Vacationing on a Dime

Eating dinner I made on the balcony at the hotel we stayed. I like to call this our own Oceanview Cafe!







We've now been back from vacation for about a week. I finally tallied up our weekly spending and I thought I would share. Maybe this will be helpful to some of you who plan your vacation trips this summer.



First of all we had a $766 vacation budget. I know a lot of you may say yeah right no one can go on vacation for that. Our family of four went on vacation for that and brought home a little. :) Here is the breakdown:


$57.70 for groceries and snacks for the week


$153.09 for dining out


$198.46 for fuel


$21.41 for souvenirs


$55.00 for entertainment


$238.60 for lodging


Total spent: $724.26





Before we left I went to the grocery to purchase plenty of snacks, juice boxes, chips, etc. (with coupons of course!) On the way to our destination we stopped for breakfast and lunch. We stopped at fast food restaurants that we had coupons for and in between meals we just snacked on items we brought and drank our own beverages. Snacks are essential for long trips with little ones.

I meal planned for a week before we left. I wrote out everyday and every meal. I decided which days I would prepare something and which days we would eat out. We stayed in a room with a small stove and a refrigerator. I know a lot of mommies don't like to cook on vacation but I made very simple meals that everyone liked...pasta, hot dogs and things like that. By making a clear plan for the week it allowed us the really budget our weekly meal spending.



We also ate breakfast in the room everyday. I took a couple boxes of cereal out of my stockpile. My boys are not early birds anyway. I made sure we had plenty of snacks and treats for everyone. Things that were quick, easy to eat, and enjoyable. Since it was vacation we had some special little treats that we don't always have on a regular basis.



As far as eating out, we basically only ate at two nice restaurants the whole week. The one restaurant was extremely expensive but we felt like it was truly a special treat since we didn't eat out much that week. If any of you have little ones like us eating at a sit down restaurant more than twice in one week would not be too much fun. :)



When it comes to saving on fuel there is not too much you can do with that. Thankfully, the gas was still down when we left. On average we only paid about $2.24 a gallon. The only thing one could do to cut back gas cost is to choose a destination that was pretty close to where they lived.



We only had one paid outing we did during vacation. We chose to take a speed boat ride out in the ocean and watch for dolphins. It was beautiful and well worth not doing anything else. We took advantage of the things we could do and not spend. Take the kiddies to the ocean, let them play at the kiddie pool, and just spend family time together. We didn't have to pay to do activities everyday to make family memories. I know as they get older that won't be good enough but we will take it for now. :)



With the lodging, I searched the websites like hotels.com, expedia.com and etc. I ended up going to a local website of that town and getting even better rates. So check around and make sure you get the best price and call the hotel as well. The week we went was still considered the off season so we were able to get the room for about $47 a night.



Well I hope this breakdown of our family vacation will help you in planning your next trip. We had one of the best weeks as a family. We made special memories, got to relax, enjoyed spending time with our boys, and just really had a nice time. I'm thankful to the Lord we were able to have this time together. He is so good to us!



So just remember that a vacation doesn't have to break the bank. It's about the special times you spend together as a family!