How to take a family vacation on a budget

How To Take a Vacation On a Budget

When you have a family with 3 children it is hard to be able to take a family vacation on a budget. With a few simple tips and tricks you can manage to take a family vacation in under $700-$800! That includes the hotel, food, entertainment, and transportation.

Hotel

1. Always book a hotel on a weekday and not the weekend. Hotels raise their rates on Friday's and Saturdays because it is the most popular days people book. Also, some hotels may give you better deals if you book more than 3 days.

2. Look at websites that will have better deals than the hotel's. Examples are hotwire, expedia, kayak, and my favorite is booking.com. 

3. When you get to your hotel and there is ANYTHING wrong with it whether its dirty, something having a small leak, or even the people next door being too loud. Tell the front desk and sometimes they will upgrade your room.

4. If you are going to a popular city you should try and find a hotel that is just out side of town. You can save a ton of money to go 5 miles away from the downtown area or popular streets.

5. Check to see if they have a mini fridge with a freezer.

Transportation

1. When planning your trip use member cards like speedway rewards to save up points or even kroger fuel points. You can use the points to save money when you fill up before you leave and speedways are everywhere so you will be able to use your points on the road. If you download the speedway app you can select things you purchase there to earn more points on top of the points you already earn for using it.

2. Estimated gas for a trip that is 600 miles away is $80 there and $80 back and about $30 for local driving during your trip. Total cost $190 approx with a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon.

Food

Food can become very costly when you have kids who are constantly want to snack or have something to drink. Eating out can be extremely costly so you will need to find ways to cut cost.

1. Shop at places like aldi and fresh thyme. You will save money and not sacrifice quality or taste. 

2. Stock up on snacks, fruit, bottled water, and capri suns.

3. Purchase a plug in electric stove top. (All hotels have some type of table you can use to sit at or to set things on. You can buy groceries to put in the mini fridge and cook on the stove top for meals in between activities. Bring your own pots, pans, paper plates, paper bowls, plastic spoons, forks, and cups. You may want to bring a real knife to help cut things you may cook. Also, crock pot meals are also easy to prepare and serve. You can buy snacks, meals, and drinks for a week for about $100 to $150 depending on what you want to eat. 

4. Meals I suggest are grilled cheese, pasta dishes, chili, soups you can add water to and put in crock pot, eggs & toast, cereals, PBJ's, ham or turkey for sandwiches, and frozen pre-made meals.

5. Don't forget to pack dish soap to wash your pots and pans.

Entertainment

1. Look on places like groupon and cardcash.com for discounts and deals to places that will be located near your vacation destination. You can snag some pretty good deals for things to do especially during summer.

2. Look for places that interest you and call them ahead of time to see if they have any deals going on or if they will during the time you will be going there. 

SUMMARY

Hotel for 3-5 days: $250 to $300

Transportation: $190

Food: $150

Entertainment:$100

Total: $740