Well...I decided to save up for spring break vacation for son. saved a little over last six mos. and was afraid due to job change that it would have to be dipped into...but luckily it did not.

Son wanted to go to universal and sea world and maybe to cape Kennedy to see space center. Driving time is too far for me with available time off...so I had to find way to get cheap airfare...found it! (transmeridian airlines) New shuttle goes from atl to orlando for either 49(does a sale every other month or so) each trip or 69 each way. Picked that. Got on bidding site and got a gorgeous room, not in disney district either (remember my disney trigger?)...bordering on gorgeous lake in downtown orlando...got dirt cheap rental car with unlimited mileage too. Purchased discount tickets by signing up for orlando magicard...

I figure I saved at recent estimates, 500 so far. And am spending the same amount as I would have spent staying at a rather inexpensive hotel too!

Since we're mostly here learning how to re-arrange our finances, this is a great idea! If you have money saving tips for travel and the new divorcee, post em here! Spring break is around the corner and so is the summer! Let's have some fun with this!

This is on a much smaller scale.....but we have a vacation jar that we throw all our change into. The kids were leaving lights on all the time, so we started charging them .25 every time and in the last month we've collected $12 and our light bill went down $6! The kids were so excited about the money in the jar adding up, they throw their change in too! And they know it goes to our family vacation in June so they want to help.

Good topic Peach!

I wish I had money saving tips. I do know that right now airfare is really cheap. Always in February. You picked a great time to purchase a ticket. I know ATA has some good rates too. I know that South Padre Island has some very inexpensive condo's and airfare to Texas is not as expensive to the other Spring Break sites. My cousin who lives in Austin took a flight that was headed to Cancun with a lay over in Brownsville. Not sure if he rented a car. Do you really need one there?

But what about money saving tips to stash when husband is sooo greedy about money?

Ali~

Hey peach!

Mebbe you can hep me with planning a Florida vaca during spring break... we don't want to do Disney, but definitely Sea World and a zoo or "cool" museum, hopefully a beach but not one overrun with drunk teens!! Neither Westley or I have been to Florida and don't know the first thing about visiting... we will be renting a van and driving clear down from Michigan tho (flying five down and back would be too much on top of a rental for the time there)!

Email me at xpButtercup -at gmail.com if you like!

I LOVE MICHIGAN!

I am a fudgy! Love it up in the UP. The boats and hiking!!!! My kind of paradise. Although I do like the sun!

There is so much to do and see in Florida that is not expensive. Try the gulf side? Ask a travel agent for suggestions or surf google for ideas. Sarasota, Clearwater. OK I know you asked Peach, but I thought I could help!

Ali~

XPB, I've done the Florida trip in a van, and with two drivers, it's not really that bad.
To save money, you can make a game of it with the kids. Help them plan the trip, and identify the costs and the savings so that you can all do more.
I'm always one for packing breakfast & lunches. Cereal, bagels and fruit can go a long way, and is far cheaper than in the parks.
And I just ate PB&Js for 3 days straight for lunch to save money.
Turn the trip into a math lesson for the kids to calculate mileage, gas costs, spending, etc. It can be lots of fun.

Hey Peachy,
Good info!

I used to live in Daytona Bch.
I just talked to two of my girlfriends from there today, and I was planning on going to see them in the near future.

I want to check out the airlines you got your tickets from.

It sounds like I can actually do this!

Thanks,
K.

Hey!
Airlines is transmeridian airlines and their site is www.iflytma.com which has their cities where flights originate and their destinations...

Karona, check out their site. I only know as of now from my town, they fly into palm beach and orlando...which is good for me.

As for the beach stuff, found out that orlando is about 45 miles away from titusville, or the space coast....

Xpb, you wanted seeing a cool museum..well, cocoa beach is not far from orlando (45 miles) and home of cape kennedy...my son wants to see it so bad! Plus we wanna do seaworld. I will email you w/stuff I know about...

Getting their orlandomagic card sent to you is good for orlando discounts also. I have found some great sites for discount hotels too in orlando and elsewhere! Quickbook.com is good for that...some hotels you can reserve now and pay for when you get there. I did pretty good on priceline btw. Got a decent hotel, much nicer than I could normally afford for the same price/category I was willing to spend on. Only drawback is that it's not immediately close to the theme parks. So I am getting a cheapo rental car also. It's very nice, has a good pool, and is near alot of things...my son should love it. Their downtown looks really cool. No playgrounds, etc...but it has a very nice pool and we have fun wherever we go. Haven't stayed in a really really nice hotel in some time..so this should be fun. My guess is we'll be waking early and going to eat breakfast elsewhere (not in hotel) but still having a complete blast!

