What do you and your family do to help save money when you go on vacation?

--Do you use frequent flyer miles or an online service to help save money?
--Do you camp instead of staying in a hotel?
--If you stay at a hotel do you stay at cheaper ones like Super 8?
--I've heard AAA has discounts.
--Do you go out of season?


Next time I plan a family trip to Chicago I will plan the itinerary according to what days you can get in free to certain tourist spots.
When we go to a local amusement park we get discounted tickets through my Mom's work. To save money on food we pack a picnic lunch and eat in the parking lot.
My MIL travels for her job and is going to use her frequent flyer miles to get us to Disneyworld.

When we travel I usually check out all the hotel rates online for that area and then find one that is fairly cheap but yet family friendly.

I try to pack alot of our own food and drinks to cut down on buying it on the road and I usually try to make sure that the hotel offers some type of breakfast meal, that helps to save money also.

If I plan far enough ahead I will have different places send me pamplets because they usually have coupons in them to use. Online I research what there is to see and then try to hit the free or inexpensive areas.

It seems like when we travel it is sorta out of season and then you will find cheaper rates and better deals.

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We are a family of 6 so we usually get a suite, its cheaper than 2 rooms. If we are going to stay somewhere more than 2 days we try to get room with a full kitchen so we can have some meals in our room, especially breakfast.

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DS-16
DD-12
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DS-2

We don't do vacations.

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~Happiness is a large family~

Heres a few tricks we do:

when traveling take snacks in the car as well as a cooler with drinks

Use the cooler in your hotel room (free ice) to keep milk, lunchmeat, cheese.

We eat breakfast in the room if it's not provided by the hotel. Cereal usually.

We pack a lunch by having at our hotel peanut butter and jelly, bread, chips ect in our room.

Dinner is the only meal we eat out or bring back to the room with us.

We often stop by a grocery on the way to the hotel to buy, paper plates, sandwich bags, napkins, throw away bowl and silverware as well as the grocery things we will need. If your away from home ask the cashier about their savings cards. Often they will have one to swipe and save you $$. It doesn't hurt to ask.

There are so many things in this world to do that are either free or very inexpencive. you don't have to buy fun.

Public beaches, parks, walk ways can be a fun way to spend a day or an afternoon. Throw in an ice cream cone and what kid wouldn't be happy.

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Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

I thought of another one: if you or your significant other are State employees take your name tag with you. Some hotels give a discount for that.

Well for us, since my Dh travels so much for business, we never pay for a hotel room or flights since we have tons of points and frequent flier miles. We don't do this so much now with the kids being older and in school, except maybe over the summer, but if Dh is going someplace "fun", the kids and I will tag along too. The hotel is paid for and so is the food, so it's basically a 'free' trip for us.

If we're going someplace where they don't have the hotels we use with points, I'll often rent a condo or cottage instead of staying in a hotel, just because overall, it's cheaper because I can cook there, we have a little more room etc

We don't eat fast food, it's just a preference, we think it's pretty gross. So we've always packed food for car trips. It's not so much the cost but just what we prefer.

The one thing That is A definate Saver for us - is cook Your Own Food! If there is a Fridge and A table , We always do breakfast and Lunch in the Room !
If its More than a Couple days , we do dinner too.

Places Where kids eat Free and They have continenal Breakfasts are Great too!
Camp grounds are also alot of fun for the kids.
We stay in cabins not a Tent - and that is Not bad at all.