I’m back after an enjoyable family vacation. While I won’t say I’m well rested, vacationing with a three and six year-old is never restful, I will say that it was one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve had in quite a while. The main reason for this was all due to my wonderful wife who carefully planned out the details of our vacation. She did such a great job that we just coasted through the week and enjoyed our time together. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that our method is a little anal-retentive, but it did such a great job or alleviating preventable stress on our trip that I felt it was worth sharing.

We had planned a trip up to Minnesota to visit the Mall of America. I took care of all of the flight arrangements and Amy and I picked a hotel near the mall with a pool, my daughter’s only concern when we stay in a hotel. The hotel had free shuttle service between the airport and the hotel as well as the hotel and the mall. When we arrived at MSP, we got on the bus and were very happy to see that the mall was literally across the street from us. We could ride the bus, or take a brief 5-10 minute walk. The only other thing we wanted to do was visit the Science Museum in downtown St. Paul. Initially we were going to take the light rail there, but the hotel manager recommended we take the bus and pointed told us which one to catch.

Now I’ve only taken a city bus twice in my life. In Las Vegas when my grandfather and I walked all the way to Circus Circus in the afternoon and decided we didn’t want to walk back (this was before the hotels became interconnected or had a monorail). The experience was so unassuming that I barely remember it. The second time was getting from the airport to downtown Milwaukee for a convention. The bus riders there were quite a bit different and frankly a little intimidating. So it was with a little concern we waited for the city bus. Now truthfully I knew that my concern was unwarranted but fear of the unknown and all that. I realized that it was so blatantly obvious we were tourists that to pretend otherwise was useless. So we talked to the bus driver, who was very helpful, and found a seat. The bus driver pointed out our stop for us, saved us money on the round trip, and also told us how to get to the museum. I was very pleased by the quality and service of the bus line.

Now for the real stress remover in our trip. My beautiful wife made a quick list on a small piece of paper with all of our expected expenses for the trip. She figured out the cost of admissions, transit, lunch and dinner for each day, and spending money. We now had the total cost of our vacation calculated before we ever left. Once we arrived all we needed to do was just keep an eyeball on our budget and we’d have no problem. By the second day, we realized that we over-budgeted on almost everything giving us an even greater cushion and more spending money.

It was amazing the psychological impact of having that budget. I never once thought “should I or shouldn’t I” if I wanted to buy something. Typically my internal question is “should I spend the money on this” not “do I really want this.” It is strange but many of purchasing decisions are not based on my wants but rather the odd thrill of spending money. Back when we were getting out of debt and decluttering our life, I realized that. It makes no sense but I’m glad I realized it now. So with the money available to be spent I found myself realizing that there were not many things I actually wanted. The stress of spending money was removed and I could truly enjoy my vacation.

So if you are not in the habit of making a budget, try it out next vacation. See if it lessens any of the stress you have while you are out supposedly relaxing.