Budgeting for vacation

Today, we continued our budgeting series. Vacations can be so expensive but they don't have to be. A little bit of for thought can save you heaps of money while still having a great time with your family. We wanted to do this episode early in the season because the most important part of budgeting for vacation is starting with a plan early. If you wait until the last minute it is much harder to stay within your budget.

Have you heard the other episodes in this series? If you're looking for ways to save money, we have done episode on most topics. You can listen to them all by searching "budgeting" on our website. You can catch a few of our most recent ones HERE and HERE.

Listeners, please consider sharing our podcast with your friends. If you know a mom that needs encouragement and a good laugh, our podcast is for them. One of reviews mentioned she really appreciated that our podcast was okay to listen to with her kids. She didn't have to worry about any language in front of her kids. We were so thankful for the nice review.

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

Transcript

Recap

Traveling off-season can save you money on accommodations and attractions.

Booking accommodations in advance and shopping around for deals can help you find the best prices.

Packing your own food and taking advantage of free breakfasts can save you money on meals.

Setting a budget for souvenirs and bringing entertainment for downtime can help you stick to your budget and keep everyone entertained.

Vacations don't have to be expensive to be enjoyable.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

04:23 Booking Accommodations

10:31 Setting a Souvenir Budget

Transcript

Ellyn (00:07.427)

Hello all. Thanks for listening today. We have a budgeting episode for you. These are some of the ways that we save a little bit of money on vacation. We have talked a little about some of these in the past, but we are going to get some new ones to share with you guys today.

Lauren (00:34.894)

So before we go on, I think it's important to kind of talk a little bit about people who don't really budget for vacation, or they budget all year long for their vacation. So I totally get it if you're the type of person that's like, I've been saving for this all year and I'm not going to be cutting my expenses in any way because We saved for this. Yep, I get it. These are just a few ideas that,  that are good if you do decide that you just don't have a ton of money to spend, I guess. Or maybe you decide to use some of that money that you put aside for your vacation on something else. Like digging a new garden or something. I don't know. Just for example.

Ellyn (01:34.847)

or a second vacation. That's right, a weekend trip maybe.

Lauren (01:37.422)

Yep, two vacations for the price of one.

Ellyn (01:47.775)

So our first one, I think a lot of people know about, but it bears mentioning certainly. If you can travel off season, then more power to you. This is one of the benefits I feel of being a homeschooler is that we can travel in October when the weather is still nice, but there isn't anybody at the beach. 

Lauren (02:12.59)

No, I love going to the beach off season. I remember way back in the day when before we had kids. So way back in the day. But anyway, we decided that we wanted to go to the beach and we got a walk up condo. So it was right on the beach and we could see the beach and we could hear the water from our condo.

Lauren (02:40.814)

But it was on the third, count them third, floor with no elevator. And by the time that we were done with that vacation, our dog would just sit at the bottom and be like, oh man, this again. Because we had to go up six flights of stairs to get to it. The bright side is that we could see for miles. You know, like all, like far out to see and all the people Like walking around on the beach, it was beautiful and we were young then. But if we had had the kids with us, it would have been hard because getting them to walk up all those stairs might've been difficult. But the thing that was great about it is it was off season. It was in April and we paid, I want to say just under $400 for a week there.

Ellyn (03:37.151)

Nice.

Lauren (03:38.382)

I don't think you can get that anymore. I've looked, but it was, it was just such an amazing vacation and we got so much exercise. It was fun. I love going to the beach off season. I love being there when no one's there.

Ellyn (03:41.023)

Probably not. Inflation.

Ellyn (03:49.727)

Yep.

Ellyn (03:58.558)

We did a similar trip, not to the beach, we went to Niagara Falls, but we went in the fall when it was gorgeous and it was during the week. So all the little kidlets were in school and we had pretty much all of Niagara Falls to ourselves. It was amazing. And we stayed in a cute little house that got a really good deal on because it was during the week and a lot of times, or at least at that time, this was a few years ago, for Airbnb, it depends on the time of the week that you want to visit on how much you're going to pay for your accommodations. So, and I think hotels are like this too. So if you can travel and be there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you're going to be paying less than on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So if that's a possibility, then it's kind of like off season travel, but in the middle of the week. So we really enjoyed that trip and it was so great.  it wasn't busy, it wasn't crowded. We got to get right up to the rails and practically reach over and touch Niagara Falls, even though you shouldn't do that. Don't do that.

Lauren (05:13.614)

No, I have lean way over. That seems dangerous. But for those of you who do have your kids in school, you can still do this. You can take them out for a few, what's it called? A few educational days. Every school lets you have some, our school's district lets you have five. And this is a way that you can enjoy the off season and still be in regular school.

