1.  Try to find as many free excursions as possible.

Most cities have free activities that are enjoyable. By finding free activities to include in your travels, it helps bring down the overall cost of the trip.

2.  Stay at a hotel with a continental breakfast.

Breakfast at restaurants gets pricey. For a family of six, even a cheap breakfast out can cost $50-60 a day. On a ten-day trip, this equates to an extra $500. By staying at a hotel with a continental breakfast, you avoid this expense. Another option is to purchase breakfast foods at a grocery store (if your hotel has a refrigerator) and eat in your room before you start your activities for the day.

3.  Stop at a grocery store to purchase groceries. 

Having groceries in your hotel room cuts down on eating out costs. Not only can you pick up breakfast items or items to make sandwiches, you can also pick up snacks for your stay, as purchasing snacks from vendors is much more expensive than purchasing packaged items at a grocery store.

4.  Try to limit meals out to one per day.

Many families use vacations as an opportunity to eat out. However, eating out costs can become a major expense during travels. If you are wanting to travel economically with a large family, this is one of the best ways to limit costs, while still allowing your family opportunities to enjoy local cuisine. By eating out only once a day rather than three times a day with your family, you can save over $100 a day, which equates to over $1000 for a 10-day trip! This extra money can be used for another trip or for additional excursions and experiences on your current vacation.

5.  Consider eating lunch out, as lunch meals are typically less expensive than dinner.

Although lunch portions are typically a little smaller than dinner portions, lunch prices are often substantially cheaper than dinner prices. Also, when traveling with a family, it is often nice to allow time to wind down in the evening, so lunch, while you are out and about anyway, is the perfect time to eat out.

When we travel, we frequently purchase sandwich items to eat in our hotel room for dinner. After a long day of excursions (often in the heat of summer), we often do not feel extremely hungry at the end of the day, and we look forward to watching TV and unwinding with the kids in our hotel room. Sandwiches and snacks in the hotel are a cheap meal and also provide us this opportunity to relax and unwind before setting out again the next morning.

6.  Research the city transportation schedule.  If the city offers a discount for riding at non-peak times, plan your day to hit those non-peak hours.

Riding city transportation at peak times can be double the cost of riding at non-peak times. This can equate to a substantial amount of money when traveling with a family. By planning your day around non-peak times, you still can have a substantial amount of time to explore the city, while saving money. For example, in Washington, D.C., if you ride the metro after 10:00 a.m. you pay about half price. This allows you time in the morning to relax and enjoy continental breakfast before starting out. Then if you ride the metro back to your hotel after 7:00 p.m, which also was a non-peak time, you again pay about half price. This schedule allows you to save money, while still allowing you nine hours or more to explore the city each day.

7.  Utilize the fresh fruit or refreshments that your hotel offers; they make great snacks and treats throughout the day.

Many hotels have complementary cookies, fresh fruit, or other snacks that they make available for guests. Grabbing one of these items allows you to save money on a snack or treat later in the day. We never use these items as our entire source of snacks when traveling, but sometimes when we are exploring a city in the heat of the day, an apple is a welcome, refreshing snack. Also, the cookies often prove to be a nice treat at the end of a long day.

8.  Consider staying in an inexpensive suite-style hotel to have beds for everyone in your family.

Many budget-friendly hotels are moving away from suite-style rooms, opting for more traditional-style hotel rooms. However, if you can find a hotel that offers a budget-friendly suite, they typically have room to sleep 6–two queen beds and a pull-out couch. Rather than having people sleep on a cot or the floor, this provides a budget-friendly way to have beds for everyone in the family.

9.  Stay outside of the city, as hotel prices are usually substantially cheaper.

Staying downtown can be convenient because you are right in the heart of where you will be vacationing. However, even the cheapest hotels in a city are often three times the price of hotels outside of the city. In addition, hotels located in downtown areas often do not offer continental breakfasts. By staying outside the city, even with the added transportation costs of having to travel into the city, you will typically save a bundle.

10. Create a reasonable budget and stick to it!

It is easy to get carried away on vacation. When you are traveling, all of the excursions sound fun and many people fall into the trap of thinking, “I am going to enjoy this because it may be the only time I ever visit this place.” The problem with this mindset is that it often causes people to go over budget, and then the next time they want to travel, they think about how expensive traveling is and have second thoughts about planning a trip.

By creating and sticking to a budget (or even spending less than your budgeted amount), it often makes you feel that travel is more of an option. Spending less on a trip, often does something in your brain, where it begins to feel like traveling is not that expensive so you can do it more frequently. On the other hand, some people save thousands and thousands of dollars for one trip, creating a massive budget, but this can create a feeling that trips are so expensive that they can only be taken occasionally. By creating a budget that is reasonable and sticking to it, it empowers you to feel that traveling more often is within reach!

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