Frugal Travel

This past week we went on a trip. With three kids and the both of us you can imagine how much is involved. Here are some things that did to ease the dent in our pocket:

1. Do not use the luggage carrier - With the price of gas being so high we decided to pack light and put the luggage in the back of the Landcruiser instead of attching that plastic thing on top of the vehicle that causes more drag and you fly down the highway, thus increasing your gas consumption.

2. Do not eat on the road - I spent the two days before we left baking cookies, treats and buscuits. I used the leftover ham from Easter and made ham and cheese buscuits (recipe here - super easy). We had fruit and some peanuts and bottled water in the cooler. In a six hour trip we spent zero dollars on food. I also made enough for our trip back.

3. Free entertainment to keep you busy - word searches, crossword puzzle, I organized my coupons, sew. For the kids I print some activities off the computer and put about 20 pages into a separate file folder for each child. That was they are working on "new to them" stuff and don't get bored quickly. We borrow movies from the library for them to watch.

4. Came to visit and just visited - the family that we visited had asked us what we wanted to do when we came and we said that they did not have to entertain us but that we were coming to just to spend time with them. Plus we don't need to spend money needlessly. We see them once a year, we can see Chuck E. Cheese any time. The kids played outside ALL day long and did not even miss the fact that we did not go to a theme park or somewhere kid related. Just spend time with the people you visit.

Travel does not need to be expensive. Some pre-planning makes all the difference.