Ellyn (05:44.83)

Right, yep, and I know our district does that as well. Just and a lot of times the teacher will send. Some work with you. A lot of times it's more enrichment stuff than the new stuff, so you might. End up in the car doing a little bit of the work that the teacher says along, but that is a good way to get off season travel.

Lauren (05:57.294)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn (06:13.054)

and still be able to enjoy these things without the crowds. That's a good point

Lauren (06:19.79)

The next one is to check out the possible accommodations in advance. So, to think about camping. That'll save you a lot of money. well, for one, you can probably get the less expensive places because they haven't been booked out. So if you're planning your trip maybe for next spring or your trip for the fall you're going to see more of what's available than if you book a trip right now for next weekend. So that has the potential to save you money. However, I will also say if you're booking at the last minute in an Airbnb, they will bump down their price sometimes and hotels will do it too if you ask. I am coming into town. I see online that your price is this. Will you do this instead? And a lot of hotels will do it because they want any money better than none.

Ellyn (07:31.419)

Right. They want to move those rooms, so they'll give you a good deal on it. And there's also deal sites that you can use, which can save you significant amounts of money. If you do it right, sometimes it's better to book last minute. Different deal sites have different ways of doing it. Some deal sites will give you last minute deals. Others, it's better to book out a little bit further. So you just have to look around and see.

Lauren (07:41.806)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn (08:01.21)

what's going to work for you.

Lauren (08:05.198)

When you are looking for a hotel, you can look for one that has a kitchen in it or free breakfast. The kitchen or both would be awesome. The kitchen is going to save you from having to go out for every single meal. So, of times they'll have a full size fridge in there. So you can use that to store all your stuff for like when you're going out during the day. Maybe you go out for lunch but not dinner or dinner but not lunch. It just gives you more options when you have a kitchen with your room.

Ellyn (08:43.354)

Definitely. you're not going to probably get the most healthful food, but even just a microwave.  for a day or two, you can eat from the microwave if you are really trying to save a few bucks.

Lauren (08:56.558)

I have brought, so when we were going on a really long road trip where we couldn't make it in one day and we stayed over in a hotel, I have brought like a pizza casserole and I just dish a little bit of it onto all bunch of plates and heat it up in the microwave and voila, we have dinner.

Ellyn (09:22.97)

Yeah, we've done that too. And it's good. Then you know you're eating yummy food. 

Lauren (09:27.79)

It is good! Yeah, it's gotta be better for you than pizza. Okay, it's probably about the same, but still.

Ellyn (09:32.699)

And it's a huge money saver. Food that you're cooking at your own house and heating up in a hotel is going to save you a ton of money. So that's a really good one. And Lauren kind of glazed over the free breakfast, but the free breakfast is huge. If you can find a hotel that offers

Lauren (09:37.358)

It is. It saves you a lot.

Lauren (09:54.254)

Not to be sneezed at.

Ellyn (10:02.651)

a decent breakfast. You're set up for a good couple hours into your day and then, you know, maybe go out for lunch and then eat dinner in or, you know, get something that you can heat up in a microwave for dinner in and it, food doesn't have to cost a whole lot of money on vacation. It can, but it doesn't have to.

Lauren (10:31.086)

And what we always do is we plan to have one meal out or two, you know, or whatever number we decide on in advance. If we're going to a beach town, a lot of times I'll get fresh caught fish. So it's kind of like we're going out. I just go to a fishmonger, a local fishmonger, and get some fish and seafood and make something with it in my kitchenette. I'm sure all the people around me are really appreciative of my cooking fish, but what can you do? I actually have only done that in an Airbnb, so there weren't a lot of people around, but still. It's one way to save money and to also try out the local yummy things.

Ellyn (11:26.266)

Definitely. Yep. And lastly, as far as accommodations, shop around. There are really good deals depending on where you go and one one hotel or Airbnb can be significantly different in price from the next one. So really, really shop around and see what you can find.

Lauren (11:34.382)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn (11:55.545)

And especially if you're going close in or you don't have a lot of time between when you're shopping and when you want to stay, look around and see if you can find a deal. Approach a couple of different hotels and see if one of them will give you a better deal than a different one and see what you find.

Lauren (12:16.558)

Our next one is to pack your own food. So at some destinations, you're going to find that the food is more expensive than at home. So I would think ahead about that. I've actually looked up the grocery stores that were close by and checked their prices before we went. It's worth it sometimes. Sometimes things got like at beach towns. Sometimes things at the grocery store cost twice as much as they do at home. So if you can manage it, and I'm not saying that you should pack up, you know, 15 pounds of chicken into your van and then travel for 24 hours. That just doesn't sound like a very good idea, but there's, there's a lot of things. There's a lot of things that you can do. Like you're all your snacks.

Ellyn (13:02.709)

Ew!

