We have enjoyed the last week as a vacation which included lots of fun but also a budget. Today, I am going to share some of the ways that we are able to enjoy this week without breaking the bank.
1. Schedule- I am very fortunate that my employer has a condo located ocean front that is available to employees only at a great rate. In addition, the price drops almost by half beginning in August. In order to take advantage of this price, I call the first buisness day of January. A deposit of half is due within two weeks. On the budget side, I usually recieve an extra (not budget) check in both December and July. I automatically use this to cover cost.
2. Food- Part of me enjoying our vacation is not spending a lot of time in the kitchen. An average meal out for just 5 of us is $50 times 3 meals a day times 7 days equals $1050, which is three hundred more than our regular grocery budget for a month. So we have found a happy medium, which includes some eating out and more eating in. I purchased snack food ahead of time but this is also a week in which you get to eat much more junk food and individual servings than any other time. This week our menu has looked like this. Breakfast- 2 meals out, Jimmy Dean Breakfast Crosiant x 2, cereal x 1, gravy and biscuits (both frozen) and poptarts. Lunch- Lunchables- this usually go on sale the first of August for $1 each. Matt and I have sandwhiches supplies and pasta salads. Dinner- Baked Ziti (frozen), Pasta Salads (prepared on Saturday morning), Nachos (frozen taco rice), Chicken and broccoli casserole (frozen) Seafood (resturant ), Special Dinner (Privates Voyage- Amanda paid a large part). Leftovers or pizza. This year we decided to try a variety of ice cream shops, one each day actually which totaled around $120.
3. Stuff- We stay in a condo so we must bring or buy all supplies. This year, we are using Disney shampoo and soaps from our trip in December. I also have collect other items from our travels such as dishwashing soaps and single serving coffee packages. I bring fast food packet for ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. I am usually pretty brand specific for toliet paper, paper towels and laundry detergent, not for this trip. I use ECB especially on Black Friday, to purchase the cheapest possible and store for this trip. Paper products are another way we save money, any left over plates and napkins no matter the occasion are placed in a bag and we use for this trip.
One advantage to the condo is that it has a washer and dryer. I make sure that everything we bring leaves clean. This way we have truly saved a week of electricity. We did leave on our a/c but set the temperature at 85.
Do you have a suggestion for saving money on vacation that I have missed.