10 Creative and Affordable Vacation ideas

Are you taking a vacation this year? Did you take one last year? My husband and I only took our annual trip to see his grandparents last year over Thanksgiving but that was it because money was so tight. This year we are planning early and trying to plan maybe 3 small vacations. Along with the girls from Twitter Moms, I am coming up with 10 ways that you too can have an affordable vacation this year.

1) Whenever possible, stay with family. It gets a little crowded when the whole family goes to see the grandparents and stay in their single wide trailer, but it beats those high priced hotels.

2) If you have to stay in a hotel, try to find one with a free continental breakfast. That is one meal that will not be extra.

3) Take food with you to make lunches with. If you combine this tip with #2 then you can enjoy a nice dinner each evening. I know that when you are on vacation you do not want to cook but you can take sandwich makings or other easy peasy lunch time meals to make.

4) Travel with family or friends. If you can go with someone else you can split the cost of gas and food and both of you will be getting a break.

5) Drive rather than fly if you can. Although gas is not coming down it is still more than likely cheaper to travel by car (or van) rather than flying. Plus you get to see more of the "country side" and maybe take a few detours on the way to the original destination.

6) Take a day vacation. If you are close to a beach or lake then you can leave early one morning and just stay for the day.

7) Plan your vacation for the week instead of the weekend; especially if you have to stay in a hotel. Prices are generally cheaper on weekdays than they are on weekends.

8) There are alot of fun places to visit that have free child admissoins with the purchase of an adult. These places are great to take the kids to when you are short on cash.

9) Where I live, I could stay home and visit different places each day while on vacation. I live in an area that the beach is about 2 hrs away, the zoo is a couple of hours away and so on. I am sure others are the same, so why not stay home and take mini vacations each day.

10) Finally....I say just stay home!!! If you are taking a vacation from work then just staying home and relaxing is the best vacation ever. Usually when we go on a long vacation and come home the day before we have to return to work we are give out!! So staying hime is not the worst option.

Share with me some of your ideas...what are you doing on vacation this year??
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Disclaimer: 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,
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