While grocery shopping at home, savvy seniors carefully take stacks of coupons and drive all over town to different stores to save pennies. However, when many go traveling, they think nothing of shelling out $200 for dinner at a posh restaurant or betting $100 a hand at the blackjack table.

When taking a trip, it’s easy to get into the anything-goes mood and toss caution and money out the window. The excuse is: let’s have fun now, and worry about budgets when we get home. The smart travel industry always deliberately sets the scene for unlimited tourist spending. The mood is contagious, but there are ways to modify it.

When planning a new travel venture, before putting out any money, consider your entire plan. Then begin to budget it sensibly. For instance, if planning to hit that posh Florida or Hawaii seaside resort, with room rates of $300 a day or more, reconsider it. Instead, sign on for a cruise at the cost of $100 a day, and it’s all inclusive, with meals, entertainment and everything else.

Before you leave home and again after you arrive at your destination hotel or cruise ship, do some financial homework. Look for ways to save money up front, such as coupons, in-room deals, as well as online deals. When you get to your destination, check with the front desk or ship’s purser to pick up additional discounts and special prices.

A recent example happened when your travel4seniors.com editor was in Las Vegas. Our snooty relatives stayed at the very upscale resort on the Strip. We joined them for lunch, and the bill for four plus tip was $400.

That evening we invited them to our modest, but cozy hotel on a nearby street for a buffet dinner there. The total bill was $160, and it included endless choices in food items, unlimited second helpings and desserts.

When on vacation, you shouldn’t take all the fun out of it by counting pennies for every expense. However, you should make some major decisions about money before you leave home, and stick to a budget. Then you can have the great time you so richly (or at least modestly richly) deserve.