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| Our Trip to Savannah Georgia |
People always come up to me and tell me how much of a great mom I am to my girls. They also say how much they admire all the things I do with them.
I have a busy lifestyle, but I always make sure to make time for my family, nothing is more important than them. When I was growing up, I was raised in a tight knit family who does a lot of things together and I want to continue being a close family with my daughters too.
I was hesitant at first having my girls on my blog to keep their privacy, but they wanted to be a part of it and now my blog is a journal for us to look back on our many adventures and the memories we created together. My hope of me showing our adventures will help other families to have family bonding time and create lifetime memories together as well.
You don't have to spend a boat-load on trips to have fun with your kids, just a simple day at the park, bike riding, site-seeing would do.
Now, if you want to plan a family vacation there are low cost ways to do it and here is what I do to save on my family travel or local attractions.
1. Travel off season: Last year you may have noticed I did a lot of traveling with my family and that is because I traveled during some of the off season. You get better deals because travel destinations are looking to fill their hotel rooms, tourist attractions, etc. Like for instance, during the fall and winter months Florida is in its slow season and during that time is perfect to book a vacation there. Also during the summer months which is considered high travel season, go to places more north instead of hitting the beaches or the tropics.
2. Use 3rd party websites: Y'all know I love me some Priceline! Priceline.com is my go-to website when it comes to planning trips. My trick is when it comes close to my vacation time I hop on Priceline and do their Express Deal which is I know how many stars, amenities, and area the hotel will be but not know what the hotel will be until I book it. By doing this I've saved hundreds of dollars a year and so far have never been stuck at a crappy hotel. There are similar websites you can use like Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, Hotwire.com and several more. Also, always look for hotels, flight tickets, and car rentals in the middle of the week for better deals.
3. Eat before you leave: A lot of times I make sure my family eat before we go to any theme parks or local attractions to save money.
4. Use my Costco Membership for travel deals: Since I'm a Costco member I use their Costco travel deals to save money. So far, I've only used their deals on rental cars and that saves me $40 or more a rental. Using Costco travel you can save on participating hotels, get tickets to top Florida theme parks and cruises.
5. Groupon and Living Social: Looking for deals locally? Groupon and Living Social both have great deals on local attractions, restaurants, and so much more. I like to go on those sites looking for deals in my area.
6. RetailMeNot: RetailMeNot.com is another go-to website I look to find coupons on local attractions and travel. I also like this website for shopping too.
7. Drive instead of fly: I love road trips and so does my wallet. Airplane tickets are expensive so we always opt for driving. With gas prices low right now it really helps me to save money. Only thing is you don't get to your destination as quick as flying.
What are ways you save money on family outings or family travel?
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Great tips! I love road trips too but I start to fall aslepp if its longer than 4 hours! Since I do alot of weekend trips flying gives me more time. But you are so right about the gas right now! I need to use Priceline more so thanks for the tip! I love TravelZoo for travel deals and putting together vacation pakages.
ReplyDeleteI only drove once during road trips and that was to Savannah which is about 4 hours, all the other times Mr. M is the driver and he loves to drive.
DeleteI have heard of TravelZoo but never have used it. I'm going to check them out and add it to my travel list. Thanks girl!
Great tips and I am sure the girls appreciate the opportunity to travel with mom!!
ReplyDeleteThanks sis! Yes they do, the girls loves traveling with me.
DeleteLove these tips. When you travel when no one else is you get more and it's less crowded too. We try to go in the weekdays instead of weekends.
ReplyDeleteWeekdays are the perfect days for traveling too and less crowds like you said. Only thing is kids are in school during the week. But missing a few days won't hurt.
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