This post is written in partnership with BetterHelp.
If you suffer with an impulse disorder, or a similar impulsivity problem, you may experience frequent urges to travel, or make big purchases. Sometimes, taking a weekend trip somewhere special may feel like more of a priority than paying rent, especially while you’re in the decision-making moment. This is known as impulsivity, and it can be harmful. Even people with lots of money struggle with impulsivity, and taking a trip can still be a way to avoid internal problems, like relationship issues, or even to fulfil spending addictions.
Although travel is believed to be tremendously beneficial for our mental health, it’s important for us to learn how to travel wisely. Similarly, we need to teach ourselves how to make sound financial decisions -outside of our impulsive lens – so that we needn’t worry about coming home empty-handed.
Here are some tips on how to travel wisely if you struggle with impulse control disorder, or impulse issues.
Create a budget
Before you travel, deeply research every aspect of the trip you hope to take. You may benefit from someone helping you with this, especially if you often try to lie to yourself when you’re feeling impulsive. They might be able to help you to keep your budget realistic, and avoid over-spending.
To further cut the costs of your travel, you could look at travel budgeting websites; online calculators for gas prices, airfares, and accommodation rates can be particularly useful, for example.
If you can’t cannot afford your dream trip without blowing your budget, perhaps you might wish to spend a little longer saving up before you leave. A good way to save money, even when you’re feeling impulsive, is to withdraw it from the bank and place it inside a locked box or safe. Give the key to someone you trust, and don’t open it until you’ve reached your savings goal.
To further safeguard yourself against any unexpected spending while abroad, you should also have a separate budget for the bills you’ll need to pay both while you’re gone, and immediately after you get back.
After doing the maths, if you’ll have enough money to pay for your dream trip, spend a little time thinking about any expenses you might need at home, between now and when you go away. If you have pets, you’ll need to make a plan to ensure they’re being taken care of, whether you arrange for them to go into a shelter temporarily, or politely ask a neighbour or friend to assist at feeding times.
Likewise, if you have a car, for example, don’t leave yourself so short of cash that you wouldn’t be able to pay for any unexpected issues which might arise at the last-minute.
Carry emergency funds
Even with thorough planning, sadly, emergencies can happen on any trip. If you’re travelling by road, check that your car has a spare tyre, and carry any tools you’d need to change the tyre in your boot. You should also have an emergency fund of at least a couple of hundred pounds or so; after all, who knows when you might happen to need some extra cash when you least expect it?
If you don’t want to pay outright for car repairs, or costs associated with other emergencies while travelling, you might benefit further from taking out a decent travel insurance (something I never leave home without!) or roadside assistance policy.
Arrange somewhere to stay
When planning any trip, you need to be completely certain that your accommodation is definitely guaranteed for the duration of your trip.
If you haven’t heard back from your Air BnB host a couple of days ahead of your trip, or you’re unable to reach the hotel where you think you’ve placed your booking, it’s time to double-check that your chosen hotel, resort or guesthouse will be expecting you when you arrive.
Tell someone where you’re going
Never leave home until you’ve told a trusted friend or family member where you’ll be going. If something were to happen and that person becomes unable to reach you, then they’ll be able to call the emergency services or relevant authorities in the area where you’ll be staying, so that they can locate you if need be.
Don’t shrug off responsibilities
You may be tempted to quit your job or call in sick to go on a short trip – we’ve probably all been there at some point!
However, this kind of impulsive behaviour can have damaging long-term effects. If you lose your job, you’ll likely not have any money to spend when you come home – you could even end up losing your home, your vehicle, and more.
When travelling, be sure to give your employer reasonable notice and check that your annual leave dates have been confirmed. If you work from home or on a remote basis, inform your employer that you’ll be traveling and, if you need to, perhaps you can agree to work different hours for the days that you’ll be there. Don’t commit to work if you’re unable to deliver, though. A trip is not worth losing your income for, as exciting as it may be!
Research the area
Before you embark on your journey, research your destination. If you’re not familiar with the local area or you’ll be travelling to a big city, it’s wise to check which areas are notorious for crime, so you can make an effort to avoid them.
Make sure you also research the hotel you’re staying at, and always read the reviews. This step is especially important if you’re planning on renting an AirBnB or vacation home. If there are no reviews at all, or if the existing reviews are mostly negative, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a fantastic experience so, if you won’t incur any cancellation charges, you might wish to consider staying elsewhere.
By nature, travel is meant to be a fun, rewarding experience. Usually, however, spending time away from home is far more enjoyable when you have some firm plans in place, you’re armed with enough spending money (without blowing the bank!), you have a safe place to stay, and you have sound plans in place in the event of any hiccups or travel emergencies.
To learn more about how impulse control disorder impacts the mind and decision-making, check out BetterHelp at https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/impulse-control-disorder/.
Do you struggle with impulsiveness when it comes to travelling? How have you managed to deal with this? Comment below to share your recommendations with fellow blog readers.
This post is written in partnership with BetterHelp.