Plan Your Vacation Budget in Minutes
This easy-to-use calculator helps you estimate key travel expenses like airfare, lodging, meals, and activities. Get a clear budget overview and confidently plan your trip without financial surprises.
Quickly and easily estimate your vacation costs, from weekend escapes to global adventures. Plan ahead, avoid surprises, and enjoy your trip stress-free.
This easy-to-use calculator helps you estimate key travel expenses like airfare, lodging, meals, and activities. Get a clear budget overview and confidently plan your trip without financial surprises.
Planning ahead is the best way to stretch your travel dollars. Follow these simple tips to maximize your vacation savings:
Flights, lodging, and rental cars are often cheaper when reserved in advance. Early booking helps you lock in savings and reduces stress later.
Not all great deals are as good as they seem. Always check for hidden fees like extra charges on flights, hotels, and car rentals.
Traveling mid-week, using alternate airports, or splitting bookings for large groups can significantly cut costs.
Flights: Set up price alerts, choose layovers, or travel off-peak for significant savings.
Lodging: Consider staying just outside city centers, or explore vacation rentals to cut costs.
Food: Opt for accommodations with kitchens, shop local groceries, and limit eating out.
Activities: Look for attraction deals, combo tickets, or inclusive vacation packages.
Save steadily before your trip to avoid debt and financial stress afterward. A well-planned vacation budget means enjoying your trip fully—without worrying about your wallet when you return.
What expenses should I include in a vacation budget?
Include airfare, lodging, transportation, meals, activities, souvenirs, and emergency expenses in your vacation budget.
How far in advance should I start budgeting for a vacation?
Ideally, start budgeting 3-6 months ahead. Early budgeting helps you find better deals and avoid financial stress.
What’s the best way to save money when traveling?
Book travel and accommodations early, stay flexible with dates, and watch out for hidden fees to maximize your savings.
Find important answers, advice, and analysis to a wide range of personal finance topics in our Money Motivations blog.
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6213 N. Cloverdale Rd, Suite 130, Boise, ID 83713
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To provide our financial education and credit counseling services, we collect nonpublic personal information about you as follows: 1) Information we receive from you, 2) Information about your transactions with us or others, and 3) Information we receive from your creditors or a consumer reporting agency. We do not share this information with outside parties.
We use non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our website and services, but we do not disclose anything that could be used to identify you as an individual.
You hereby authorize DRS, when necessary, to share your nonpublic personal, financial, credit, and any information that you provided (including any computations and assessments produced) with the following entities in order to help DRS provide you with appropriate counseling or guide you to appropriate services: third parties such as government agencies, your lender(s), your creditor(s), and nonprofit housing-related and other financial agencies as permitted by law, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Debt Reduction Services, Inc. complies with the privacy requirements set forth in the HUD housing counseling agency handbook 7610.1 (05/2010), including the sections 2-2 Mc, 3-1 H(2), 3-3, 5-3 F, and Attachment A.5. At all times, we will comply with all additional laws and regulations to which we are subject regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of individually identifiable information.
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You acknowledge that this authorization will remain in effect for the duration of time that DRS serves as your housing counselor or financial education provider. You also acknowledge that should you wish to terminate this authorization, you will notify DRS in writing.
Homebuyer Education Course: $59 per participant
Rental, Fair Housing, Predatory Lending / HOEPA, Post-Purchase (Non-delinquency post-purchase workshop, including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners) Online Workshops: $49 per participant
Other Self-Guided Financial Literacy Webinars (e.g. credit, budgeting, homeless prevention, debt prevention): $0
Pre-purchase Homebuying Counseling, Rental Counseling, Post-purchase Ownership Maintenance and Financial Management: $75
Reverse Mortgage/HECM Counseling with Required Certificate:
Credit Report Fee: Paid Directly by Client
*Fees for all but our online education courses and workshops can be paid online by debit card, credit card, or PayPal or in person by cash, check or money order to: “Debt Reduction Services, Inc.” Registration fees are non-refundable 24 hours or less before the start of an in-person course or workshop. Certificates are non-transferable
*Fees may be waived for households with income of 150% or less of that identified on the US Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines Page
†Home visit counseling is available in 30 southern Idaho counties for potential HECM borrowers at additional costs to cover our travel (IRS reimbursement rates apply) and staff time ($50 per hour or fraction there).
Online EDUCATION Program Fees*
eHome Homebuyer Education Course: $99 per household**
Online Workshops: $49 per participant
Other Self-Guided Financial Literacy Webinars: $0
One-on-one COUNSELING Fees*
Pre-purchase Home Buying, Renter Issues, Homelessness, and Fair Housing: $0
Post-purchase Ownership and Maintenance, HOEPA or Financial Management $75/hr
Reverse Mortgage/HECM Counseling with Required Certificate $200 per household†
Credit Report Fee Paid Directly by Client
*Fees for all but our online education courses and workshops can be paid online by debit card, credit card, or PayPal or in person by cash, check or money order to: “Debt Reduction Services, Inc.” Registration fees are non-refundable 24 hours or less before the start of an in-person course or workshop. Certificates are non-transferable
*Fees may be waived for households with income of 150% or less of that identified on the US Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines Page
**Household is an individual or a couple
†Home visit counseling is available in 30 southern Idaho counties for potential HECM borrowers at additional costs to cover our travel (IRS reimbursement rates apply) and staff time ($50 per hour or fraction there)