Anna, the jar idea is a good one! Could pay for all the food on the trip! Excellent idea.

Ali, Sorry your H is greedy...if he won't save money, YOU start your own vacation account. My new job has a vacation club that the credit union sponsors. You donate a little here and there over a year and whammo...you got a vacation paid for.

So far, I am definitely saving money...it will be a nice trip. Our itenarary will be to go to space center and beach day one...take a leisurely morning day two and off to sea world by 10 am. Third day to universal. Last day, late checkout and hanging by the pool. Then to airport...One night, we're going to go to the midevil times dinner...even found a discount coupon from the orlando magicard for that and all the themeparks! Buying the tix through the orlando card thing, will save about five bucks on av. at theme parks and about 10 bucks per tix on dinner theater/shows. Plus you can get discounts on rental cars, etc., hotels, everything pretty much if you're going there on vacation.

Thanks Peachy for the site, but crud! They don't fly out of Pitts.

I guess that was too good to be true!

I did go onto Travelosity though. Found some for 187!

Your son is going to love this trip!

There is so much to do down there.

Enjoy!
K.

xpButtercup,

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> hopefully a beach but not one overrun with drunk teens!! </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I can make a strong recommendation for this. And since you are driving in....

St. Joseph State Park/Port St. Joe in Florida.

It's on the panhandle, but about 45 minutes further east from the Pensacola/Destin/Ft. Walton/Panama City mess.

A few years back ('02?) CNN listed as "the best beach in America." STBXW and I decided to take a little 4 or 5 day trip to Panama City, and we took a day trip out to St. Joseph SP. I'm a little cynical by nature, so I had to see the "best beach in America."

Yeah......it was.

STBXW wasn't much fun to be around (heavy into her 1st A at the time, unbeknownst to me) but all that can't tarnish this place, and I'll probably wander out there myself this summer. Powder white sand beaches, crystal clear water. It's on a little peninsula near Apalachicola. I think there may be some hiking trails as well.

It's also a "family place" being a state park. We went two weeks before Labor Day, and there was NO ONE there. I think there was another couple about 500 yards down the beach.

If you Google it, the park has a web site.

The only you may want to check is if there was any damage from the hurricanes last year.

My $.02,
Ethan

Thanks to everyone for the Florida tips... will be printing these out and Googling now. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Will post other great news on another thread!

I was able to book a room with two double beds and a fridge and microwave for $42 + tax per night. We will bring inflatables for the younger kids to sleep on. Not like they could comfortably share a queen even. Not for a week.

Did not want to have to drive my own car (small SUV type) all the way down there, but all of the minivans in my area had been reserved already.

Now to decide if I want to splurge on the FlexTicket for Universal/Sea World/Busch Gardens/etc. or just buy each ticket separately. And the other things we want to do while we are there.

A friend of mine told me she and her H were saving $25 a month, and had started many years ago. They never realy missed the $25, and eventually it grew into a fair size nest egg. Not for retirement, but for fun.

Another idea: My H always put his spare change into a jar, and once a year we emptied it and blew it at the state fair. There was always enough for a spectacular time at the fair!

Here are some ideas...

Smarterliving.com has newsletters with the flight specials that leave on Saturdays and you return on Mondays or Tuesdays to various places all over the country, most of the airlines. The newletters are emailed to you on Wednesdays and you have to go quick. If you have kids, they'd have to skip school Mondays if you did the long vacation weekends, I've taken a lot of these flights.

For Mexico and other resorts theres mltvacations.com, suntrips.com and applevacations.com. Sometimes there's great last minute specials. Also there's flight only specials, I've done that, gone to Cancun, on to Playa Del Carmen then just got a $25 room. Rates are based on couples for most packages though so now that I'm separated I'll do flight only and cheap hotels likely.

