10 Creative and Affordable Vacation Ideas

Since we will be leaving in a few days for a trip to Wisconsin for a wedding, I have been brainstorming a lot about how to travel frugally. Gasoline, hotels, eating out - it all adds up so quickly! Here are 10 creative ways to save on those expenses.

1. Explore options other than hotels. Rather than paying nightly hotel charges, we have made arrangements to rent a time-share that is owned by a friend of the family. We will be paying just a little more for a full week's stay than we would have paid for one night at a hotel.

2. Purchase gift cards for gasoline and restaurants on ebay. Although gift cards usually aren't sold for much cheaper than the actual cost of the gift card, utilizing a cash back portal makes the total come out cheaper. For example, ebates gives between 1% and 3% cash back on ebay purchases. If I buy a $50 gift card for $49, I'll still have saved a tiny bit once I get my cash back in my ebates account. Occassionaly, you can get up to 20% cash back from Bing. Receiving 20% back is a significant savings.

3. Use accumulated points from Mypoints to pay for more restaurant gift cards. It was almost no effort to accumulate the points, and I'll be getting free gift cards out of it! (Read more about Mypoints here.)

4. Purchase Restaurant.com gift cards from my Swagbucks earnings. (Read more about Swagbucks here.)

5. Pack homemade snacks so we can get by with purchasing as little fast food as possible while we're on the road.

6. Opt for free activities. Go for a hike in the woods or a picnic in the park. Those activities provide quality family time and are just as much fun as expensive admission to amusement parks or other attractions.

7. Who needs souvenirs? Don't spend your money on souvenirs that will only collect dust until the next yard sale. Spend money only on what you need and skip the rest. If you must bring something home, buy something useful, such as an article of clothing, rather than a knick-knack.

8. Stop at the state's Welcome Center and pick up brochures. You'll often find coupons for local attractions and restaurants.

9. Cook your own meals. While I do enjoy eating out on vacation, it can be quite expensive to do so for every meal. If you stay in a cabin or a hotel with a kitchenette, you can cook your own meals and save a bundle.

10. When you do eat out, go during the lunch hour. Prices from the lunch menu can be almost 50% less than those from the dinner menu.


For more frugal travel ideas, check out the Twittermoms discussion here.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the Toyota Sienna and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.