The Cheapskate Family Vacation

The Cheapskate Family Vacation

How did we do?

Our family was planning a special vacation for our child’s 7^th birthday.  So, we thought that this would make a great story for our LeapToCheap.com site. To us cheap actually means “smart savings”.  The smart part should imply that you don’t need to pitch a tent to save on a hotel room

This chart shows how much money we saved on our 4-day 3-night San Diego family vacation (2 adults and 1 child).  Check out how much we saved.

	Average price	Our Price	Our Savings
Flight	$387	$147	$240
Hotel (2 room suite)	$420	$282	$138
Breakfast	$90	0 (free breakfast @ hotel)	$90
Car Rental	$115	$90 (Costco discount)	$25
Legoland	$65 x 2 Adults $55 x 1 Child = $185	1 Full Price Adult $65 1 free child with 1 full price adult ticket ** 1 discount ticket from hotel = $46	$74
Zoo	$31/adult	$26/per person (child free ***)
Claim Jumpers Kids meal	$8 – free kids mea.  Coupon from claimjumpers.com	0	8
Total Savings			$601
Other good stuff…….
Southwest Rapid Reward Credits United Mileage Plus point from using Chase UAL credit card & renting from Alamo Car Rental. Welcome Reward Points for using Hotels.com

** Check with your child’s school as well as your local public library about summer reading programs that may offer discounts to attractions such as Legoland California.

*** San Diego Zoo – Kids (ages 3-11) enjoy FREE admission to the San Diego Zoo ! Through October 31, 2009

Here’s how we plotted our little savings adventure………

When to go?

Considerations

• We don’t like crowds very much. If for no other reason than waiting in long lines eats away at your vacation time with your family.
• We prefer cooler weather.
• Of course we never want to pay more than we need to.

Conclusion:

• Flight, hotel and attraction prices proved to be lower off season. So, since our child had a Thursday and Friday off from school, we opted for late September / early October travel dates.

Airline tickets – Flying high on lower prices

Considerations:

• We started checking out airfare prices about one month ahead of time (and monitored fares daily). We wanted to stay over on a Saturday night which has saved us money in the past. However, this was not the case this time around. So, we switched to a Wednesday evening departure and a Saturday night return. That little day of week switch saved us over 50% off each roundtrip ticket.

Conclusion:

• Airfare savings assumptions don’t always apply.
• Airlines are constantly changing the way that they price tickets. So, start early and try different departure and return days to see if they will can save money.
• Remember, Southwest Airlines ticket prices can ONLY be found on Southwest.com. They’re not included in results on Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. Since Southwest sort of started the whole flying cheap thing, its always a good idea to check them first. Also, be sure to factor in the baggage fees when comparing airline ticket prices.

Hotel costs

Considerations:

• We were looking for a hotel with highly rated visitor reviews.
• A smoke free room was a must.
• Accommodations for two adults and one child were needed (at least two full beds).
• We wanted a microwave and refrigerator in the room.
• We wanted a really good free breakfast for the family.
• We wanted a hotel in a safe area and close to either Legoland or the San Diego Zoo.
• We always insist on a really clean room in good repair.
• It would be nice to find a hotel that matched up with our frequent stay programs.

Conclusion:

• Hotels.com is one of the best sources of hotel reviews. We checked there and found a 4.5 of 5 user rated suite hotel near Legoland for less than $100 a night (taxes included). The hotel had the best breakfast buffet that we had ever seen. The hotel was nothing fancy, but it was in excellent repair, super clean, great customer service and a pool. On top of all that, they offered Legoland and San Diego Zoo tickets at the awesome prices. We ended up booking through Hotels.com so that we could snag their welcome rewards points. If you’re curious, the hotel was the Ramada in Carlsbad, CA.

What lessons did we learned on this trip?

• Planning paid off big.
• The food and drink at both Legoland and the San Diego are anything but cheap.
• Packing your own soda, water and snacks in your backpack saved us quite a bit of money.

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Cashing in on coupons…

Many people don’t realize how much money they can save by using coupons from the newspaper, web, direct mail, etc. Here are some of the ideas that we tried out recently.

• Ask yourself if the product associated with the coupon is something that you really need.  Sifting out the coupons that don’t make sense for you and your family is a good way to control spending.
• Start a coupon trading club with your friends and co-workers.  This is a win win strategy that may allow you to double dip on the savings.
• Sort your coupons by:
  • Expiration date (earliest to latest expiration date)
  • By major categories (e.g. food, dinning, clothing, crafts, entertainment, travel)
• Check store ads and clearance racks to see if you can combine a sale with your coupons.
• Try keeping the coupons with you whenever you leave the house.   So, if  for example, you or your family decides to dine out, you can consider the coupon savings opportunities before deciding where to dine.
• If the store is out of stock of the item(s) that match up with your coupons, ask the store manager if you can get a rain check on the coupon.

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Cheap and smart ways to eat out for less…

These days if you work at it you can actually eat for substantially less that you thought.  We have identified several ideas to help you get started.

Coupons can be a great way to save on food at restaurants.  However, it is important that know which ones are really a good deal.  Here are some tips.

• Do the math first – Calculate your saving ahead of time.  For example, if the coupon is a buy one sandwich get one free deal when you purchase one fountain drink, make sure to check the price of the required fountain drink.  Add the regular price of the sandwich and the fountain drink price.  Next, subtract the price of the regular price of two sandwiches and there is your saving.  Some establishments have been cleverly raising prices and marketing coupons.
• The fine print – Make sure to check the expiration date and other requirements to redeem the coupon.
• Saving $ off of what? – Some establishments will jack up their prices and then offer awesome discounts off inflated prices.

Money saving strategies for dinning out for less

• Fast Food
  • Stick to the real deal -Lately they have been offering great deals (e.g. value meals).  Remember, that the restaurants are probably barely breaking even on their cheap deals.  So, they hope to make money on the higher priced extras like fries, soda and deserts. Lately McDonalds figured out that they can make a decent profit by selling fancy coffees similar to what the expensive coffee chains offer, but for less.
  • Home base for saving – Save big by skipping the fries and snagging the soda at home.
  • Double up on that 99 cent burger, sandwich, baked potatoe (wendy), salad, etc and make a meal out that.  Skip the fries and soda and your eating cheap.

• Sit down restaurants
  • Predictable prices – Stick with restaurants that have standard pricing any time of the day (as opposed to place that jack up their prices for dinner).  One example is Chili’s bar and grill.
  • Two meals for the price of one - Many restaurant serve larger portions that people could (or should) eat in one sitting.  Instead, eat half and take the doggie bag home or to work and enjoy another meal.
  • Adults eating childish - Some people suggest that you order off the lower priced kids menu to save money.  I might try that on a to go order, but I don’t think I would have the guts to order that kind of meal when dinning in the restaurant.
  • Being fair -  If you choose to eat inside a sit down restaurant, don’t skip the tip.  Waiters work hard and they should be treated fairly.  If you’re not into tipping, order take out instead.

• Take out at the buffet
  • Several restaurants will allow you to do take out from the buffet.
  • Typically, the rule is that you can take out what you can fit in their take out container (typically a decent size).
  • The price for this may not seem cheap, but don’t be surprised if you get at least two meals out that take out container if you packed it up to capacity
  • This allows you save on those expensive beverages by getting them at home or out the reasonably priced vending machine at the office.
  • Also, since a waiter is not involved, there is no need to tip.

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