As a family, one of the things we enjoy doing together is travelling. This works out well with the girls competition cheerleading in addition to Matt’s family being so far away and in several different states. By far, the most expensive aspect of traveling is food.  I have tried several different methods over the past several years to reduce this expense. I am very please with how my latest method work on our trip to the Myrtle Beach for the cheer competition.  Since December, I have been purchasing and earning gift cards to use on this trip.  I am excited that we ended up feeding 6 of us for each meal.  Gift cards were purchased each month and taken from our regular grocery budget. Total spent on food for four days for six people is $438.31 or $18 a person per day. However the actual amount spent is $174.86 or $7.28 a person. Since we normally do not eat out but once a month, this trip was definitely a treat and we managed to contain our cost!  I am planning to continue using this month as it does reduce our cash outlay and increases our enjoyment!

Below is a break down of each day.

Thursday- Breakfast at home!, Lunch KFC $24.71, Dinner P.F Chang’s $87.10  Total $112

Friday Breakfast IHOP (purchased gift card) $50.00 with tip. Lunch  Chili’s (purchased gift card) $40 with tip    Dinner Olive Garden to Go (used Buy One Take One) $37.86 Total= $127.86   Total cash $37.86

Saturday- Cracker Barrel (gift cards/no purchased) $54.00   Lunch- Left-overs or home made chicken nugget Lunchables      Dinner Steak and Shake  (gift card purchased) $50.00 with tip.  Total = $104.00  Total cash $0

Sunday Breakfast McDonald’s $24.45 (used McDonald app for savings)  Lunch Appleebees (gift card purchased) $49.00 Amanda paid the tip for this. Dinner- Wraps in parking lot. We did stop for TCBY yogurt $10.00 used gift cards and Krispy Kreme Donuts $10.34.  Total = 94.45  Total cash $35