My top 15 tips for traveling on a budget!

This is definitely the most asked question I receive. Do you have any tips on saving money while traveling? In fact, I do. Since we got married and were trying to pay off student loans while making two teacher salaries, it has become a passion of mine to find ways to make meaningful memories without breaking the bank. While there are instances in which we do splurge, we often save in other ways that I don’t even share about. So, here’s my gift to you…how to still travel and find adventures while not spending exuberant amounts.

While I see many people who travel a lot use credit card points to travel on a budget, we are not one of them. As my family grew into a family of five, we have continued to learn and refine our traveling skills while also, splurging on the things that really mean a lot to us. For unique experiences, we definitely will spend more money. That being said, we have taken trips that cost us less than $200 that have been some of our favorites. Here’s my top 10 best tips for traveling on a budget!

1. Day Trips: Do not underestimate the value of day trips! There are so many spots within 2.5 hours of us that I would consider a day trip for. If this seems daunting with kids now, start with shorter day trips…go explore a town 30 or 45 minutes away for a full day. Another way you could do this is break up the day trip. Drive an hour, explore in that town, and then, drive another hour and explore. Take a different route home and explore some other spots along the way. As your kids get used to day trips, they will get better at spending that much time in the car. Also, you will become more confident in your skills of taking your kids further. Make it a family day trip or bring along a grandparent, family member, or friend to make it a little easier for you too. You’ll be shocked at all that you find and you save the cost of a spot to stay. This allows you to spend more on activities or food if you want. Or you could use some of my other tips and make it a free day besides gas money. Don’t forget that you can take day trips from a destination you visit too! We often plan a day trip to go a little further from the destination we are staying, so we can explore different areas.
2. Pack your meals along! This tip seriously saves so much money. Whether day tripping or going on a vacation, we don’t eat out a ton for a multitude of reasons. Honestly for us, with kids, eating out isn’t always an enjoyable experience. We have to wait for food, the kids have a lot of energy, they drink all of their milk and then, aren’t hungry for their food, or it’s the wrong kind of macaroni n’ cheese. Our family also, tries to pack a ton into each day, so eating out takes time and our time is valuable for making memories/exploring. When you pack your own food, you can eat when it fits your schedule or on the go. You can eat at a park or in nature or somewhere that makes memories too. As we first started doing this, it was a little overwhelming. Thinking of feeding multiple people multiple meals on the road can feel challenging. Yet, it has gotten easier the more I do it. Our go- to meals include: sandwiches, chicken salad with rolls or naan bread, cheese/crackers/pepperoni, quesadillas, yogurt parfaits and muffins, snack boards, and tortellini skewers (with tomatoes, pepperoni, olives, and mozzerella). These are all things you can take on the go with some ice packs and a cooler and minimal prep. We sometimes take full vacations with eating out only once or twice (especially if our hotel has continental breakfast). Along with the main meals, I bring along fresh fruit (that doesn’t need to be refrigerated), apple sauces, snacks, protein balls, and crackers to fill in the rest of the meal or serve as snacks.
3. If you eat out, eat at Sam’s Club/Costco or only get parts of your meal out. Why does this save money? Let me explain…I love treating my kids to ice cream or fun treats at a bakery and I also, love fun coffee drinks. If I’m going to spend money eating out, this is often what I will splurge on. Buying a donut for each kid is way cheaper than buying full meals at a restaurant. The rest of their meal can easily be filled in with food that I brought along and they still get something fun without breaking the bank. Also, we will often eat at Sam’s Club or Costco’s food court for under $10 for the entire family. If we’re out of town and there’s a Sam’s Club close by, we have no problem eating a meal there instead of a sit down restaurant. Again, you will be shocked at how much having food ready on the road saves you.
