Rethink Your Vacation and Make Money (or at Least Break Even)

Rethink Your Vacation and Make Money (or at Least Break Even)

No one denies that vacations are important.  You get to kick back and take a break from your every day routine while spending quality time with your family.  You can forget about work, de-stress, and become reinvigorated.

The problem for many families is finding the money for a vacation.  However, if you reconsider your idea of a vacation or how you should take a vacation, you may find that you can actually make money on vacation or at least break even.

Sounds great?  Here is how.

1.  Take a vacation where you might make money.  Did you know that people are still panning for gold? What, you thought panning for gold ended in the 1850s after the big gold rush?  Nope, it is still happening, and there are even vacations built around panning for gold.  Even better, there are locations around the country where you can pan for gold, so you will probably be able to find one near you.

2.  Take a vacation around a conference you must attend.  If you or your spouse needs to attend a conference, why not center a vacation around that?  If your spouse needs to head to Washington D.C., for example, why not tag along with the kids?  Your husband’s transportation will be covered as well as the hotel and his meals.  All you will need to pay for is the transportation for yourself and the kids (which will be minimal if you opt to drive instead of flying), your food, and entertainment.  Better yet if you go to a place like Washington, D.C., there is so much to do for free that you will likely only have to pay for food.

Even better, if you or your spouse is self-employed, you will be able to deduct the expenses for the one attending the conference.  My husband and I enjoyed a nearly free trip to San Francisco a few months ago.  My husband attended for work, so all of his expenses were paid for, and I found a conference related to my work.  Since I am self-employed, I was able to expense the air fare and part of my food.  The only thing we had to pay for out of pocket was our entertainment.

3.  Take advantage of programs that pay you to travel.  Admittedly, these are harder to find, but they are out there.  One blogger took advantage of the program some European auto makers were offering to fly you to the country where you are buying a new car.  She and her husband had already planned to buy a new car, so she and her teenage daughter took advantage of the program to go to Europe for 10 days.

We all recognize the importance of vacations.  With a little creativity and ingenuity, you may be able to make money on your vacation.  If not, you can at least get a significant discount by taking vacations around scheduled conferences or using incentives to travel.

This guest blog is by Kyle Taylor, a personal finance blogger at www.ThePennyHoarder.com. Read his blog for 100’s of weird ways to make extra money.