It’s the American way. Go on vacation to relax, and put everything you do, everything you eat, everywhere you stay and all the souvenirs you buy on the credit card. Then return home to the stress of “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go,” dreading the enormous credit card bill. But with a little planning, it doesn’t have to be like that.

First, research your destination. Look it up on the Internet, read some travel books, talk to people who have been there recently. Find out where to stay and how much it costs, how you’re going to get there — airplane or car — and how much that costs, what the average daily price of food per person is, where is the best place to buy your commemorative T-shirts and coffee mugs, and how much they cost.

If you’ve read my columns or heard my radio show, you know what comes next: Do a vacation budget. If you’re one of those debt-free people with cash in the bank, pull out that debit card and start making reservations.

Most likely, you don’t have that kind of money lying around, so you still have some work to do. Divide the amount that you budgeted for your vacation by the number of pay periods you have left before you leave. If you have four months until your trip and you get paid twice a month, then divide the total cost by eight. That’s the amount you need to save from each paycheck to get the total needed for the trip. Put the cash from your paycheck in an envelope until you need it for your trip. Then pay cash for everything while you’re gone.

The cash you save for vacation can’t be the money that was supposed to go to pay down your debt, fill up the emergency fund, pay the electric bill or any other necessity. If you can’t save for vacation above and beyond the normal payments you need to make, then you can’t afford to go on that vacation.

Years ago, a friend gave me an antique folder of envelopes that had been used for saving money. At the top of one of the envelopes was the word “Hawaii.” Once upon a time, people saved their money in an envelope until they had enough to pay cash for their trip. Do you think this family made it to Hawaii? I do.

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Dave Ramsey’s financial advice appears every week in Quick & Simple. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace Revisited.