I’m excited to share with you the wisdom of one of our readers! Krystal has some great ideas for frugal family travel that I know you’ll enjoy! Feel free to share your own best frugal travel tips in the comments.
While I love to travel, I’ll be the first to admit sometimes it is a little more challenging with kids. Longer car rides are more difficult. We need to stop more frequently for “potty” breaks. And it takes a little more forethought when it comes to feeding a huge family on the road without spending an arm and a leg.
For those of you who will be traveling with kids this summer, here are ten tips that will help you save your money and your sanity, while creating a memorable experience for all.
1 – Plan ahead.
The farther out you plan your trip, the more prepared you will be. Give yourself time to think about what you will wear, what you will eat, what types of things will you do, etc.
2 – Pack snacks.
Hungry kids never make for good times. Bring snacks that will keep them from getting too haaaaangry between mealtimes. This will save a ton of money since grabbing a snack at the airport or gas station is so expensive. Talk about highway robbery.
3 – Stop for picnic lunches and let them have a break to run around.
Plan a picnic at a rest area where the kids can run and play, or stop for a bathroom break at a park or visitor’s center that has a built-in play area. You save money by not eating out, and you keep your sanity intact by letting the kids tire themselves out BEFORE they get in the car.
4 – Make travel fun!
Play Travel BINGO, a licence plate ABC game, 20 questions, etc. In the past, I have printed out little images of toy cars and taped them to the side windows, one car for every hour. If my kids went a whole hour without whining or arguing or any other behavior issues, they got to tear down a little car and got a treat. Sometimes it was a snack, or a cheap dollar store toy, or a piece of gum or candy. They LOVED it, and it has become a tradition every time we have a road trip planned.
5 – Save electronics for when you are desperate.
Instead of starting a trip with electronics in hand, my girls play games, read books, or listen to music. Then when they are starting to lose it, I pull out the Kindles. They are easily distracted with a movie or games and we have ourselves another two hours of uninterrupted travel time. The less you have to stop, the less you will be tempted to buy snacks or fun little knicknacks.
6 – Bring an extra outfit or two.
It is always a good idea to overpack. If someone gets sick or extremely dirty or you have last minute plans, you will have fresh clothes for the occasion. Don’t break your travel budget by having to run to the store for an extra outfit because you forget about dear Aunt Suzie’s dinner party and the kids are filthy from exploring in her backyard. Always overpack to avoid buying last minute clothing needs.
7 – Have 2 or 3 days’ worth of clothes in your carry-on.
I have heard horror stories about airports losing luggage, and I can only imagine how horrific (and expensive!) it would be to arrive for a week’s trip with only the clothes on our backs. Can you imagine how much money it would cost to buy a whole week’s worth of clothes for the family? A lot! Whenever we fly, I always pack 2 or 3 days’ worth of clothes and toiletries in my carry-on. If the unthinkable happens, we will still be clothed.
8 – Give the kids ownership in the trip.
Before you leave, do some research together on what there is to do around your destination. Let them point out some of the things that interest them. Or if your itinerary is already set in stone, allow them to pick where you will eat for dinner. However you do it, make them feel important and valued, and let them have a say. Encourage them to save their money for the trip. Or earn extra money around the house to save for an outing of their choice. Find a way to teach them the value of a dollar while also instilling in them an age-appropriate appreciation for sticking to a budget, even on vacation.
9 – Reward good behavior.
Long trips can be stressful on everyone, little ones included. Find a way to be proactive and reward their good behaviors. Hopefully this will cut down on negative behaviors, such as whining or bickering. Different things will work with different age groups. In the past, I have done a goodie bag filled with new treats for each hour. In our most recent trip to San Francisco, my girls earned money. For each hour of good behavior during our airport travel (15 hours total!) they earned a dollar. Even though we took a red-eye and had a ridiculously long layover, they were angels.
10 – Give them their own spending money.
By giving kids a little bit of their own spending money, it enables them to make their own decisions about what is important to them. They can spend it on a tangible memento or a cool experience. But, most importantly, that decision is up to them. Will they probably make some poor choices at first? Absolutely. But they will learn from their mistakes, recognize the value of a dollar, and learn to wait on some things so they can spend on what is most important to them. This also allows you to save money because you aren’t buying little things left and right. Giving kids their own money to spend helps you avoid nickle and diming yourself (or your budget) to death.
And there you have it. Ten tips that will hopefully help you keep your sanity and your budget intact when you travel with kids. Happy travels,
everyone!
Krystal is a teacher turned homeschooling mama of two. She recently paid off over $80,000 of debt with her husband, and now writes about making family finances simple.
hi, there
I totally understand about checking in luggage. I really don’t like paying extra just to have my clothes taken along. When we travel to see our family, we can usually use their washing machine and dryer. But I’ve also heard that many people use the laundry services at their hotels too!
I would add to remember to factor in the overall cost in a holiday, and not just the ‘getting there’ cost. We go overseas at least once a year and people always ask how we can afford it.
Krystal,
OMG, I LOVE your idea for the little cars on the window and taking them down every hour if there is no whining in exchange for a treat! I wish I had that idea when my kids were a bit younger! They are 9 and 7 now and the whining has gotten slightly better. My favorite tip for saving money on family travel is eating dinner at the rental house and going out for dessert/ice cream afterward. I find this saves so much money while not depriving the family of a fun treat. Dinner AND dessert can go so expensive for a family! Great tips!
Great tips we pack snacks as it costs too much when travelling with the kids. We also reward their good behaviour with spending money this keeps them in check.
This post is very helpful. Good preparation is the key to a great family travel. Those tips not only help reduce unnecessary costs but also ensure that we focus more on the family time (without much spending). Thanks for sharing, Krystal!
