Prepare for the inevitable. You never when or if you will need extra money or something. This weekend I went on a bus trip to Iowa and was snowed in at a bingo casino. This wasn’t a problem because our group wasn’t leaving until the next day. We did have a planned excursion but weren’t able to go because of the storm. There was a group of people who were supposed to leave on Sunday during the height of the storm. The people had only brought enough money for their expected expenses. They did not have any extra money to buy food or get a room and were upset.

The highway was closed because this was rural Iowa and even staff had a difficult time getting to work.

Thinking of a vacation? Maybe not right now but even if you are going on a vacation, always make sure that you have some emergency money when you go on a trip. You may not need to use it but it would be wise to have some money in reserve or a credit card to pay for another meal or extra night in a hotel. The cause of the delay was weather related. Even when we left traveling was slow going until we got to the interstate.

Taking a trip is great and wonderful. Sometimes unforseen problems arise. If you are a worrier, you would definitely need to make sure you have extra money. If you aren’t you still need to make sure that you have extra money so that you won’t worry about anything. Don’t travel so close to the vest with your money, you may not need to use th extra money but even if you aren’t delayed, you may be interested in purchasing a souvenir or travel memento. Even if you don’t use the money or need to, it’s nice to go home with some money you didn’t spend after you’ve had a vacation.

The same old frugal rule applies… don’t spend all of your money and have some in reserve if you need to use it.