4. Make sure you pack snacks and things for the kids to do! This seems like a no-brainer, but there is nothing worse than having hangry or crabby kids in a spot that you don’t know. I always have a few activities or games to play in my purse that I can pull out wherever we are. This is a life saver when we are at a restaurant, waiting for something, or in a long line. You are much more likely to overspend or buy something you don’t really need if you have a family member who is hangry or crabby. It took me way too many times of buying the closest food for my starving child on a trip only to have them still be hungry a little bit later, have them drop it on the ground (yes, this has happened SEVERAL times), or have another kid decide they are hungry too. Soon, we’re out $20 and the problem still isn’t solved. Pack a few snacks for each day and if they’re not eaten, no big deal. If they are used, that’s an amazing help for your family!
5. On your road trips, stop at Sam’s Club/Costco for gas. If you have a Sam’s Club or Costco membership, you often save anywhere from 10 cents to 40 cents per gallon on gas by filling up here. Planning your trip accordingly and stopping at one of these spots is definitely worth it if it saves you $5 each time you fill up.
6. Get creative with lodging. Lodging is another huge expense, so if you can cut that cost at all or even eliminate it, it can save you a ton of money. If you’re traveling to a location where you have family or friends that would be willing to let you stay at their house for the time, that obviously is the best idea. Often, especially with kids, staying at someone’s house allows you some kid-free time to enjoy with them once the kids are in bed or napping. We always bring some kind of gift for allowing us to stay with someone, so there is that expense. Yet, that expense is way cheaper than a hotel for a night or a few nights. Other creative ways we have found include getting a suite at a hotel and having my mom stay with us. Then, we split the cost of the suite. Surprisingly, we often spend much less this way and it saves my mom money too. Another way we have saved money with lodging is tagging along with my husband on work trips. If he already has a hotel for a conference, we sometimes tag along. Unfortunately, my husband misses out on all the adventures, but the kids and I get to enjoy a new spot. This also, allows my husband to have some family time even when he has to go out of town. Through this tip, we actually enjoyed a vacation to Disney World at a resort. Last, we have stayed in cabins or you could camp if that’s your thing. Since our family is not the camping type, this is the closest to camping we have gotten. Our kids LOVED this and it was SO much cheaper than a hotel. While there are compromises with this option, like having to use public bathrooms, there are so many memorable parts to choosing this experience.
7. If you stay at a hotel, use the same chain for all your hotel stays to save points. Getting on a rewards system and sticking with the same chain really does help to save for free nights in the future. If you stay at hotels often enough, you usually can become a perks member allowing for more benefits for your family in the future. Since we always stay at a hotel when we visit one of our families, this really does help to save money long term.
8. Find free or low-cost places to visit on your trip! This one also, seems like a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how many free spots people don’t know about and don’t take advantage of. Even when our family visited Disney World, I was able to find a handful of free locations that my kids loved. Did you know you can resort hop while using the free transportation and see some of the cool amenities that each resort has to offer, including an assortment of safari animals? If you’re looking for those, see this blog. Our favorite free spots are nature centers, hiking spots, playgrounds, and libraries. Yet, you truly never know what a town might offer for free unless you look. Since doing this, we have visited a miniature golf course, historical museums, art museums (often with kid sections of fun things to do), a trolley around the town, a Bible museum with free tours, bike rentals, touring around a peony farm, sculpture walks (my kids LOVE these! and I get an enjoyable walk in), bike parks, fountain shows, snowshoeing and fish hatcheries all for FREE when I actually went to look. Honestly, you just never know what a town offers for free and low cost without looking! Usually, I am able to find these things with some Google searching, looking at their chamber pages, or asking locals when we are there. Other great spots to look for that are enjoyable for the whole family include: splash pads, beaches, wading pools, state parks, and used book stores. All of our kids love reading, so if you want a fun, low-cost spot to go that they get to bring something back with them, I highly suggest a used book store. They can buy a book to read for the trip, especially because our son usually reads at least one book just on the drive to the spot and it costs barely anything.