I backpacked around Europe and Asia when I was younger, hey, the Europeans still travel after they have kids this way... there are hostels with rooms for families that don't cost a fortune, and many ways to save on airlines and such, traveling certain times of the year, again if your kids aren't in school. My little boy is only 11 months so I'm going to take him overseas sometime in the next year as we only have one left to fly for free. I have friends in Europe that I went to college with plus relatives so I stay free, unless we make a side trip. Flights around Europe don't really cost that much, like Germany to Spain or something, there are many discount charters.

If you can find good flight deals there are countries that are much cheaper to travel around then typical resorts. Flights might cost a bit more then to Mexico, Hawaii, but once you get there you can really budget. I've enjoyed Thailand, Malaysia, E Europe, and other more off the beaten path places. I made a point to skip the major tourist traps and found much cheaper places to stay. There are great books that help show you how. You can also take volunteer vacations, where you get free room and board for helping out, that would be fun with children as they would really get some great experiences. There are many of them, I know a couple who did this through a religious organization, went to the same country every year, brought their children, what a way to experience another culture.

There's ways to budget other types of trips too. You can go to Alaska and instead of a cruise you just take the local boats like locals do. I worked up there one summer and it's so beautiful. If you want to travel around the US you can drive and camp out, saving hotels, pack meals, travel in a season that isn't so busy so it doesn't cost as much, look of friends and family in places you want to go and stay with them. When I was a kid my family didn't have much money, but we camped out a lot, it was fun. More fun then hotels.

As for saving up, the idea of saving change is a good one. I read an article once and I've done it ever since. Even if you go to pay cash for something that's like $1.04, you give them $2 and you put the extra change in the jar. It can add up to a significant amount by the end of the year. That's for vacations and fun stuff. It works, I did it. Or just save so much out of your paychecks each time, once your bills are met of course. Or quit the gourmet coffee habit or eating out, or whatever might cost you so much a week, put that into your travel fund.

Back when I wasn't making as much as now I always made travel a priority, I have so enjoyed exploring the world on a budget. I have memories that no one can take from me. I want my little boy to enjoy traveling as well. I had friends who had nicer cars, furniture, clothes, sometimes I envied them but I prefered life expenses to materialism. A trip to a new couch. I'm glad I did too. Now I make a little more, I don't have to stay at the cheap hotels, or backpack, or pinch pennies to go somewhere but the experiences aren't as deep as they were back when I really scraped to go places, really great places.

Save a horse, Ride a cowboy--
Sorry-- Just read that somewhere.

I did one of those "Two Free Trips for $99" deals. I was tentative about doing it, but figured it was only $99 anyway. You got to pick your destinations.
It worked out. Got 4 nights in Orlando, Two in Vegas, for up to eight people!
I had to pay the bed tax, and go to an opening at a condo where a realtor gave a tour, and sat down with me to figure out if I wanted to buy into one or not (I didn't). The time with the realtor took a couple hours, but lunch for my son and I was included. And really, if I could have afforded the time share in Orlando, I would have done it because you can trade those nights out for nights in other destinations.
Also, I signed up for a credit card that gives me frequent flyer miles, as well as a long distance company and internet that give me frequent flyer miles (on Northwest). Also got my mortgage to give me miles! I already have one free ticket.

I'm a backpacker tho, and we have all the gear we need.
But this is a small investment when you consider you don't need anything else for years and can go whenever you can/want to.
We eat "just add water meals" while backpacking. We buy instant soups in bulk at health food store, and bring quick oats or granola mixed with powdered milk in ziplocs for breakfast, mashed potatoes too-- (I put one meal per ziploc, and we eat right out of the bag). We bring jerky, fried fruit, other light weight nutrient rich foods to keep it interesting. Sometimes for fun I buy some cheap little party cakes. They get smashed, but you tend not to care when they are such a luxury item. Sometimes I even bring pasta and sauce. Even cheese and wine!
O, and we both wear holsters of pepper spray and have walkie talkies.
Anyway, it's free, it's exercise, it's beautiful, and gives me the opportunity to teach my son about nature and doing without modern crud.
Also, I think these basic skills are important to survival.

Car camping is fun too, if you prefer.
WE always get out, no matter what. Money is never an option and no break comes and goes without us taking advantage of the time off to get out and away.
my 2 cents.
Lucy

More $$ saving tips.

I find shortest route home from work and leave a little later than everyone. I save a quarter tank of petrol each week because there is no traffic jam when I leave.