Saving on Last Minute Family Vacations

I mentioned last week that my family was given the opportunity to take a last minute road trip to San Diego, CA thanks to Country Inns & Suites. We had a wonderful time, but since it was last minute, I didn’t have a lot of time to plan our agenda.

I was determined to find the best Frugal options for our vacation and there were a few resources that I turned to to help save:

1) Restaurants.com: This is a big one because it can help to cut down on the cost of eating out. There are usually promotional codes, too, so you can save on gift certificates. Another great benefit is that when you buy a Restaurants.com gift certificate to a specific restaurant, you have 90 days to exchange it for a generic Restaurants.com gift. This means that if you buy a gift certificate to use on vacation and don’t use it, you have wasted since you can exchange it!

2) Check local FREE events. We went to San Diego on the last Fee-FREE weekend from the National Parks. We visited Cabrillo National Monument, saw exceptional views of the city and ocean, and learned about this Old Lighthouse used in the 1800s. It was amazing to see how life was back in the 1800s, especially separated from the city and living a simple life.

There are also tide pools that you can visit, which my boys loved, especially after we had spent the day at the beach the day before. It gave them a chance to see more of the life found in the ocean.

Of course, going to the beach is a great FREE event in San Diego, but no matter where you go, research what parks, or other recreational activities are available for families for FREE (or cheap) before you go. Most hotels will also have pamphlets with different tourist information, but knowing ahead of time can help you save time and money.

3) Stay at a hotel with FREE breakfast. This is another great way to save while on vacation. We stayed at the Country Inns & Suites, that has a big breakfast every morning with plenty of items to choose from. Since we had a big breakfast, we had light lunches with our packed snacks (next item).

4) Pack snacks. This is an easy road trip tip that you may already do, but by packing some healthy snacks for the trip, you are cutting down on the extra cash and calories that you would be spending!

5) Look for coupons for theme parks, or events you want to attend. A couple good resources for this include ebay, craig’s list, and the Entertainment Book.  We were able to save on our admission to the Scripps Aquarium with a coupon in our Entertainment Book. (If you are interested in the Entertainment Book, you can get the 2009 book FREE, when you buy the 2010 book) More info Here:

5) Check your resources! Before I left, and because our trip was so last minute, I checked in on twitter for any deals that others knew about. I was sent several resources from other moms that either live in the San Diego area or have vacationed there. Check with your favorite blogs, the local city website, and even friends or family that have been to your destination. It is amazing how just networking can find you a great deal!

Find out more about how other live Frugally in Frugal Friday!

What are some of your tips for saving on last minute family vacations?

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