Lauren (13:10.766)

that you know your kids are gonna need. They can't make it through without snacks and maybe fruit, veggies, that kind of stuff. Anything that will hang on until you get there. Maybe skip the bananas. They never travel well. But they are 59 cents or 49 cents. I mean, I don't know.

Ellyn (13:23.285)

Yes.

And they're cheap no matter where you are.

Ellyn (13:35.892)

Yep, this is the good one.

Lauren (13:38.446)

And with that, we do that thing that I already said, where I pack a real meal for us to for this is also for ease of travel, you get to where you're going, and you're not going to want to mess around with going shopping. Or even going out a lot of the time, I don't I don't feel like now spending another hour sitting down in a restaurant, I

Ellyn (13:57.077)

Mm -hmm.

Lauren (14:07.694)

I just don't want to play anymore.

Ellyn (14:09.364)

I remember when our big kids were little and we would go out to visit my husband's family who lives in the Midwest. And it was a good 14 hour drive that we always,when they were little, split it up over two days. And by the time we got to the hotel, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go back out. I just wanted to be in our room. I wanted to get them down to the pool. I wanted to relax. I didn't want to go out and I didn't want my husband to go out either. I wanted us to be at home wherever home was for that night. And I almost always packed a meal for us to just heat up while we were at the hotel. And that was, it took me two hours to make it.

at home, or well, maybe not quite two hours, but it took me some time to make it home while I was also packing, but it was so worth the time it saved when we were all tired and just wanted to get some energy out. You know, my kids had been sitting in the car all day long. They did not want to go to a restaurant.  They wanted to go to the pool. They wanted to go down and play the games that they had down in the common area and they just wanted to move and it just wouldn't have been fair to them to go and ask them to then sit in a restaurant. So I was really big about packing a meal and packing, we always pack big, you know, lots of snacks too for the ride. It helps to pass the time to eat. 

Lauren (15:53.966)

Right? Yep.

Ellyn (15:57.425)

And so, yep, that was a big one for us.  that's a long day and who wants to go and spend more of it sitting down somewhere.

Lauren (16:03.15)

It is. You just don't want to go somewhere else after that. It's so annoying. All right. Our next thing is to kind of stalk your destination and see what is available there. You can go on the internet and look up free things to do in this particular area and

Ellyn (16:07.568)

Right.

Lauren (16:32.782)

And usually it'll pop up a good list of stuff that you can do other than just like, for example, we went to a lighthouse and actually it wasn't free. It was $5. But still, that's not, that's not exactly really expensive. And we've gone to the, I'm just talking about ocean vacations right now, cause I'm in an ocean mode, but we've gone to basically all the forts in the South. And usually those are free. At least parts of them are. And they have parks and stuff like that. I know around here we have a free little park. It's like an introductory park. So they have the real park with all the roller coasters and everything. And then they have a little kitty park. And the little kitty park is free. So that's the kind of stuff that you can look for, just something to fill up a day. If you have a free day where you just don't have anything planned, it might as well also cost you nothing or almost nothing. And that's something I recommend doing in advance.

Ellyn (17:45.134)

We really liked to go to playgrounds because we go to the playgrounds in our own town all the time, but they're different in other places. So especially if you find a big town, if you happen to be staying near a big town, a lot of times they'll have a big public playground.

Lauren (17:59.47)

Yeah.

Ellyn (18:15.341)

And they, it was the most fun my kids had on vacation because everything was brand new. They had never played on this playground before. So they absolutely loved spending two or three hours at a playground. And then we would have a picnic lunch and be able to go on to whatever the next thing was for our vacation. But it was such a good way to just spend a couple hours and it was free. For  a lot of the times when we went places when my big kids were little that was the highlight of the trip was the new playground. That is fun too.

Lauren (18:54.446)

Or staying in a hotel. It's like, oh, we're going to see grandma and papa. And they're like, yay. And we're staying in a hotel, right? It's like, yeah, but that's not really the reason that we're going. And I sure hope you find your grandparents a little bit more fun than staying in a hotel.

Lauren (19:20.27)

No, they definitely did, but the hotel was new and exciting and smelled different. The smell isn't exactly a draw for me, but I don't know.

Ellyn (19:33.037)

No. No. No, no, no.

Lauren (19:37.806)

I live in a scent -free home.

Ellyn (19:39.949)

Yes.

Lauren (19:43.182)

I thought I was gonna skip through, but I'm not. All right, our next one is to look for coupons. It's amazing how many discount codes you can find online just by looking. Even Groupon has some good stuff every once in a while.

Ellyn (20:07.981)

Definitely in a lot of the major hotels, they'll throw out different discounts for different holidays, especially if it is the off season. They'll have a much lower rate for the off season just because they want to move those rooms. So this is another advantage to starting your shopping early. 

