Road Trip Vacation on the Cheap

Car expenses:

Before you start your trip, you might want to know what to expect gas price wise. Here's my favorite site, Gas Buddy.

Armed with this info, knowledge of your gas mileage and the distances you'll be traveling, you can plan to fill up at the most favorable locations.

Take care of any preventative maintenance your car may need far enough in advance of your trip that you'll have time to make any surprise repairs.

Eating:

Before you leave home, make and pack a few snacks and meals. Make jerky, gorp, and cookies. Freeze a cooked meal like a casserole, stew or spahetti to thaw in the ice chest. Pack a variety of cereals in individual plastic containers to be eaten right out of the container once milk is added.

Stay away from restaurants. Take along an ice chest and stop every other day at grocery stores. Buy drinks and easy-to-fix, easy-to-eat foods like sandwich makings, fresh or dried fruit, cheeses, oatmeal packets, and finger foods like olives or pickles. If you're camping, you might want to choose some cheap, easy-to-heat canned foods like soups, beans, or chili. For variety, grill up some burgers or roast some hotdogs or sausages, and of course, s'mores. If you'll be staying at a motel with a microwave, considering buying inexpensive microwaveable meals.

Souvenirs:

Pick up postcards along the way to commemorate the interesting sites you visit, write a note about the highlights that happened since the last postcard and mail them to yourself. When you return home from your trip, buy a photo album with clear plastic pages and load it up with your postcards. Only fill one side so the information you wrote yourself can be read from the reverse side without removing the card from the page. Of course, if you don't want to “spoil” your postcards by sending them through the mail, don't. I happen to like the used look and enjoy finding them in the mailbox.

Lodging:

Stay with friends or family whenever possible. If your family likes to camp you'll save a lot of money over motels, especially if you don't mind roughing it in areas without traditional campground facilities, such as national forests that allow free camping. Just be sure to check the rules and regulations first. Remember that campfires may be banned during certain seasons.

If you must stay in motels, make use of any discounts you can. AAA, AARP and some motel chains have discount deals. If you ask at the time you check-in, you might be able to get the manager's discount. If you have the time and energy for it, take the time to compare prices on-line before you leave. If you plan far enough in advance, you might find bargains on cabins, time-share rentals and cottages that are often nicer than motels. Even if you don't plan that far in advance, you might luck into a cancellation deal.

Tickets:

Some amusement parks have bargain tickets that are sold at specific convenience or grocery stores. Many have promotional gimmicks such as deals with a beverage company that require you to bring along the right can for a discount.

If you can arrange to buy tickets on-line before you leave home, you may be able to get discount prices. Electronic ticketing can be a time saver as well by allowing you to bypass long lines. Ask about senior citizen or student discounts and check brochures you find at information centers or motel lobbies for coupons.

Don't skimp to the point that your vacation doesn't seem like the escape it is supposed to be, but save a little money and rest a little easier.