Post your ideas here!

1. Bring sandwich makings in a cooler on a long road trip. Instead of pulling into a McDonald's, you can make sandwiches for the entire family. Not only are you spending less, your meal will be a lot healthier too!

2. If you're eating at restaurants a lot, make your noon meal the big one. Eat a light breakfast in the hotel (or camping, or wherever you are). Lunch menus are almost always less expensive than dinner menus.

3. Buy an Entertainment Book from the place you'll be visiting. It is packed with coupons for local hotels, restaurants, and event admission coupons. They get discounted mid-year, so the timing is perfect for summer vacations. The price usually pays for itself!

4. Look at Restaurant.com -- Eat. Drink. Save Money.for printable coupons.

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Definitely remember to pack any OTC medicines anyone in your family might need. I have so many memories of paying $8.00 for a 24 count of Advil or $9.00 for a small box of tampons because I forgot to pack them and ended up having to buy them from the hotel's sundry shop.

That also goes the same for film and batteries. When we were in Vegas a couple of months ago, I wanted one of those disposable cameras that you can get in Walgreens for about $5.00. I ended up paying $13.00.

I guess my thought is when you are getting ready to pack for travel, make lists. Lost of lists and plan accordingly. Everyday items are so much cheaper when you buy them at home rather then when you buy them at your touristy destination.

Check ahead of time to plan out your travels. Some musuems, zoos, etc have a certain day of the week when admission is free or reduced for children. Check for coupons for discount admissions as well.

Some employers give discounted tickets to tourist spots. My mom got us discounted tickets to the local amusement park through work.

Pack a cooler and drinks and keep it in the car. We do this when we go to amusement parks--picnic outside by the car and then go back into the park.

I know someone who has a camper and that's how they vacation. They park in an rv park and drive in for the tourist spots. They have saved thousands of dollars by doing this. The've done this in Branson, Chicago, Disneyworld, Wisconsin Dells, Colorado hot spots. I think this summer they are traveling through California.

i agree packing your own water and snacks is a great money saver...

check campgrounds to see if they have camping cottages we stayed at one in hills city sd(happend to be a koa) out in the black hills minutes down the road from the major tourist attractions for 32 bucks a night...a short walk to the showers and bathroom was not bad at all....and every morning they have all you can eat pancakes for $2.00!!!

try doing just weekend trips closer to home you don't spend as much in gas and you may be surprised what there is to do in your state for neighboring ones as well....

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Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.

If you will be needing to stay in a hotel- try to find one with an efficeincy. You can make your own meals and most of them provide the pots, pans, plates and etc. that you will need. If possible find one that even offers a free breakfast (one meal that you won't have to pay for or make and clean the dishes!).

Also if you are going to a place with a lot of attractions- a lot of hotels offer many discount packages that will usually include a discounted price along with your hotel stay or even offer free admission to a few!

buy package deals (in most cases) you'll save some cash! We always get the vacation package deals from travel sites or from disneyworld.com because we end up saving money. Even though it may seem cheaper at first to buy things seperately, you have to add on all of the additional hidden fees that aren't listed right up front. We ALWAYS do a vacation package.

My hubby and I order two adult sized meals when we eat out (not just on vacation) and we share with the girls...Portion sizes now days are crazy- at most places-

We always look for the local coupon booklets when we arrive, sometimes there are buy one get one free meals.

We always do the Disney dinning plan and don't include my 3 year old (as of yet) in the plan, because there is always PLENTY of food and drinks for all us us. We may start to include her in a few years- but certainly not yet!

We have a little fridge in our van that you can hook up to the lighter OR it also runs off of a rechargeable battery. We love it, because it's not only a fridge- you can switch it over in the winter months so it keeps thing hot!

We ALWAYS make a list. I am the only one who does the packing in this house, so we all sit down and make out a list of what everyone wants to bring with/have packed. I make sure we don't forget anything like: kids tylenol, advil, benadryl (possibility of a minor allergic reaction) and two eppi-pens (5 yr old dd is VERY allergic to bee stings), sunblock, snacks, camera, batteries (and battery charger), memory sticks...ALL of this stuff can cost a bundle in a vacation spot!

We have kind of an agreement that when we travel we don't really buy gifts for others, we just send them all post cards. There have been times that i've purchased Christmas or birthday gifts on vacation, but only if I find things at a good price.

One of the biggest things we do to save money if we are flying is to pack two extra suitcases/bags for the return trip home! That way we don't get charged $50 for each bag that is over the weight restriction. We have two huge suitcases on rollers with the pull handles and we always pack those (and two carry ons) for the entire trip. When we are coming home it always seems like we have twice the amount of stuff and the extra bags really come in handy!

We always use discount travel websites (the reputable ones ONLY) and we save money on hotels or vacation packages. We plan for a long time for a vacation, because we watch the prices- when the prices go down, we book it.

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Married to a great guy 8 years, DD1 6yrs., DD2 4yrs., Noah turns 1 in June, Twins- Isabell and Isaac born in Nov. 07...
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We have a AAA membership (which don't think spending $70 a year is a waste, it provides piece of mind and is very handy if you get a flat, lock your keys in the car at the store, or need a tow - you can re-coup your costs plus more, very quickly.)

So, if you are driving for your vacation, a AAA membership is a must. Plus, with your membership you can get free maps and travel guides for FREE (as part of your membership). I always get those rather than buying maps or travel guides anywhere else.

Plus the travel guide will tell you places that offer a AAA discount. Most chain hotels have a AAA dicount, as well as Amtrak (10% off fare.)

The other thing I do it look up the chamber of commerce in the areas we are going to and frequently they have coupon books for travelers.

i totally agree with packing the cooler with snacks, sandwiches, and drinks, you can save so much money this way instead of going out to eat at rest stops, which is always very expensive.

How is this possible, we recently went to Disney with our 3 year old and it was required by Disney to include every person on your reservation on the dinning plan, unless they were under 3. Our 3 yo certanly could have eaten off our plates and eaten more that enough and not left us hungry but for us to get the dinning plan we needed to purchase it for her. On the other hand we went to several buffet and character meals that if we would not have had her on the plan we would have had to pay out of pocket for her.