My family loves to travel. We hit the road for a couple of family vacations every summer, and then there are always those big family trips, and last minute getaways in between. I'm a planner by nature, and enjoy knowing that everything is in its place before we head out for a sweet little adventure. Aside from getting my house in order before I head out for vacation, I like to make sure that our actual vacation plans are in order, as well. I begin planning as soon as I know that we have travel dates that are set in stone. I like to think ahead for our travels, which means that I like to plan our finances out in advance. Being able to switch bank accounts easily is very helpful in successful vacation planning.

When I know our travel plans, I begin to look at expenses. Unless your travel plans involve visiting and lodging with family members, vacations never seem to be cheap, no matter how frugal you may try to be. I pride myself on being well organized, so I first look at where we're headed, and then take into consideration what time of year we are traveling, and what the temperatures will be like.

 My first step is to always make sure that we have appropriate attire for our trip. Planning for a family cruise to the islands in mid January this past winter was truly a challenge! I knew that my husband and I would be able to wear our summer wardrobe from the past season, but my two-year-old son would need entirely new outfits, because he had outgrown his summer clothing by the time winter rolled around.

Knowing that we'd wind up having to spend money on clothing, 'beach accessories,' passports, gas, food, etc, I went ahead and set up a separate bank account, strictly for our travel funds. I began putting money into the account as soon as I knew our cruise was locked in. Being able to check our bank accounts online, was so helpful as we were planning. We could keep an eye on both our household account, and our vacation account at once, and transfer monies when we were able to do so. I loved the idea of having a vacation account, so we weren't spending more money from our household account, which is easy to lose track of when you're on the road.

We're half way through our first summer adventure with the family, and have one more to go. We may even have a big trip to Disney World planned for the new year. I'll feel totally at ease as we set up our 2014 travel plans, knowing that we already have some vacation monies set aside to do what we please with. It definitely gives us peace of mind when we're on the go.

How do you keep your travel plans in order?