For a week or so in January we left the cold winter weather of Ohio and drove to the Florida Keys. So today I want to share with you a few ways to save on vacation.
5 Great Ways to Save on Vacation:
1. Determine your priorities. Is it really important to stay in a 4 star hotel with all the amenities, or can you be happy in a smaller, slightly outdated but clean room? We found a 2 star hotel that was rated excellent for it’s cleanliness and and the friendliness of the staff. Our room was small, but the bed was comfortable and housekeeping kept our room so nice and clean. This gave us a larger budget for activities.
2. Talk to the locals. The desk guy at our motel recommended the neatest state park to visit and it had a lovely beach. A crew member on a sailing ship we went on recommended the greatest restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with the best food ever, and didn’t pay any more than we would’ve normally.
3. Pack food. We took milk and cereal for breakfast and sandwich makings, chips, yogurt and fruits for lunches. We also took down our electric skillet and made supper once or twice. We ran out of food once and visited the grocery store. So if you are flying and cannot bring your own food, you could buy it later at a grocery store. By eating breakfast at the hotel and packing our lunches, we saved at least $30 a day. Giving us a larger budget to try new restaurants and new foods when we did eat out.
4. Coupons. Motels, travel centers and other places often have all sorts of flyers for different attractions. Many of these flyers have coupons. Better yet, we found two different booklets filled with coupons. So, we went through, pulled out everything that looked interesting and then did some online research, and compared different places and prices. We saved about $50 with those coupons.
5. Set a daily budget. Decide how much you have to spend throughout the course of your vacation on food and attractions. Then decide what your daily budget is, based on that. It meant we didn’t get to do several things we wanted to, but we were also able to spend way less on some days and so for our last day we were able to go on a 6 hour cruise and do some really fun things.
Fun doesn’t have to cost a lot. Sometimes, just being together in a beautiful place is enough. 🙂 Do you have any ways to save on vacation?
Sharing at The Purposeful Mom
any mouse says
February 6, 2013 at 12:14 pmYou make everything sound soo fun! You shoulda took me along. I coulda made it funner. haha
Ana Iris says
February 6, 2013 at 8:56 pmSearching online for codes and coupons to use maybe at a restaurant etc. If you are looking online for Hotel prices there is always an option to put in a Promo code/coupon code simply by just doing a google search you can almost always find coupon code to save even more!! always checking daily by calling the hotel and online since rates are always changing. also some hotels “Price Match” other hotel prices so it’s always good to ask. Even just bargaining with them will work.
Kendra says
February 7, 2013 at 9:20 amYes, online codes are great! We have called the hotels in the past as well.
Sue@housepretty says
February 7, 2013 at 8:46 amActually, you hit on my top ones, huff! Ah, that’s okay, I guess great minds think alike, lol! Oh, one other one, check out places during more off-season times, as long as the attractions you want to enjoy are still open during those times. That in itself, can save you a ton of money!
Kendra says
February 7, 2013 at 9:19 amYup, that’s a good one. Mainly why we when to Florida when we did. 🙂
Katherines Corner says
February 7, 2013 at 11:39 amfun and practical too. Love the photos. Thank you for sharing at the hop xo
Barb @ A Life in Balance says
February 7, 2013 at 4:20 pmGreat tips! I love the point about talking to the locals. I love talking to everyone everywhere I go because I never know what I’ll learn.
Thanks for linking up at Motivation Monday!
Barb @ A Life in Balance says
February 7, 2013 at 4:21 pmGreat tips! I love the point about talking to the locals. I love talking to everyone everywhere I go because I never know what I’ll learn.
Thanks for linking up at Fabulously Frugal Thursday!
Jeri Lynn Repp says
February 7, 2013 at 6:52 pmGreat Tips!
Thelma F. Cameron says
February 7, 2013 at 8:47 pmJust like in our day to day life, the easiest and quickest way to save money on the budget is on food. Now here is where it gets touchy. It’s a vacation, and for many that means not lifting a finger in the kitchen. I can appreciate that, but I thought I would throw out some additional suggestions for saving money on vacation…strictly in the food department.
Lelanie @ To Sew With Love says
February 18, 2013 at 9:36 amthanks for sharing these great tips to save on vacation!
Kendra says
February 18, 2013 at 10:22 amThanks for stopping by Lelanie. 🙂
Garf says
February 18, 2013 at 9:41 amcurrently on vacation and as much as I would like to save money on everything I need, the inflation is just too high.
Kendra says
February 18, 2013 at 10:22 amYes it is. But, every little bit helps!
Rachel says
February 18, 2013 at 10:01 amGreat tips! I agree with number 2 sooooo much! My family has been on several cruises (which we found amazing deals on!) and always check out what the locals have to say. We also often take their tours–same thing for half the price!
Kendra says
February 18, 2013 at 10:21 amI have never heard of asking the locals for tours. We are so going to do this next time!
Nickida says
February 18, 2013 at 11:38 amLots of great tips. I really like them all. I totally agree with the food tip. It’s why we are looking into timeshares so we don’t have to spend a lot eating out on vacation.
Kendra says
February 18, 2013 at 12:32 pmI like the idea of timeshares a lot, but at this point with just two of us, we are still a lot better off finding a small but clean hole-in-the-wall place to stay. Thanks for stopping by!
nona humphreys says
April 16, 2018 at 5:27 pmTimeshares are not all they are cracked up to be. My family had one once…. NEVER AGAIN!!!
Lyly says
February 18, 2013 at 8:09 pmA vacation sounds great right about now. Thanks for the tips, looks like you had a lot of fun!
Kendra says
February 18, 2013 at 9:38 pmWe did have fun! Thanks for stopping by!