A testimony from Rosanna who blogs at The Four F’s
We hadn’t been on a major vacation in seven years, so we decided to take our family on a road trip to British Columbia, this past June. We spent time seeing many attractions along the way, as well as when we got to our destination of Vancouver, British Columbia.
My husband, Bernd, and I have always enjoyed road trips, and now that our three children are getting older — ages 10, 7, and 5 , we thought we would like to attempt this with our family.
We believe in building memories with our family, but obviously these memories come at a cost. We are a one-income family and my husband is self-employed. That means that he doesn’t get vacation days or holiday pay.
That said, here are some of the things we did to pay cash for our big family trip.
1. We continued have monthly budget meetings and told our money where to go.
2. We have a sinking fund for different categories, one of which is vacations. Though our sinking fund payment wasn’t that high, we hadn’t gone on a large vacation for a long time, thus we had a head start on this one.
3. I sold items we no longer needed.
4. Every time I had extra money left in a budgeted category, I put it into a glass jar and eventually brought it to the bank.
However, our budgeting didn’t stop there. In order to make this vacation work, we needed to be careful on our trip too.
Here are some of the ways we saved money during our trip:
5. We brought most of our food along, stopping at grocery stores along the way to stock up. We only ate out for three meals, not including continental breakfasts in hotels.
6. We booked most of our hotels at hotels.com, which enabled us to get a much better rate most of the time.
7. We chose to bring our tent and gear and camped for two nights instead of using a hotel room.
8. We chose to do the activities that were most important to us, not every single available thing.
9. We were able to visit the Vancouver Aquarium for free because we went with some relatives that had a pass.
The total of our trip came in around $1800, and it was worth every penny!
We look forward to the day that we are completely debt free so that we can do these kinds of trips more regularly.
Rosanna is a wife and homeschooling mom of three. She loves writing, worshiping Jesus through song, and chatting with her husband. You are invited to follow along with her on her journey at The Four F’s.
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Phil Danley says
So great to read that you were able to take this vacation and remain on budget. Getting out of debt can take a long time and be a GRIND. Working something like this into your plan without breaking your plan keeps you motivated even if it delays your final debt payment by a few months. Keep it up and you’ll get there!
Rosanna says
It is so true that getting out of debt is a long process. We are almost there, but it has been a long haul. Thanks for your comment.
Brittany Atkinson says
Vancouver is one of my favorite cities. It is absolutely beautiful! We have been thinking of taking our 3 children but I kept dismissing the thought since the city is very expensive. You have given me a few ideas so we can make it work. Thanks!
Rosanna says
I am so glad that I was able to help out with some ideas! Thanks for reading!