Not only do you have the wedding that you need to budget for, you have the honeymoon too. A honeymoon is necessary after planning your grand event; not only because you deserve a break, but it’s key to have some down time with your honey. Planning for a wedding can be stressful and maybe you didn’t budget for a wonderful honeymoon week or weekend… So how do you save for your honeymoon and keep the spark alive?
Make a Honeymoon Jar
Make a jar or a box dedicated to pocket change and broken bills. Any spare change you have, throw in the jar! Having the jar there may be convenient for change, but be sure to not take from the jar!
Set a Budget
Set a budget, not only for what you want to spend on your honeymoon, but also a weekly budget. If it helps you to get cash out of the bank rather than use a debit or credit card, do it! Having the cash in your hand tricks your brain into thinking that, that is all you have, rather than looking at an account balance with a grand total. Setting a weekly budget also lets you know what you can and can’t spend for the week.
Setting a budget or a goal for what you want to spend on your honeymoon will make it more likely for you to actually make the goal that you’ve set. (Tip: put the money that you’ve saved from your weekly budget in a jar that will go toward your spending money for your honeymoon.)
Don’t Spend $5 Bills
Make your five dollar bills a no-no item. Don’t spend them when you get them back in change, put them in your honeymoon fund. $5 bills are like the gross vegetables that you don’t want to eat, but you have to, to grow properly. You don’t have to spend them, but if you do, spend them on something like your honeymoon!
86 Unnecessary Items
To live we only need food, water, and shelter. We don’t need cable, takeout, or netflix to survive. If you’re bored and looking for things to do, think how our grandma’s thought. Pen a letter, crochet a blanket, read a book, learn something new and exciting!! Finding new things to occupy your brain will make the unnecessary things seem as though they are a thing of the past!
Shop Your Own Closet
If you’re bored with the way you entertain yourself, you’ll probably be bored with the same old song and dance that is your wardrobe. Often times we default to what we know looks good and what is most comfortable in our closet. Why not shop your own closet? Pull everything out and put together new outfits. Heck! You may even find something that you’ve never even taken the tags off of!
Date Night
Date night? When you’re trying to save, why would you go on a date night? Who is to say date night has to be a fancy dinner and going to see a movie with all the fixings? False. You don’t have to do all that for a fun evening with the love of your life.
Check out the free events near your neighborhood, go visit family members that you haven’t heard from in a while (date night doesn’t have to be just the two of you!), cook dinner together and enjoy each others others’ company.
Garden
Plant a garden. That’s right… Plant a garden. You can grow some of your food that you’ll eat (great to provide for date night in!) and leave you feeling accomplished that you’ve grown your own food and healthy knowing that you know what went into growing your food.
If you don’t have the room for a garden, try growing a ‘garden’ in pots or planters! You could place these on a balcony or a spare bedroom!
Tips
Who doesn’t love a good tip for saving money??
Book early
Booking your honeymoon early can eliminate costs and give you time to pay it off. If you’re putting your honeymoon on a credit card, you can work on the making payments on your credit card, which will result in less interest.
Do The Off Season Thing
Pick somewhere adventurous and fun but off season for the time of year that you are going. Going ‘off season’ can still leave you with a wonderful time, but can also cut your price in half.
Think outside the box
Outside the box, you say? Yes! Your honeymoon doesn’t have to be a week long extravagant outing… Why not do day trips or a long weekend? Sometimes those shorter trips can be better, not only for our wallet, but you can have a partial staycation too to get yourself acquainted with home life again.
A ‘bargain’ honeymoon doesn’t have to be a cheap honeymoon, it just means you played your cards right and saved a ton and still had fun. Your honeymoon is about what you make it and about what you both want it to be. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box on where you go, how you save, or how much fun you have while doing both! Have a blast together before, during, and after and you’ll be set for life!