A few days ago I entered RCI’s Win Your Dream Vacation Sweepstakes. It had actually been on my “to do” list for a few days, and I was really looking forward to entering it, because as part of the entry, you get to build your own dream vacation. I thought that sounded like a ton of fun, but I actually set aside a chunk of time to do it because I assumed it would take 20-30 minutes to do.

NOPE! Not more than 3 minutes after I started, I had my results! It was ridiculously easy and the dream vacation that was built was absolutely perfect. Basically, RCI showed me just through this sweepstakes that they had what I needed, and could take care of every little detail if that’s what my heard desired. I may have gone back and visited this information daily and swooned over it. Just sayin’.

Please send me to a beautiful beach (St. Maarten blew my mind with its beauty and my stay was WAY too brief there  back in November). The place I stay needs to be family-friendly. And I don’t want to have to fret over a thing, but instead to know that it is all paid for. That’s the recipe for true relaxation for me! And it looks like creating a vacation that looks just like that is a piece of cake for RCI.

No Time to Plan? No Money to Spend?

There was a time in my life when I would spend tens if not hundreds of hours planning out vacations. Largely this was to try to save as much money as humanly possible since more often than not, our budget was crazy tight. And the truth is, there are many instances where I would get partially through the planning process only to abandon the dream of a vacation altogether, reasoning that we simply couldn’t afford it.

But after 12 years of marriage and 2 kids, I now have this perspective: we can’t afford NOT to take time off to be together. This is true for time just as a couple, and it is also true for memory-making for our entire family. I don’t meant to imply that you should spend money you don’t have, but rather that you really should work a vacation fund into your budget and set aside money every month so that eventually you’ll have enough there to create some memories that you will cherish forever (like of your family playing on the beach in St. Maarten!).

photo credit: alljengi via photopin cc

Sometimes it is worth spending a little bit more to have an expert handle all the details for you. It can save you time and headache, and not give as much wiggle room to start to justify NOT going. If someone else is taking care of all the details for you, that just frees up more time in your life to relax, friends! And if your savings rate is leaving you feeling like you’ll be taking that dream vacation when you are 80 and not a moment before, then you really must enter this sweepstakes! Someone is going to win their dream vacation worth up to $25,000: if you enter, it just might be you!

In fact, a total of 40 vacations are going to be given away in celebration of RCI’s 40th anniversary. RCI is the global leader in vacation exchange and I promise you this: they have something for everyone (not just those of us who long to be beach bums!).

You can enter from now until June 18th, and the more you share your dream vacation through social media, the higher your chances of winning become!

What does your dream vacation look like? Big city exploration? Spa getaway? Time with girlfriends? Time to yourself? Whatever your vision, you can build it with RCI. And you just might win it, too!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.