While you are definitely in the middle of winter and summer vacation may seem like it’s a long way away, it’s never too early to start dreaming of a vacation. Summer will be here sooner than you know, and now’s the time to pick a destination.

It’s also the time to start saving for your vacation. After all, you don’t want your travel plans to be a burden to your budget. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you have overextended yourself. Take the time to follow these tips and start saving today.

• Decide How Much You’re Going to Spend: While it may be tempting to pick your destination first, it might be best to decide how much you’re able to spend on a vacation. This will allow you to determine how much you need to save and then do your planning based on the amount you have to work with.
• Determine Your Travel Costs – Roughly: Once you have a budget, it’s time to start planning. Choose some destinations and determine what your costs will be – roughly. You may not be buying your airline tickets today, but it’s good to see what current prices are so you can approximate costs. Be sure to include travel, accommodations, excursions and adventures, food, and other miscellaneous things.
• Make a Budget and Stick to It: Once you have your budget established, it’s essential that you stick to it. Save each week as necessary and don’t go over on expenditures – no matter how tempting.
• Put Money Into Savings Before You Spend It: When it comes to saving, the easiest thing to do is to put money into savings before you spend it. If your employer allows you to set up a direct deposit for a specified amount, you may want to do that. Otherwise, immediately set aside your vacation money – and put it somewhere you won’t be tempted to touch it.
• Find a Side Hustle: If you’re looking for another way to make money, maybe it’s time to explore the world of “side hustles.” Lots of people are seeking extra income or a way to explore other passions through side hustles – gigs that they do outside of their regular job. Think about what you might do that could bring some money in – and then put it aside for vacation.
• Save Your Coins: This may seem like a silly way to save money, but you might be surprised by how much you can put away by just putting your coins in a jar each day. Every few months, take the time to total up what you have and add that to your vacation fund.
• Getting a Tax Refund? Put a Portion Aside for Vacation: While you may not want to be thinking about your taxes quite yet, if you believe you’re going to receive a refund, then start gathering your documents so you can file right away. And when the refund arrives, add it to your vacation savings.
• Cut Some Expenses: Take a look at your current expenses and see if there is anything that you could cut. Do you have streaming services that you’re not using? A gym membership that’s not being utilized? Or magazines that you no longer want? Put the money from cut expenses into your vacation fund immediately.
• Check Your Travel Rewards: If you have any credit cards with travel rewards or websites where you can accumulate credit or points for travel, take a look at them. Can you use these things to save on your vacation?
• Set Up Sale Alerts: Last, but not least, on travel sites where you might book things such as airline flights, set up alerts which will tell you when ticket prices go down – or go up. This will allow you to monitor your predicted costs better.

Don’t let a vacation create havoc with your budget. With some careful planning and a headstart on your savings, you could be taking a trip someplace fantastic in the near future.