There was a time, a very tiny sliver of a window of time, after college and before the onslaught of adoptions and births, that I was living in a two income, two full time employed people, home.  Two incomes is a pretty sweet deal.  Especially when the two incomes were both fair and generous and the debt ratio was nearly nil and the tiny home we were renting was quite the deal and our expenses were oh-so-low.

During that time we could easily afford to travel – and we sometimes did.  That was the year we made it to my only trip leaving the country (just barely) – Cancun, Mexico.  There are endless stories from this (mis)adventure we took with two friends.  A pink convertible VW beetle we rented.  The world’s most unfortunate sunburn I have ever received.  Parasailing.  Gigantic cockroaches.  Street bartering, a skill I do not possess nor do I enjoy.  A terrible decision to let someone braid my hair in those minuscule tight and painful braids.  (Directly before the sunburn situation.)  Accidentally discovering we were on a nude beach.  (Populated entirely by an elderly demographic.)

Shortly after that two income home situation, we left North Carolina and moved back to Virginia where we taught school and adopted babies and gave birth to babies and lost all of our income and all of our privacy and perhaps a great deal of our sanity.

Therefore, most of my adult life, adventures and vacations and journeys have had to be creatively financed.

It’s a skill set that I have developed over the many years of not usually having a free flow of spending money for extras.

And now, of course, with five children who eat as if they were thirteen grown men, and with there being no more free flights for under two or kids under 6 eat for free, it’s even more important to look for ways to make travel affordable.

I could always just choose to stay home.

(And I really like home, so it’s not as if that is a punishment.)

Growing up for a lot of my childhood on a dairy farm, our family stayed local pretty much always.  You think finding pet care for your dog is tricky when you head to the beach, try finding someone to milk eighty cows twice a day.  As a child, I had zero appreciation for that aspect of the equation.  I just knew I wanted to go to the coast or to the mountains or to my cousin Sherry’s house.  Anywhere, really.  Sometimes my mom would drive us to visit family by the shore and we liked that, but usually she just took myself and one brother, leaving Dad and my two older brothers to hold the fort down.  And keep the cows from bursting.

As the pendulum sometimes swings in the next generation, I hold vacations and adventures to be a priority and it’s important to me to make time and money for us to leave our home and strike out into the great wide open.

And that presents a challenge to ye old bank account.

Stuff just costs money.  Gas is pricey.  (Especially in a ride like ours.)  Lodging is outrageous.  Food prices can get out of hand in a hurry. Five burgers for five kids at a theme park costs more than our math curriculum for the entire year.  (This is not an exaggeration.)  Let’s not even talk about the cost of one admission fee to said theme park.

I am not a fan of debt, even though I think family excursions are deeply valuable.  I don’t think a good trip should mean your son can’t buy new shoes or your daughter can’t afford the math tutor she needs.

I do think, however, that there are some compromises worth making.  And this might be just where you find your pocket of money to be able to afford next summer’s trip if it matters that much to you.  Playing team sports adds up in a hurry.  Perhaps one year everyone steps back from the baseball diamond and you visit the Grand Canyon that spring break instead.  When you pitch the idea just right and you get your gang on board, you might find your kids are more than happy to delay their gratification in one area for a season to have a memorable experience with their family.

Here’s a few other ideas.

Credit Card Points.  IF you are responsible with credit card debt and IF you pay off your cards every single month, this is a fantastic way to pay for bits and pieces of your travel costs.  This is a major way that I personally use.  I pay for pretty much every single thing that I can on my card and pay it off immediately and store up those points all year long to pull them out of hiding for a trip.  You can use your points to cover flights, car rentals or hotel stays.  It takes a LOT for me to get enough to afford six plane tickets so I mainly focus instead on using these points for hotel stays on the road.  But it’s super helpful and takes a giant chunk out of our expenses as I find lodging to be the priciest part of a vacation.

Use What You Have.  In other words, think of your own particular skill set.  Can you trade work for tickets or gift cards?  You know you better than I do.  Creativity is king.  Think outside the typical – rent a beach house and go on vacation – ideas.  (Not that I don’t value the beach house rental.  I love that too.)  For me, this has been through writing.  On every vacation we’ve taken since I started the blog probably a decade ago (!!) I have bartered with companies, restaurants, inns, tourist spots, rental agencies, you name it.  I offer to write a review in exchange for tickets or a night’s stay or a deep discount.  All the companies can do is say no.  And plenty do.  But enough say yes to have made this the absolute essential way that I have been able to take frequent adventures as a mom traveling with five kids.  So maybe you don’t have a blog, but you have other valuable skill sets.  Think about using those to barter and share costs in creative ways.  (Maybe your friend has a mountain cabin and you install their kitchen cabinets in exchange for a week’s stay.)

House Switch.  I have a friend in Nashville and we have kicked around this idea for a while but have yet to actually make it happen.  Trade houses with someone in a spot where you want to vacation.  That way you also have a kitchen and your costs get lower immediately too.  And an added bonus is that your friend knows her hometown and you know your hometown so you can share recommendations.  You might even be able to share special deals or zoo memberships to make each vacation more affordable – and fun, with the insider scoop.

Plan Food Well.  Besides lodging, food can get pretty expensive pretty fast.  The thing is, it shouldn’t be such a big deal, this one.  I mean, if you were not on vacation, you would still be eating food.  So – really, it seems as if food should be a negligible expense.  Your kids are going to be eating at home or at the campsite.  The problem is our expectations.  When we travel, when we take a fun adventure, we expect our food to meet that standard of fun too.  And, as caregivers, we want a vacation from cooking and prepping food.  I get that.  My word, do I ever understand that dilemma.  But I think there are some basic ways around that.  (Maybe this should be its own in-depth blog post later.)  Wth a tiny bit of planning, you can not spend your time cooking, food can still feel vacation-y and like a treat and you can spend about the same amount of money as you would spend on your regular at-home non-vacation grocery budget anyway.

Wait til the Last Minute.  This might make you nervous.  You’ve taken off from work.  You only have this very exact time.  What if this falls through?  Well.  It is a risk.  But there’s usually enough back up plan that the risk is rather limited.  There are so many places with last minute deals that can really save you money.  Now, not everything should be saved tis the last minute.  Certain spots need months-early reservations and you’ll need to do your homework to know if you have to reserve that campsite in Yellowstone a year in advance or not.  But, as for your basic trip to say – the beach – waiting until the last minute might be exactly what saves the day.  The best place to try this last minute plan is the website VRBO.com.  You already know your dates and you wait until about two weeks (or one week if you’re feeling lucky) before you are going to leave.  You pick about three beach houses that are still available your week.  You simply send the owners a kind email saying something like this, “I see your beach home is available next week.  I know it’s last minute, so would you be willing to rent us the home for half the price?”  And you know what, that sounds crazy – right?  Except, they are about to have no one rent their beach house and make zero dollars.  Half of their rental cost sounds far better than zero dollars.  And there you are, suddenly able to afford a beach-front house for the same cost as the house six blocks back because you waited until the last minute.  Now, again – there’s the risk factor.  You could get burned.  You might have to stay in a hotel instead.  But if you are flexible – especially if you don’t mind if you land at Fripp or Savannah or Charleston or Harbor Island, just any coastal town will do, then you really can save a lot of money with this method.

These are just a handful of ways that help make trips possible.  Of course there are plenty of other options – staying near home, visiting relatives, camping, you name it.

If you have any additional tips and tricks, add them in the comments section.

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