Between our move from Texas to Missouri we took a little “vacation.” It was a nice relaxing time, but it wasn’t just a vacation as we had some things we needed to get done on the car and air plane. But it was a fairly cheap vacation for the most part. I know everyone’s in different circumstances and may not be able to save in the ways we did, but I thought I’d share it to give you ideas.

Lodging

One of the most expensive parts of a trip is where you sleep every night. We were able to stay at a trailer that my in-laws own, so our housing was completely free! It wasn’t a 5 star hotel, but it was still relaxing and enjoyable.

Food

Because the trailer has a fridge and microwave we were able to eat meals at home, saving us a ton of  money. We just ate simple meals, which I’m thinking I’ll make a whole  post on just that. We ate out quite a bit too, but it was nice being able to eat at home some, which saved us money and was healthier. If you do go out to eat, here’s a few ideas on how to do it as inexpensively as possible.

Entertainment

Like I mentioned before, we spent some time working on our car and moving our air plane, but we also did a lot of fun things:

• Went to a train museum, which only cost $8 total and was really fun!

• We had a lake day and spent a little money to get into the state park, but it was well worth it! Gracia loved being in the water and we even had a picnic by the shore!
• We did some bike riding. It was a challenge for me to ride on the hills, since I’m used to flat-as-a-pancake West Texas, but going down sure was fun!

Gracia with her backpack ready for some adventure!

• Gracia went on at least one nature walk pretty much everyday! She’d get her back pack on and we’d go walking around looking a plants and bugs.
• We even rented a Redbox one night and watched it on our laptop.

• We played games.

Cameron flying us over the lake.

• The last day we even went up flying over the lake in our plane that Cameron just finished the overhaul on!

Anyways…we’re now in Missouri and will start our missionary training Monday. We are already loving it here! The campus is right on a lake and the people are great!

What are some ways you spend less on vacations?

PS – Here’s an old post I made on saving money on trips.