Summer Spending Was Sneaking Up on Me — Until I Did This

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Each month, NerdWallet suggests one wallet win to help you feel more confident about your money. We focused on money-saving strategies the past two months. For May, we’re switching gears to talk summer spending.

Why make summer plans now?

Summer is an expensive time. Americans who plan to take a vacation in summer 2026 that requires a flight and/or paid lodging expect to spend $3,940, on average, according to a NerdWallet survey.

If you’re anything like me, the expenses don’t stop at travel. My summer usually also involves sorting out childcare, preparing for multiple birthday celebrations and tackling back-to-school shopping.

Maybe you’ll host a Fourth of July party, or pack your calendar with concerts and sporting events.

There’s another wrinkle this year: War in Iran is driving up the price of gas, air travel, food and more. Planning now can help mitigate the cost and avoid surprises.

What’s motivating me: In January, I was proud of myself for getting a head start on arranging my son’s summer activities. I booked him a week at one of the most popular (and expensive) camps in our neighborhood.

I fully intended to keep the momentum going, but life — and, honestly, laziness — got the better of me. It’s nearly four months later, and I still have *checks notes* nine weeks of the school break to fill. The longer I wait, the less time there is to spread out the cost.

Time required: Less than an hour to start. Chipping away at your plans may take a few hours, days or weeks depending on how elaborate they are.

I opened up work and family calendars to map out expenses. I noted my son’s first and last day of school, my company’s holiday closures, birthdays and Father’s Day. I narrowed down dates for summer camps and a family vacation.

I used a budgeting app that’s linked to my credit card and bank accounts to check my recent transactions, income and savings account balance. This helped my husband and I set a spending limit that accounts for our recurring expenses.

We decided to prioritize summer camp planning because it’s the heaviest lift. Another parent emailed me and a few others about coordinating camps for our kids. My husband and I started looking into the suggested locations, compared costs and bookmarked a couple of options in our price range.

How long it took: Checking calendars and marking down key dates took about 10 minutes. Reviewing our budget took another 10 or so minutes.

Researching vacation destinations and camps, and coordinating schedules with relatives and fellow parents is a work in progress. I expect it’ll take about a week to tie everything up.

What worked: Getting the details in place for some of our larger expenses was a huge relief. I have a solid understanding of how much we can comfortably spend between now and the end of summer, and a few less items on my to-do list.

The most valuable part of this challenge was reminding myself how much spending we’re about to do. It motivated me to look for expenses to trim to offset costs. We’ll limit takeout orders for the next month while we pad our savings — that could easily free up $200 or more.

What didn’t work: As much as I wanted to wrap up planning quickly, it’s going to take time. I’m an overthinker, for one, and the parent email thread has moved at a glacial pace.

How you can try it yourself

🚘 Revisit the plans you’ve made. Consider whether you need to adjust for any changes in your life, or the world. Gas prices may have you rethinking that cross-country roadtrip.

📱 Check your savings, income and expenses. Knowing how much money you have coming and going can help you make a budget that won’t strain your finances. NerdWallet’s app is one tool you can use to check your cash flow on a regular basis.

💰 Price out your plans. Estimate the costs of summer purchases you expect to make — and not just the obvious stuff like airfare or music festival tickets. How much might you spend on restaurant meals during vacation? Are property taxes or car insurance premiums due?

⏰ Give yourself a timeline. Plans and budgets can fall apart if you wait too long. Schedule savings contributions and set booking and buying deadlines. Get other participants involved as early as possible so you can lock down dates and reservations.

If you’re following along with us on this monthly financial challenge, test out the tips we shared today over the next few weeks. We’ll be back again next month to focus on insurance comparison shopping. And if you missed last month’s edition, take a look back at how to do a subscription audit.

About the author

Lauren Schwahn is a writer at NerdWallet who covers credit scoring, debt, budgeting and money-saving strategies. She contributed to the “Millennial Money” column for The Associated Press and managed a team of writers producing content for the series. Her work has also been featured by USA Today, MSN, The Washington Post and more. Lauren has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is based in San Francisco.

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