Comments on: Planning a Family Vacation Without Breaking the Bank

By: Craig

Craig — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:42:11 +0000

I think the budgeting and saving is the best way to save money on a trip. You always want to pay cash so that the vacation can be nothing more than fun.
From there you can save so much buy spending a little extra time on the booking stage. Check multiple sites and be flexible with your timing.
Finally, remember that even though it is a vacation you can still say no and have a great time. We falsely believe vacations should be without restraint. This will typically result in a bad financial aftertaste after you get home.

By: craig

craig — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:39:58 +0000

I have recently used kayak.com to book a flight for an upcoming vacation I am going on.

By: Patrice

Patrice — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Thanks for the tips! I will surely check those sites you gave.

By: KevinatOutOfYourRut

KevinatOutOfYourRut — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:01:14 +0000

If money’s really tight you might want to consider taking long weekends (3-4 days) as opposed to a full week. That will work well with Laura’s emphasis on traveling locally and by car.

An added benefit is that it might enable you to travel to two different destinations, say Diseny on one trip, the beach on another. Plus if you space the trips, it might be a little easier on your budget than taking one big trip at once.

Might also keep you from using up paid vacation time at work, especially if the weekend trips are combined with a holiday. You may need only 1-2 vacation days for each trip, rather than 5, and you can use the unused days for other purposes (or other trips!).

One more thing; if your hotel doens’t provide a breakfast in the price, picking up some donuts, bagels or a box of cereal for the kids at a local grocery store or quick mart saves a bundle over restaurant meals.

By: Charlie@paylessforfood

Charlie@paylessforfood — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:48:58 +0000

If you’re going to be in a place for a week or more definitely check out the rates for an extended stay hotel. These places have GREAT weekly rates often 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a conventional hotel.

Best of all they have their own mini-kitchens that allow you to cook your own meals and refrigerate your own food.

Two of the better and relatively cheap extend stay hotels are Extended Stay America and Inn Town Suites.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:56:34 +0000

Great posts. Planning is one sure way to save without breaking the bank. You have some really great tips. Bookmarking it now

By: My Money Your Money

My Money Your Money — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Bonus tip for fcn readers: Once you bought a ticket: Keep the track of fare to see if it drops. Several airline gives best fare guarantee. If the fare drops by midnight on the same ticket (itinerary and class), you can get the difference refunded. Register yourself to yapta.com, Input your information, yapta which will track fare shifts for you.

By: Manshu

Manshu — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:02:36 +0000

I’ve always felt very frustrated looking at multiple sites like Pricleine, Orbitz etc. I use Expedia and I don’t remember the last time I compared Expedia to something else and found a cheaper and feasible option there.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:54:46 +0000

@Erik: Having a kitchenette is very helpful. We love keeping out food until the next day. It saves money and we can just stay an be lazy on vacation.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:49:22 +0000

I just had one of my vacations of the year — went to London for Memorial Day weekend with my GF. British Airways was running a special — buy two RT tickets and they’d pitch in two nights in a hotel. I bought a third night — total cost for airfare from DC + hotel was $1150. While there, we spent about $750 — our transportation was always the tube and Heathrow connect, except when we took the wrong train back to the airport and had to pay $30 for a cab. I don’t buy souveniers, and she bought hers for under 20 GBP.

We’re taking a week-long cruise at the end of the year. The ship departs from a local port, so we don’t have to worry about airfare. We’ll be getting a balcony on this ship for under $1400 (inc taxes) for the two of us.

We’ve got some more exotic stuff in the works, but we’ll need to save for it. That’s what the GF and I do — live frugally so we can take the vacations we want. I don’t care for nice cars and big houses, but I do care to see the world. For me, the choice is a no brainer.

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:46:48 +0000

If you will be gone for more than three or four days, I definitely recommend finding a hotel room or vacation rental with a kitchen. You will save so much on food costs by cooking breakfast and lunch. Then, you have more money to spend on a nice dinner and doing activities. Don’t waste all of your spending money eating out!

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:22:33 +0000

Nice post!

I think many people forget themselves and their finances on vacation– “Oh well, it’s my vacation and I deserve it!”

Proper planning, budgeting, and spending as you outline can make for a nice vacation without the post vacation blues of paying the bills.

By: Neal@wealth pilgrim

Neal@wealth pilgrim — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:46:51 +0000

Just being aware of having a budget for vacation is great.

I am ashamed to admit it but the last time we went on vacation, we didn’t even discuss these items.

Great reminders….next time, I’ll have this discussion with the family.