If you’re sitting close to a colleague, you might want to dim your screen when reading this because if you’re smart with planning your PTO next year, you could triple the consecutive days off by timing it with federal holidays and long weekends. Although I feel like I’m whispering this while writing, there’s nothing sneaky going on here, and it’s your right to plan your vacation time. Just do it wisely, and you could start with 16 days off and finish with 55.
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Here's How You Can Triple Your PTO Days for 2025
There are different approaches to strategically taking your PTO. Some opt for the all-in-one approach taking the block of time to get away from screens and completely disconnect. There’s a lot of value in that. It can seriously help your mental health, but some might find that they return to an overgrown jungle of emails and duties, which can feel overwhelming. The other is to take mircocations, which can be beneficial not only to break up the year but also help you balance your budget with small mini getaways.
Need some travel inspiration for 2025? Check out Matador’s Awards for 2024:
For the latter, the math wizards at USA Today shared the trick this week. All you need to do is look at federal holidays, which make three-day weekends, and tag on days on either side. But you’re going to have to move on this because the first opportunity to spin a long weekend into a five-day getaway lands on the first of January — and you know Karen from accounting crunched these numbers and booked that off in June. Also, pay close attention to Thanksgiving and Christmas 2025 because if you play your cards right, you could end up with nine consecutive days off for the price of three or four (depending on your company’s vacation day calendar).
According to USA Today, this is the formula you need to follow to get the most out of your PTO in 2025:
New Year’s Day — Wednesday, January 1
- Put in a request for Thursday, January 2 and Friday, January 3 to get five consecutive days off.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, January 20
- Put in a request for Friday, January 17 to get four consecutive days off.
Presidents Day — Monday, February 17
- Put in a request for Friday, February 14 to get four consecutive days off.
Memorial Day — Monday, May 26
- Put in a request for Friday, May 23 to get four consecutive days off.
Juneteenth National Independence Day — Thursday, June 19
- Put in a request for Friday, June 20 to get four consecutive days off.
Independence Day — Friday, July 4
- Put in a request for Monday, July 7 to get four consecutive days off.
Labor Day — Monday, September 1
- Put in a request for Friday, August 29 to get four consecutive days off.
Indigenous Peoples Day — Monday, October 13
- Put in a request for Friday, October 10 to get four consecutive days off.
Veterans Day — Tuesday, November 11
- Put in a request for Monday, November 10 to get four consecutive days off.
Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 27
- Put in a request for Monday, November 24, Tuesday November 25, Wednesday, November 26, and Friday, November 28 (unless you have this off already) to get nine consecutive days off.
Christmas Day — Thursday, December 25
- Put in a request for Monday, December 22, Tuesday December 23, Wednesday, December 24 (unless you have this off already), and Friday, December 26 to get nine consecutive days off.
