Get Organized: Vacation Planning

Nothing makes me happier than a well-planned vacation. When you organize and plan your vacation in advance of your time off, you can make the most of every minute while you're gone.

The lead up to your holiday should be as stress-free as the vacation itself. The more organized you are during the planning phase, the more likely things will fall into place. When you have the information you need at your fingertips—at the airport or car rental kiosk, in the taxi, at the hotel check-in desk—you stop worrying about what might happen next and actually enjoy being in the moment. Here's how to do it.

3 to 6 Months Out: Planning
Budget. At least three months before your vacation, you should know roughly where you'll go and with whom. Wanderlust can lure you to far-flung destinations, but your budget may keep you closer to home. Three months out, you should have a realistic grasp of your vacation budget, both in total and per day. Ask people you know who have been to the destination before what's a good price for flights and accommodations to get a baseline figure against which you can judge results from travel search websites, like Expedia and Travelocity.

Flights and accommodations. Typically, the largest expense of a vacation is airfare, and when you're not traveling by plane, it's accommodations. For inexpensive alternative forms of accommodations, such as apartment rentals rather than hotels, see Travel for Less: Tips for Booking Vacation Rentals.

Start tracking prices for airfare and looking for deals on hotels at least three months before your trip. Free travel search websites, such as Orbitz (4 stars, Editors' Choice) and Kayak (3 stars), have price tracking features that let you sign up for email alerts, letting you see when the cost of a flight goes up or down.