a good trip!
Photo Credit: stock photo
Also, plan ahead.
Know where youre going on vacation a year ahead of time and use this articles money-saving tips on discount opportunities throughout the year to buy gifts that look like they came from where youre going. Chances are, stuff you get ahead of time or stuff that you would buy there are actually identical, anyway.
From China.
*chuckle*
P.S. kill two rel -er, birds with one stone – do your Christmas shopping at the same time
Be sure to do some research to get an idea about the cost of different restaurants, activities transportation, etc before you travel.
Once you get that information you could add it to the travel budget and stay organized during that awesome vacation!
Planning is key!
Stop buying junk and save cash! That plastic back scratcher in the shape of a windmill or Mickey Mouse, that dumb looking cheap Chinese Leprechaun paperweight marked, “Souvenir of Dublin”, that tasteless tee shirt about your visit to the Red Light district in Amsterdam, that enormous velvet sombrero with all the spangles, ANYTHING MADE OF RESIN, DON’T BUY THEM BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS OR EVER USES THEM. They’re expensive, dumb, environmentally destructive and useless junk / clutter. Instead, take yourself to a grocery store while on vacation and buy a package of LOCAL / ETHNIC cookies or candy for each person on your list. The packs are relatively small, LIGHTWEIGHT, the prices are modest, the contents intriguing, and if the recipients don’t care for the cookies / candy they can toss them out on the lawn for the birds to eat. Foreign grocery stores are fascinating places where you learn a lot about the habits and tastes of the local people.