Are you one of those families that start planning the summer vacation as the school year starts winding down? Is so you’re probably concerned about the financial part of vacations. Who doesn’t want to enjoy the best vacation they can, especially if it’s the only one the family gets in a year. To help you along the way, here are some frugal ideas which might help to lessen the worry about money while taking a family vacation.
Plan ahead
Once you’ve decided on your destination, research it and the surrounding areas. Get in touch with the City Commerce and request a packet of information about the attractions and eateries in that area. Be sure to ask about any coupons the city has to offer for vacationing in their area.
If you’re going to be visiting a national park or state park, request information from the Parks and Services area. Sometimes you can get a price reduction for vacation in different months, than in peak season.
Closer Vacation Spots
To help cut back on vacation expenses, consider vacationing closer to home. Make it a family project to research surrounding areas in your state. Think about visiting somewhere you haven’t before.
Instead of staying in motels, why not try tent camping? It’s a lot cheaper to camp than to stay in a motel. Most state parks and national parks have more than primitive camping grounds. You’ll find especially in the RV areas, nice bathrooms equipped with showers and indoor plumbing, so you wont have to sacrifice those showers and bathrooms when you go camping.
If you find fun vacation spots close to home, you can stay at home and save that expense all together. A few out of town one day vacations can be just as sweet as taking a week or two for family vacations.
Take Food With You
You will save hundreds of dollars if you plan to take food with you while on vacation. Load your ice chest with lunch meats, sodas, perishable condiments, milk and other items which need to be on ice.
Bring along your snacks, bread, cereal, the rest of the sodas for the duration of the vacation. Pack accordingly. This expense of vacation can be almost wiped out, if you bring as much of your eating requirements as possible. Plan for maybe one or two eating out treats, but make it a budget friendly eatery. Find coupons to go with the places you’ll be eating at.
Pack Smartly
To make sure you don’t need to buy clothing for unexpected climate shifts, pack accordingly. Since it’s summer most vacationers will be packing their summer clothing, but plan for the unexpected and pack at least one outfit for inclement weather. If you don’t you might find an added expense in needed to purchase clothing for the time the weather is bad.
Don’t forget to pack all your toiletries, extra tissue, first aid kit, medicines, and so on. You can purchase travel size before hand, but you’ll come out cheaper buying the normal size needs if you shop with coupons. If you have all you need on hand, just bring what you have from home. Save yourself this expense all together by taking it with you.
Car Maintenance
Get your car vacation ready. Have it serviced, the oil changed, the tires aired up, the belts checked, air conditioning checked, radiator checked and so on. When your car runs efficiently, you’ll save money.
Start out with a full tank of gas. When it hits the half way mark, stop and refuel. You’ll find you get better gas mileage by keeping the tank as full as you can when traveling. While stopped don’t forget to check the tires as well. This too aids in getting the best out of your car while on the road. After all gas is usually the biggest expense of the whole vacation.
*Side note* Make sure everyone takes their bathroom breaks on these stops regardless, this will cut back on the frequency of stops. You’d be surprised how much those unplanned for stops can cost.
Vacationing Close To Friends And Family
Another way to cut back on a lot of vacation expenses is to vacation where you can stay with family or friends, or if that is not an option, vacation close enough where you can eat a few meals with them while on vacation. Next to gas, food expense can be quite a bit of out of pocket spending.
When those staycations wont suffice, planning ahead for your vacation can be the best thing you do. Gather those discounts regarding attractions, eateries, motels, parks, really whatever you’re going to be doing. Keep your car in top running condition while on the road, and pack as much as you can take with you regarding food and clothing. By do this you can have a great time with your family and saving a lot of money in the process.