While I’m at Walt Disney World, Andrea at Mommy Snacks has some timely tips for saving money while on vacation. I was pleased to see I heeded at least one of her tips – vacation in the off-season. Disney claims September is “value season,” so hopefully that’s holding true as you read this! Enjoy her oh so snackable guest post.

Well, Erin is off vacationing and I’m thrilled to do a guest snack over here. I do “crave” all of her posts, don’t you? We enjoyed a relaxing vacation last month (on a budget) and it got me thinking about some things to remember when planning for a vacation! Here are a few tips to help save a little while enjoying a lot on vacation:

Plan Those Stops. We decided to drive to our destination. But, with the drive being a looong 16-hours, we needed to make it a two-day trip. We were able to get very low rates at hotels because we planned our stops accordingly. By staying overnight at hotels that had low-rates we saved about $200 total. It was worth it for us!

Vacation in the Off-Season. If it fits into your schedule, of course. There are obvious high-season weeks that cost almost double to vacation – spring break is a definite one! But, while we were searching for a home for our stay, our schedules dictated that the stay be in the off-season for our trip.

This isn’t always possible to do, but by scheduling a vacation in the off-season, you can get lower rates and save big bucks! We would have paid twice as much if we would have vacationed in a higher-tourist season.

Research Local Grocery Deals. There are so many sites to help find the details on every grocery store possible! I followed my own advice on couponing effectively for our vacation.

I first determined the main grocery chains in the area and educated myself on the coupon policies for each store. I then got a preview of the sale during the week we were there – you never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to stockpile something We took lots of our own snacks which was another added savings. This also saved us time since we were prepared with our shopping list before we even hit the state!

Purchase the Local Paper. Of course, being the frugal couponing mom that I am, I wanted the Sunday paper to get extra coupons. Yes, even on vacation I do that! But, I found that the paper held a little gem that saved me $20! There was a coupon in the paper for $10 off a shoe purchase. Well, we needed to purchase shoes for our kids for back to school and a local store had a sale for a buy one get one half off.

That coupon came in to save me an extra $20 since I purchased two papers for $2. So, the local papers are great to source deals on those rainy days when your outdoor plans might not go as they planned (and you get to go shopping inside!).

Just by following these tips, we have tangible results: pictures of our family making memories and enjoying activities with the savings we were able to achieve. I will plan on following these tips as we’re preparing for future vacations. It took little time and saved us a lot – those memories are definitely worth it!

Andrea is a wife to 1 and mom to 3 who loves serving “snacks” at her place, Mommy Snacks.

While I’m at Walt Disney World, Andrea at Mommy Snacks has some timely tips for saving money while on vacation. I was pleased to see I heeded at least one of her tips – vacation in the off-season. Disney claims September is “value season,” so hopefully that’s holding true as you read this! Enjoy her oh so snackable guest post.

Well, Erin is off vacationing and I’m thrilled to do a guest snack over here. I do “crave” all of her posts, don’t you? We enjoyed a relaxing vacation last month (on a budget) and it got me thinking about some things to remember when planning for a vacation! Here are a few tips to help save a little while enjoying a lot on vacation:

Plan Those Stops. We decided to drive to our destination. But, with the drive being a looong 16-hours, we needed to make it a two-day trip. We were able to get very low rates at hotels because we planned our stops accordingly. By staying overnight at hotels that had low-rates we saved about $200 total. It was worth it for us!

Vacation in the Off-Season. If it fits into your schedule, of course. There are obvious high-season weeks that cost almost double to vacation – spring break is a definite one! But, while we were searching for a home for our stay, our schedules dictated that the stay be in the off-season for our trip.

This isn’t always possible to do, but by scheduling a vacation in the off-season, you can get lower rates and save big bucks! We would have paid twice as much if we would have vacationed in a higher-tourist season.

Research Local Grocery Deals. There are so many sites to help find the details on every grocery store possible! I followed my own advice on couponing effectively for our vacation.

I first determined the main grocery chains in the area and educated myself on the coupon policies for each store. I then got a preview of the sale during the week we were there – you never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to stockpile something We took lots of our own snacks which was another added savings. This also saved us time since we were prepared with our shopping list before we even hit the state!

Purchase the Local Paper. Of course, being the frugal couponing mom that I am, I wanted the Sunday paper to get extra coupons. Yes, even on vacation I do that! But, I found that the paper held a little gem that saved me $20! There was a coupon in the paper for $10 off a shoe purchase. Well, we needed to purchase shoes for our kids for back to school and a local store had a sale for a buy one get one half off.

That coupon came in to save me an extra $20 since I purchased two papers for $2. So, the local papers are great to source deals on those rainy days when your outdoor plans might not go as they planned (and you get to go shopping inside!).

Just by following these tips, we have tangible results: pictures of our family making memories and enjoying activities with the savings we were able to achieve. I will plan on following these tips as we’re preparing for future vacations. It took little time and saved us a lot – those memories are definitely worth it!

Andrea is a wife to 1 and mom to 3 who loves serving “snacks” at her place, Mommy Snacks.