Top 10 Creative and Affordable Vacation Ideas

I used to take vacations all the time, but as my family grew, we find it hard to take vacations. These days, you need to get creative when you take a vacation. Twittermoms has connected with Toyota to find out what great ideas moms (or anyone) have to save money when vacationing.
Here are my 10 ideas on how to save money on vacations:

1. Go on off season. When we go to Disney World, we go in November. It's a great time to go, and they have specials on off season times.
2. Take your own food. Stock up on snacks and invest in ice packs and bring meals that you can eat along the way if you are traveling by car.
3. Find memberships/discount cards. If you frequent the same places, it pays to sign up for memberships or get discount cards.
4. Go with family. Make it a group trip and invite other family members to share the bill with when you can get a discount for large groups.
5. Stay local. Find out what's going on close to your city or state. You would be surprised what attractions are near you!
6. Camping. Camping is fun and very affordable!
7. Look online. Look online to find out if where you are going has a visitors website for deals and cheap attractions going on.
8. Make it yourself. Stay at a hotel that has a kitchen with stove and fridge. Stay in and cook instead of eating out while on your trip.
9. Volunteer vacations. A new trend for families to afford a vacation by volunteering their services while there.
10. Drive. Avoid taking an airplane if you can drive. Make sure you rent an efficient car to save on gas.



I wrote this blog post while participating in the Toyota Sienna and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.