Budget

Having a large family is great, but when it comes to vacation time, planning for the whole family presents its own challenges. How many people can you fit in your hotel room? Are your small children accustomed to plane travel? And how about meals? Having one or two children is challenging enough, but if you have more than two, vacation time may make you feel as though you are planning the invasion of Normandy Beach. Here are some tips to make your family vacation plan headache-free.

First: what about your accommodations? When it comes to hotel rooms, it's good to know what the restrictions are for occupancy. Most hotels base their room pricing on what they call "double adult occupancy," which means that the hotel room price you see is based on at least two adults sharing one room. Hotels also generally define a "family" as two adults and two children sharing a room. Which means that if you have more than two children, according to the pricing rules for double occupancy, you will have to pay what's called a "single supplement fee" if you purchase an additional room for your third child, or pay extra, even if you are all staying in one room. Many families have no idea that they are subject to these additional fees until they arrive at the hotel, so make sure you call ahead and let the hotel know how many people will be staying so you can plan your budget accordingly.

Speaking of budgets, in these tough economic times, you may be wondering if you and your family can afford a vacation at all. Search the internet for low cost vacation ideas, or see what is in your area for a cheap vacation package. The good news is, many airlines and hotels are offering special vacation rates, so bargain vacations can be had. You'll just need to compare rates online to find a package that suits your family's needs.

As teenagers we've all felt at one point in time that we needed the very latest clothing styles and gear to "fit in" at school. That is why regardless of what you might think of a certain brand of sneakers, the fear of being a total outcast motivates a lot of your teenager's buying decisions. But part of becoming an adult is learning to be responsible for your own budget and learning to pay for things yourself. As children, your son or daughter may have had things handed to them, and they will continue to expect that. It's not their fault because that's just the way children are. But when they reach their teen years, this might be the time to let them know that the cell phone, music player, and game systems they are clamoring for doesn't come from a tree in the back yard.

Approaching Your Child About Their Expenses

Let your teenager see your budget. A lot of parents tend to keep their financial concerns to themselves, but this is not necessarily the best thing for teaching your teen financial responsibility. If you can let your teen know, without a lot of drama, what money comes into the family budget and what goes out for things like house payment, car payments, taxes, utilities, insurance, groceries, and even gas it will actually help prepare them for the real world by giving them a better idea of what they can expect as adults.

You might also teach your kids to save up for things that they want, and pay their own bills. Does your teen want his/her own car, or his/her own cell phone? Sit down with them and help them develop a plan to get one. List out the different opportunities on how your child can obtain these items. Maybe they could get a part-time job, babysit, or pass out newspapers. Figure out how much they will need monthly for a cell phone plan, or for car insurance payments. Being responsible for their own payments teaches them self-discipline, and it helps ingrain these habits for the future.

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Before going...