How We Save Money Before Trips!

This post is about how we save money for trips, and also how we gift experiences to our children more than just things. I thought it would be a perfect reminder this time of year that travel, experiences and just quality time with each other is also a wonderful gift to give this holiday season! Here are a few ways we make this possible for our family each year. 

We are very budget conscientious when it comes to major purchases and we take planning for them very seriously, especially when it comes to travel. When our spring break trip to Portugal became a reality, and not just a dream in my head, I went into planning mode. That included enacting a budget and plan for how to make this happen without breaking the bank or cheapening our experiences.

Since the airline tickets were bought in advance, it gave us plenty of time to save for our other vacation expenses we would incur including Airbnb, hotel, tours, meals and souvenirs.

How We Make It Work:

Vacation Savings Account

We have a travel savings account, that is regularly founded. This account helps a lot because it allows us to jump on great deals when they pop up and we save thousand of dollars by being prepared.

Research the Destination to Find Out if it's a Budget Friendly Place 

I always do a great deal of research before deciding on a vacation destination to see if it will work for my family's vacation style and meet our budget needs. Lucky for us, after talking to friends and doing a bit of research, we found that Lisbon and Portugal in general is indeed an inexpensive vacation destination, especially for families. (Photos from Lisbon, Portugal below.)

                                                        


      

Give the Gift of Travel or Experiences

We decided that this trip would be our family gift to the children for Christmas 2018. That allowed us to set aside extra funds that would have usually been spent on presents and redirected them to the travel account instead. This was a Win-Win! After all the wrapping paper had been thrown aside and everyone had settled into their corners to play or eat Christmas treats, mom and dad shouted, "guess what kids, we're going to Portugal!" Our kids were totally shocked and loved every bit of this surprise! We taught them a while ago that we valued experiences over things, so we knew this would go over well. It actually works so well that it has changed the entire way that they make wish lists for Santa!.

We Teach Our Children How to Save Money

We also encourage our children to participate in saving for trips to teach them that it's important to make sacrifices for the things that are important to them. When they get money for their birthdays, holidays, rewards or chores they're encouraged to separate it into three categories: savings account, vacation and pocket money. We have found that the children are very particular with their purchases and they know what they want...when they're spending their own money. We also make it very clear that within reason if they see something unique or special, mom and dad will help out with a few dollars if they need it.

Written by: A. Capri Snellings

(This is a passage written by my daughter talking about how she and her siblings used some of the money saving skills they've learned to prepare for our trip to Portugal.)

Typically, our family heads to our local grocery store to deposit plastic bottles we've collected  every two weeks. We tend to end up with about three to six dollars to spend on various goodies. Once we divide that money between the three of us we each get about one dollar and change. (Pictures of us recycling the water bottles are pictured below.)

We purchased the snacks for the flight in two separate installments. On the first trip we bought gum and mints; basic travel necessities to help combat motion sickness. We looked in the store's candy section. There, we found a three pack of Doublemint for around for four dollars, and a six pack of Mentos for about eight dollars. Thanks to the bottle returns we got an eighteen dollar value, and didn't spend a dime.

Then, on our second trip we split the money in fourths, and got the candies we actually wanted. My mom chose Swedish Fish, my brother got Caramel Creams, and my sister got Dots. I chose my personal favorite Sour Gummy Worms. Because my brother and I chose from the one dollar section, and the other candies were similarly priced, we still had a bit of change left over.

All four original candies, plus an additional pack of Mentos brought our total to $5.58, and with our bottle slips we paid less than a dollar. Talk about a deal!

Christmas 2019:

That was a little note from my daughters about how they use their bottle returns to buy treats and snacks before a trip. It's just a small thing, but every little money saving measure adds up and helps the bottom line and we want to teach them good habits while they are young. We want them to know how to save to create the lives they want to live when they grow up and believe they can save to make those dreams come.

This year for Christmas 2019 we gave the children a few things, a big family outing (I'll talk about it in my next post) as well as individual experiences that fit their personalities. For 2020 we'll be feeding the travel fund and planning a family adventure real soon so come back and see what's new in 2020.

This is how we prepare for most of our trips and give the gift of travel to our children throughout the year, but especially at the holidays. How do you save for your vacations? Did you give the gift of travel to anyone this year or did you treat yourself? How do you make travel possible for your family? Make sure to comment down below.