Planning a summer vacation to get away, relax, and soak up the sun is always fun. Having a change of scenery and some much needed relaxation can be a great way to spend some of your summer; however, don't lose your mind by forgetting your financial goals for the year. Here are four tips to help you to keep working on your healthy credit while getting away.
1. Plan your spending - It's easy to get caught up in the romance of summer vacation, which for some of us can mean spending more than we had planned to and racking up unnecessary credit card debt. Before leaving for vacation, make sure you have a detailed budget and a plan for how you will pay for what so that you don't return from vacation with more stress, guilt, and debt to tackle.
2. Review your finances - Before you leave for vacation, do a mini mid-year checkup of your finances and your credit goals for the year. How are you doing? Do you need to correct your course based on changing circumstances? Get yourself and your goals back on track and give yourself a pat on the back that you've come this far and have a plan for the second half of the year.
3. Continue your plans to pay down debt - Just because you are going on summer vacation, doesn't mean your progress toward healthy credit needs to go on vacation as well. Keep going with your plans to pay down debts, clean up old, bad debts without adding new debt, and monitoring your credit score.
4. Automate your payments - As you know, paying your bills on-time and in full is one of the best ways to maintain healthy credit and increase your credit score. Use the latest technology tools provided by your bank and your creditors to automate your monthly bill payments so that while you are enjoying your vacation you don't have to worry about your bills.
Now, get out there, enjoy your summer vacation all while keeping up with your plans for healthy credit and your financial goals for the year. Happy summer!