Saving Up for Honeymoon

leahstarrh · May 2010

Any ideas on the best way to save up for a honeymoon? We are recent college grads getting married in August 2011. Needless to say we are justing starting out and just don't have alot of spare cash. Any tips on the best way to save up for the honeymoon, or great websites with deals?

The best deals i've found so far are at

www.bookit.com

alithebride · May 2010

make a reasonable plan-meaning something you can afford on your salaries. you can start by making a budget and allottinga certain amount every 2 weeks or whenever you get paid. put in into an account not linked to an ATM card or be able to be transferred easily to another account. butmost importantly you need to make a realistic budget.

jonigringa · May 2010

I actually created a separate free checking account at a different bank and have my employer automatically deposit a portion of my paycheck into it each month. That way, my regular account never sees the money, and I am just budgeting and spending in my daily life accordingly. I don't make a ton of money, but doing this has really helped--and it has shown me that I could have been saving a lot more for life in general if I had started doing it years ago. Only once have I had to dip into the wedding fund for something non-wedding-related, but in the grand scheme of things, this has worked out well (and it helps me better track exactly how much I am spending on everything).

misscastle · May 2010

I created a savings account at ING Direct and have $70 a week deposited in it. I don't really miss that money; however, I graduated from college a few years ago and have a steady income!

If I were a recent college grad, I would try to pick up some extra work ... I write for Demand Studios and earn $15-$25 for a 500-word article on various topics. If you have any sort of writing history, perhaps look at applying?

Reilly626 · May 2010

Check out Travelzoo.com or Gate 1 Travel or Cheap Caribbean, good luck! Sell stuff on ebay! Cut out eating out and coffees out...

MeShell841 · May 2010

Almost our WHOLE hotel stay in Hawaii is FREE!! We signed up for a joint Hilton credit card. It doesn't have a yearly fee, so it's free to get the card. When you sign up you can get up to 3 free hotel nights depending on what deal they have going. Then we used it for the whole year and a half we were planning. As you shop you get points and points add up to free hotel stays (or other stuff). Certain things like grocerys earn you like 4 points for every dollar. We used it to buy our plane tickets, pay for our limo, and we even put the reception hall payments on it. After the free nights for signing up and the points we've acquired, our hotel was almost completely covered!
We were VERY careful to only use the card if we had the cash to back it up. It's really easy to get in trouble if you spend more than you can pay for. If you think you can have the self control to have a credit card then you should do it! The way I see it is we're spending the money anyway, might as well get something out of it! Just be carefull and good luck!

Karen's MOH · May 2010

I know someone who just stopped spending $5 bills. Any time she got a five, she took it out of her wallet into a separate envelope or whatever. It won't make you big bucks super fast, but over the course of a few years she had thousands of dollars from it.

Obviously, once it got to any substantial amount, you would want to put it into a savings account with interest, like ING.

And like PP said, don't rule out cheaper destinations. I hear you can get cruises for a steal-- practically only what you would pay to eat at home if you luck out.

miah_23_ncb · May 2010

the seprate bank account is a good idea especially when its not connected with your account that you actually spend $ from. If you guys eat out alot cut back

amlow · May 2010

We didn't know where the money was going to come from to do a honeymoon either. But finally when my sister asked me what I really wanted for a wedding gift, I asked her to contribute towards our trip. Couldn't believe it, within the next few minutes, she sent me an e-mail that she and her husband paid for a week in a condo for us in Santa Fe. You could ask for some of your really close friends to contribute some of their miles as a gift, or even pass the hat toward a honey fund.

alysia0615 · May 2010

our wedding isn't till 2012 so we are taking an extra forty dollars a week out for taxes so we dont even see that money until tax timeand all of our returns are the honeymoon fund

Patineuse1124 · June 2010

Try to keep your frugal college lifestyle a bit longer to build up your savings and get rid of your debt (if applicable). While it's nice to upgrade your lifestyle, it is difficult to downgrade (trust me, I had to a little bit when I went to grad school after working full time for a couple of years). We keep our monthly expenses (rent, groceries, etc) within my grad stipend, and use the majority of his paycheck first to pay off debt (I didn't have any and he paid off his student loans in a 1.5 years with this method), and now to pay for wedding expenses (including honeymoon) and save for DP on house. Saving money can be like dieting though, so give yourself some fun money each month that you can spend guilt free or you'll get bitter about the frugal lifestyle and get off track.

You can also consider registering for your HM (I recommend honeyfund.com as the don't charge a fee). However, make sure you can afford at least the basics of your trip (like airfare, hotel, food, and a few activities), you don't want to go into debt if nobody contributes.

Another option that my mom suggested when it looked like I wasn't able to get time off for a honeymoon (thankfully I am) is to take a smaller trip to a nearby destination. While it may not be as exciting a big fancy honeymoon, it would be somewhere you could revisit frequently, such as on your anniversary each year.

Chasity08 · August 2010

FI and I both went in and changed our W4s at work so that we now claim 0. Both of us were claiming 1 or 2 before (I have a child so I can claim 2), and last year when I did my taxes, I got $6000, and Fi got $2000 (no dependant). So it's definitely something to look in to. You wont even notice the money isn't there. You can even have your employer take out EXTRA taxes, and then just get it all back at the end of the year. Some people say they dont' like this because it's a "Free loan to the government all year and you should just get a savings acct" but I know that if the money is in that savings acct, I will break in to it. It's just how I am. But if I don't realize it's there, I budget accordingly. Hope that helps!

Saving Up for Honeymoon

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