In the early morning hours tomorrow, our family will be hitting the road for the 736 mile journey to see my family in Florida. This is a trip that I have made countless times since childhood both by car and by plane.
With a family, we find it easier to drive down for a myriad of reasons. But, road trips can be expensive. Here are some of the ways we save money:
- Pack a cooler. We pack a cooler with lots of ice and bottled water. Then I buy the generic boxes of lemonade mix, iced tea mix, etc. so the kids don’t complain about “just” having water to drink. We can buy a 24 pack of bottled water for $2.97 at WalMart when we would pay .99+ for each bottle at a gas station or convenience store.
- Pack breakfast. Eating out for breakfast is unnecessary. I make a slew of muffins beforehand and bring along mini bagels and granola bars as well. This gives the kids breakfast and provides snacks for the ride down.
- Scout out stops. I plan our stops beforehand by visiting restaurant, coupon and travel sites to get coupons for places along our route. It is also often worth it to pick up a coupon book at rest stops.
This post is linked to Frugal Friday.
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I travel the same way. I’ll pack breakfast and lunch, too. My kids are not thrilled–they’d love the excuse to go to McDonalds, and will claim that since we’re on vacation we should count fast food as part of the journey, but I know that by packing our own food we then have money to do more on the vacation. (Or maybe I really am the cheapskate my kids accuse me of being. That’s okay with me, lol!)