It takes a huge amount of discipline, but I found a way to save a bundle on vacationing. I agree that it’s foolish to borrow money to take a vacation- I feel I haven’t “earned” it if I can’t pay for it. But my method is that I pay for virtually everything with my Southwest Airlines Visa card, including all my utilities, business expenses, etc. I have 2 cards- one for business and one for personal transactions. For every $1200 spent, I get one credit, and I get a free round-trip ticket every 16 credits. It’s easy to rake up 2-3 credits per month. Here’s the catch: YOU MUST PAY THE BALANCE IN FULL EVERY MONTH! That’s not Visa’s rule- that’s mine. You can get into trouble quickly if you violate this rule! BUT, if you stick to it, it’s great- I haven’t purchased an airline ticket in years, and I can even transfer the ticket to friends and family (everyone wants to visit you when you live in Las Vegas!)
Anyway, it takes discipline, but by doing it this way, I save a bundle on my vacations!

I am developing a blog focusing on the benefits of investing in property in the Orlando area. A Google alert turned up your site, and I was curious if you were interested in a link exchange. My site is still in development, but when finished I hope to have general investment tips and strategies, popular areas around the city to invest, as well as fee and contact info for local property management companies.

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Jeff

Also, make sure you bring your GPS when traveling. This device saves not only gas and time but also helps you locate local attractions, restaurants, etc.

The wife and I enjoy staycations in this economy, but especially enjoy going to our place in Tahoe.

Best,

FS

Another way to is to make lunch your major meal. Lunch is often less expensive at restaurants than dinner and you have the same selections. Also try to eat a bit later in the afternoon so you can have a lighter evening meal.

I also second the idea of trimming expenses at home while you are gone. Turn down your heat – both for the central heat and water heater. If you subscribe to Netflix, stop your subscription while you are gone. We have also stopped our auto insurance when we are gone for several weeks and not planning on driving while away.

1) If you’re going to a museum, zoo, etc. check the website before your trip. Many of them offer free admission during a day on the first week of the month.

2) If you have a student ID, bring it!

3) I use the Amex Hilton card (no annual fee) for all my purchases and at the end of a year I have enough points for a 1 week stay at a very nice resort! I’ll usually use these points for my trips and save myself a whole lot on hotel costs.

4) Hit the grocery store when you arrive. I noticed I was spending quite a bit of money buying bottles of water here and there throughout the trip. I’ve learned to get a large bottle (or a 6 pack) at the local grocery store and bring it to my hotel room for consumption throughout the trip. (This is a good idea for snacks too!)

That’s it for now…hope you have a great trip!

1. Pack your own food – brilliant! Not only for $$ value, but also from a health aspect. My wife and I eat about 90% local organic food and we do not want to compromise our budget or our diets!

2. Rent a car – of course! As long as we’re going far enough we will always do this. We usually go with a Ford Focus because they newer ones get around 37 mpg highway. Once we figure in gas savings and wear & tear, this is a no brainer. Plus it’s more fun to drive a different car!

3. Trimming home expenses while gone – Oh snap! Want to save at least $50 during the course of your week long vacation? Do this.

There are a few things you mentioned that I was not aware of… I’ll be checking into them now, thank you.

What’s neat is that if we want to go to say Ireland, we can look back at this magazine and see when it popped into the ‘Best Deals’ column so we already had a fix on what time of year is least expensive to go. Also, they run a column of tips to save money that has saved me a bundle for business and personal travel.

BTW, we definitely subscribe to the ‘travel light’ mentality. Most places we go will have laundry facilities if needed, so there’s no reason to pack a truckload…literally…of clothes you won’t need. Of course, we’re not the types to go out to fancy dinners as we prefer being out and about fishing, snorkeling, etc.

When we traveled to San Francisco recently it was worth the extra $100 to have a non-stop flight versus a 3 hour layover.

If you are flying be prepared to be flexible, had we been able to be flexible we would have made $700 by taking the next flight instead of the one we were booked for. Unfortunately we couldn’t extend our trip, so we missed out.

John DeFlumeri Jr.