There are ways to go about organizing vacations so that they don’t take a huge bite out of your bank accounts.

When millennials are asked what they cut out of their expenses in order to pay off their student loan debt, vacations are at the top of the list in many cases. Vacations are not easy to take for many people, but like many things in life, planning ahead can take you far. While they may not be the easiest things to organize, vacations are important to many people. According to a study by ValuePenguin, millennials are more likely than any other age group to say they’d give up on watching TV, using smartphones, and buying coffee. If you don’t believe the millennials, the same study showed that all age groups take vacations seriously, albeit less seriously than millennials, and they’d cut different things out of their budget to save for one.

If you’re looking at a nice vacation plan and cringing at the cost, you’re not alone, but if you go about it the right way, you can use one year’s vacation to pay off the next year’s, or at least a large chunk of it. With points and miles, it’s completely possible, particularly if you are willing to pledge loyalty to a brand or two.

So, if you are ready to pick a hotel group and an airline, you’re ready for the first steps towards banking in on loyalty rewards. For example, if you book a hotel within the same hotel group you plan on using next year, you can use their loyalty rewards to make your next trip much cheaper. The same can be said of airlines, as you’ll want to sign up for a frequent flyers program. However, the real vacation savings kick in if you decide to both sign up for loyalty rewards programs and then apply for a couple credit cards with excellent signup bonuses. Just be careful with your choice of credit cards, as many cards with these great bonuses have minimum spending amounts for the first few months and/or annual fees. This is where planning ahead can save you tons in the long run.