Ellyn (20:39.149)

it gives you more time to look. We tend to be spontaneous with our trips and so I think that we sometimes miss out on these early bird special sort of things. But that's just the way we travel. We like to, what do you want to do this weekend? Or we have a free weekend, let's do something fun.

Lauren (21:02.542)

Yes. Oh, you know, I love doing that too. And my husband hates it. He's like, why can't we, why are you always bringing this stuff on me? I don't like to have stuff sprung on me. I think it's really because he's just looking forward to doing nothing or something at home that he was planning on doing. And yeah, I ruin it.

Ellyn (21:06.861)

Me too.

Ellyn (21:15.949)

I'm sorry.

Ellyn (21:19.661)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn (21:26.029)

Let's go somewhere. Yep. I like stuff like that, but I don't. Jason doesn't say he hates it. But he usually leaves the planning for it in my hands, which maybe says how much he loves it.

Lauren (21:27.534)

I wanna go somewhere.

Ellyn (21:46.697)

I'll go, but I'm not planning.

Lauren (21:49.39)

I'm sure he always has fun.

Ellyn (21:51.688)

He does. We do. We have fun doing stuff like that. So our next one is to plan a specific budget for your souvenirs. I don't really buy a lot of souvenirs personally. 

Lauren (22:09.902)

I don't either, but I will say the kids do. So I like to put them on a budget for it and something really reasonable, like five bucks. I feel like that's more than enough for a child's souvenir budget. And I actually do collect magnets for various lighthouses. I love lighthouses. I know I'm an old lady.

Ellyn (22:15.976)

Yeah.

Lauren (22:39.406)

But I do, I do love them. They're so mysterious. You know, this giant thing sticking out of basically the ocean. Totally mysterious. But I don't know. I just like them.

Ellyn (22:53.224)

Yes.

Lauren (22:58.67)

So I always get a lighthouse magnet when we go to the ocean.

Ellyn (23:06.792)

Which is all you've talked about. Is that the only place you go?

Lauren (23:10.83)

No, I actually we go camping too, but I usually keep that a little bit closer to home. We never go further than an hour or have never well, besides one way we're camping with family, but when it was just us, we've never gone further than an hour.

Ellyn (23:28.552)

Mm -hmm.

Lauren (23:32.046)

I like to be close enough that I can just be like, you know what? I'm not having fun anymore. I want to drive home.

Ellyn (23:36.04)

This is not fun. It's been raining for three days. I'm ready to go home now. Yes. We generally camp fairly close to home. We live in a beautiful area with rivers and lakes all around us. I don't see any reason to go farther than an hour because we can camp in a beautiful place within an hour. And I can ditch the camping if it isn't what we hoped it was going to be and just go to sleep in our own beds.

Lauren (24:10.894)

Yup.

Lauren (24:19.47)

All right. And our final one is to make sure and bring some entertaining things with you that aren't necessarily part of the vacation. So like books, make sure your kids are well stocked on books, games, and wheeled devices, like a bike or a scooter or something like that.

Ellyn (24:48.034)

And since we were just talking about camping, I think this is especially important when you are camping. I think less so when you're on, let's say, a beach vacation. Right, right. But when you're camping,

Lauren (25:02.51)

right in order to ride the wheeled objects at the beach. But in that case, you would want to bring like your buckets, your shovels, your, you know, so it depends on where you're going.

Ellyn (25:13.73)

Right. But when you're camping, I feel at least when we camp, we have a lot more downtime. Camping is the vacation. We're not camping. Usually we're not camping to do other things. We're camping because that's where that's what we want to be. And so when we camp, there tends to be more downtime. So I think it is important to bring games and bikes and books and you know stuff that they can play with and uh talk oh chalk when you're camping is amazing  

Ellyn (26:00.834)

Because there's always paths that are, I mean, at least where we camp, they tend to be paved. And so those are super fun for them to be able to go and draw giant chalk drawings. So that's what we do. We like to have the things to do when we camp. But it is important in other places also. Like if you're in a hotel and you face a rainy day and the plans that you had didn't pan out the way you thought they would, you might be in the hotel for the day. And so you might need some of this other stuff. So probably not the bikes.

Lauren (26:45.39)

And on such days when something happens to disrupt the plan that you had, many times the new plan is rather pricey. So it does save you money to make sure that you have some kind of entertainment for downtime.

Ellyn (26:58.082)

right.

Ellyn (27:05.41)

Definitely. Yep.

Lauren (27:09.486)

Alright guys, that's all we have on this topic. Well, probably not all. We could talk longer, but I don't think we're gonna. Wherever it is that you decide to go this year, remember it doesn't have to cost a lot to be fun. We wish you and your family safe travels for this year on your vacation. Until next time!