1. Go Grocery Shopping. Most of us spend a lot of money dining out or even picking up fast food. It is a convenience. When Dennis and I traveled and looked at our spending, we realized after airfare, our second largest expense was dining out. We like a big nice breakfast every once in a while. We live in New Jersey so we love diner breakfast food. And even though breakfast is relatively inexpensive, it’s still an expense. We are also love to snack. What we have gotten into the habit of, is grocery shopping when we arrive to our destination, 90% of our travel is at a timeshare so we have a full kitchen where we can toast bagels or waffles, scramble eggs, and make turkey bacon. If we are away for more than 4 nights, most likely we will cook a couple of dinners while we are there to save money. We also pick up ingredients to make a quick meal like spaghetti, or a pizza, or anything that has no more than 5 ingredients and can take less than 30 minutes to cook. IF you normally spend $30 per person on dinner, you can probably spend $70 on grocery shopping that will last several days. When looking a where you will stay on vacation, try finding a place with a full kitchen. You can look to renting out an Air BNB, or go to VRBO, or even a timeshare for rent on Redweek.
2. Purchase alcoholic beverages at a store (or duty free if you are traveling internationally).
A friend gave me this idea. Not the idea of cutting back on the alcoholic drinks, but to buy from duty free. When we travel internationally we purchase a bottle that lasts us for a full week. By the last day we are still kicking them back because you just can't waste alcohol! If you are not able to purchase duty free, maybe you are traveling within the country, you can always look at going to a local liquor store where you could even purchase a smaller bottle and get more of a variety.
5. Save the big splurge day for a special day – maybe you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary. This would be the day you would splurge and be very frugal the other days so if you have cash, put that aside.
8. Use public transportation, or better yet, walk if it’s possible. Dennis does not like to do public transportation (and I still don’t know why), so we walk a lot. It’s not bad, we also eat a lot so we burn off our food. It’s so easy to get an Uber or Lyft with a tap of a button, that before you know it, you have racked up a lot in charges and tips. On a cautionary note, check out the route before taking either to ensure the route to your destination is safe for a non-local.
9. Bring your own snacks from home. I started doing this, not because of cutting back on spending, but since I am allergic to eggs and dairy, AND at the time was a pescatarian, it was difficult to find something to eat on the plane. Therefore I started carrying my own snacks. I would take what I had in the house and put in little ziploc bags. I would usually pack so much, that I would still have some while in the hotel and would never need to visit a convenience store or vending machine when I craved sweet or salty!
10. Pay attention to currency conversion rates. If you use a credit card, make sure you don’t get charged for foreign transactions. Many locations that have a large population of American visitors will take US dollars, but are you getting the most out of your US Dollar. Check the conversion rate before you leave home to get you a idea of what the conversion rate is and when you get to your destination convert some cash where you see favorable rates and reasonable transaction fees.
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