These are great tips, Krystal! My family is thinking of doing a road trip soon. I’m a bit worried about the LO. It’s so much easier if it’s just me and Mr. FAF. But we want to bring our baby with us. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much! The LO isn’t too bad. Just walk around and stay busy or it could drag on. My kids are a little older so it was a grand adventure for them! haha Have a great time when you travel!
Stopping for picnics is a great idea! My introduction to bologna sandwiches was with my grandfather as we stopped along the Blue Ridge Parkway for picnic lunches. Back then there were no cell phones or video games to distract – just the two of us with a mountain view, a cool breeze blowing and great conversation about war stories and life in general.
He even tricked me by putting onion on the sandwiches – something I didn’t like until that moment (doesn’t everything taste good in the mountain air?!).
I love that story! And yes, everything DOES taste better in mountain air. Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful and a perfect spot for picnic stops. Who knew saving money would also create such lasting childhood memories? A lesson we can all take to heart as we learn to slow down, choose what is best instead of what is easiest, and look at our kids (instead of our phone) as we talk to them. Thanks for sharing, Jason.
We did a trip to Florida this past spring and we used many of these ideas and our kids (ages 8 and 6) were champs. Thanks for sharing!
It is so much easier when the kids are older! My girls are 7 and 10 and it is always easier to stick to a tight budget.
I would add to remember to factor in the overall cost in a holiday, and not just the ‘getting there’ cost. We go overseas at least once a year and people always ask how we can afford it. But often it’s cheaper to go on an overseas holiday than to holiday domestically. Accommodation and food are often much cheaper, and there are always free things to see and do. (Even a trip to a grocery store is exciting when you’re overseas because the products are just so different.) So even though the plane ticket might cost a bit more, the savings in accommodation and food still make it a cheaper holiday. Also, cheap airfares aren’t always a bargain. We can get to Hawaii for about US $280 return; but Hawaii is an expensive holiday, once you factor in accommodation, food, and sight-seeing expenses.
(Of course in Australia we’re spoiled because we get annual leave loading when we go on holidays. That means we get extra money for not going to work – the standard is an extra 12%. Often we come home from holidays to discover there is more in the bank account than when we left!)
Wow! That is AWESOME that you get extra money for not going to work. I wish America would adopt that rule!
And you are so right! It’s important to think about the whole picture when planning expenses. Where you will stay, what you will eat, where you will go, on top of how you will get there. Also traveling over certain holidays will be more expensive because it is more tourist driven. But if you choose to go to the same destination over a regular week instead of a big holiday week, you will save big bucks!
Thanks for the thought, Becca!
When we were little, my siblings and I all got carsick easily, so our mother doled out motion-sickness pills along with our toast that morning (she always served toast on travel mornings — it seemed to stay down better). As a result of the pills, we slept most of the way, so it was pretty easy for them to travel.
With my kids, my husband and I followed a lot of these tips listed in the post, with the exception that we were normally driving to visit family, so laundry facilities, grocery stores, and extra toothbrushes were always available when we got there, making packing easy. We have some nice memories of stopping at rest areas in Tennessee, Monteagle being a favorite one, and eating a leisurely picnic meal we’d packed, while enjoying the cool mountain air — or the snow, which was a treat for my Florida-born kids. We always packed snacks, too, and the kids took some books or games to amuse themselves. They didn’t need money to visit the grandparents, but if we went elsewhere, I usually allotted an amount for them to spend. They never complained about traveling, so in our experience, the tips we used, such as are given in the post, worked!
I love that you travel so far to see their grandparents. So many of my favorite childhood memories are of trips like that to visit my grandparents as well. I learned to love long road trips, and to appreciate the little things about traveling instead of needing expensive accommodations and new trinkets.
Tennessee is a perfect place for a scenic picnic lunch. I went to college there for three years and the views were always gorgeous no matter what time of year it was.
I know these tips keep travel simple for us. And I hope they instill in my girls a deeper appreciation for frugal family travel. I know your kids will feel the same!
Good tips, we do most of these when traveling with children. The packing snacks is a must for us. I can’t stand to pay convenience store prices since most of our traveling is through very rural places. We’re talking an hour, sometimes more between gas stations. We keep a small potty training toilet in the back of the van for emergencies for our 6 & 8-year-old when traveling by vehicle. Everyone else is fine with squatting in nature.
When my oldest was little it was just the two of us. Anytime we traveled to visit our family that lived 12 hours from us I would hire a sitter to watch him so I could sleep during the day. Right before he went to bed I’d load him in the car and drive through the night so he was only awake for around 30 minutes at the beginning of the trip and an hour or so at the end of the trip.
I haven’t checked luggage since my flight home after I got out of the military 19 years ago. Everything has been in a carry-on so that it’s not lost. We went on an 18-day vacation for the 5 of us when the kids were 2, 4 & 12 years old a little with 2 backpacks and a small diaper bag. We took 2 outfits, swimwear and what you’re wearing for the adults & older child. The littles got 4 outfits, swimwear and what they were wearing. We’d took enough diapers for 2 days and bought more when we got there. There are laundry facilities in most hotels or nearby if you need it. You can also wash in the sink or tub and hang dry.
I love it!! We prefer to travel long distances over night too. It was so helpful when our kids were younger and they could just sleep the whole trip! I used to keep a portable potty in my van, too!
And I’m right there with you with checking in luggage. I HATE paying them to transport my clothes. Usually, we travel to visit family so using their washing machine and dryer are options for us. But I’ve heard of a lot of people who use the facilities in their hotel too!
Btw, thank you for serving our country! I’m grateful travel is so safe in our country because people in the service work so hard to keep it that way!!
Thanks so much, Stephanie! I was honored to guest post today! 🙂