9. Check out events and festivals in the location. I often check the websites or Facebook pages of spots before we visit just to see if there are any upcoming events. From this, I’ve been able to find free festivals from a town festival to a music festival to an ice cream festival to a multi-cultural fiesta that were all free. These are great ways to really learn about a town or things that are important to the town. Often, there are free things for the kids to do or low-cost activities too. By looking ahead, this also helps me to determine our schedule for the trip. For instance, I found a free event happening at a nature center that allowed us to canoe or kayak for free, catch tadpoles, make crafts, and see animals up close that was during a recent trip. Of course, I chose that day to visit the nature center then. Events often have unique things for the family to experience too.
10. Check your local library for things they have to check out. Our local library has a Minnesota State park pass which you can check out for the week. This allows you into any Minnesota state park for free. Other libraries sometimes have passes to museums or other spots you can check out ahead of time. If you plan ahead, this can cut your costs down for an experience by a lot.
11. Check your memberships for partnerships. For instance, we buy an ASTC passport membership usually once a year. Not only is it a great deal for visiting the museum a few times a year, but it also gets us in free or discounted to museums all over the world too. Just a few trips usually pays for the membership in itself and then, it’s an added bonus when we can go to museums in other locations for free. I’ve price shopped around to find the cheapest passport membership too for that year. Places I’ve bought this membership from are the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Works Museum. We also, used our MN zoo membership for discounts at other zoos and our Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota membership for other children’s museums. It’s definitely worth it to check your favorite memberships.
12. Check for free or cheap programs for your child! I know of a few free programs that we are just getting to utilize that we are pumped about. When your child is in fourth grade (public, private, or homeschooled), they can get a free National Parks pass. We are so excited to be able to use this now that we have a fourth grader and already have a trip planned. There is also, a Minnesota skiing pass for fourth graders at a discounted price. Last, sixth graders can receive a free MN Historical society pass for themselves for the entire school year. Programs like this can drastically cut down your costs of visiting different locations throughout that year.
13. Visit the local Chamber of Commerce or visitor center when you arrive at your destination. Most people skip spots like this, but don’t realize they are abundant with resources. Some spots offer discounts for activities in the area, lodging, or restaurants. They also, often know events happening in the area and have insight on where to visit. Other visitor centers offer freebies for your kids! For instance, the Omaha visitor center gives out a free backpack to kids. Throughout the town, their top destinations (some free!) have free pins they can add to their backpacks. Also, if you use so many discounts, you can earn a free water bottle from the visitor center.
14. Don’t be stuck in the mindset that in order to make memories, something has to be extravagant! So many of my family’s favorite memories on trips are out in nature, seeing the beauty God has created, or attending events that were free that we weren’t expecting. We have been that family that has splurged for an activity and sometimes, it’s 100% worth it. Other times, it’s been a bust and the free/cheap things are our kid’s favorites. When your goal is family time and enjoying each other, it’s easy to want to do the “big things”. Yet, realistically, it’s often the “simple things” that are the most impactful, fun, and memorable. Bottom line: splurge on the things that are important or special to your family, but never feel like you HAVE to do them.
15. If you’re road tripping, plan spots along the way to visit! So often, I see or hear about a spot I’d love to visit that is free or low-cost, but don’t have a plan to go that town. When I stopped thinking I had to visit the full town to do that experience, I realized that I could add spots along our road trip to enhance our trip. The journey to our destination was just as important as the final destination. This is a money saver because you get to experience the spot without stopping at a hotel or spending an extended time in the town unless you want to. For instance, we had been wanting to visit a lavender farm in Iowa for the longest time. This last summer, on a road trip down to Branson, where we also stopped in Kansas City on the way to visit family, we decided to stop at the lavender farm. By doing this, it gave us a fun break in our road trip, a chance to see more family, and an opportunity to go somewhere we wanted to go, but wouldn’t have been able to before.

Hopefully, these tips help you to have some cheaper, memorable times in your future! Leave me a comment if you have any tips that you’ve found that have helped your family too.

Until my next adventure,

Allie