We’ve been spending our nights in Rodanthe this week, and it’s been wonderfully relaxing! So today’s post will be short and sweet. When we return home I’ll write up all of the ways we made vacation for our young family work, even in the midst of serious debt repayment.
The 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week
Haircut
While I prefer to cut hair at home using my own clippers, one of our older boys has decided that the buzz cut no longer cuts it. I’m not great at cutting hair, so I’ve always just buzzed their hair evenly and left it at that.
He can wear his hair a bit longer if he wants, but when it starts covering his face, it’s time for a trim. Luckily, a Mom friend had a coupon that she let me use. So I was able to get his hair cut for just $6 plus a tip! It’s not free, but it’s worth the cost to let him have some independence.
Hotel
We’ve been planning our trip, and we needed a hotel to cut our driving time. I know many people drive all night to avoid hotel costs, but that isn’t an option for our family. We have kids that don’t travel well, and grown ups that can’t stay awake all night.
So we booked a hotel in advance because we’ve run into trouble finding vacancies before. A few days after booking, Hubby noticed that the price of our suite had dropped by $35. I’m glad he was paying attention! Hotels.com gave us the difference.
Glasses
Our oldest left his glasses where a baby could get hold of them, and boy did she get hold of them! It wasn’t a repair we could make ourselves, so we had to find a place on the island that would help us out.
The office we found was able to make a fix that lasted us all week. Best of all, she did it for free! And even gave us back the old pieces so we could try to redeem a warranty.
Dinner In
One thing we love about vacation on the beach is all the fresh seafood. But it comes at a steep price, especially when you’re feeding a family of seven. I won’t say we didn’t eat out at all, but we did cut way back. Instead, we grabbed some shark and tuna steaks for the grown ups and fed the kids cheap food (which they prefer anyway). We spent more on the fresh fish than I’d normally pay for groceries, but we saved a ton of cash on dining out.
Enjoying Simplicity
How many times have you gone into the ice cream shop thinking you’d grab a small cone only to immediately get a craving for a fancy sundae? It happens a lot, and even more when you’re on vacation.
But we’ve been able to resist! The great thing about a simple ice cream cone is that even the last bite tastes amazing. And you can actually appreciate it without any guilt over the price (or extra calories).
Those are the 5 ways we saved money this week!
I’ll be back soon and I can’t wait to share all of my latest tips with you then! In the meantime, check out what I’m pinning in between beach trips.
How did you save this week?
Does one of the pieces of fish look like a heart shape? It’s so pretty!
It was so nice of the lady to fix your son’s glasses for free. I once got mine fixed at no cost too and was really touched by the gesture. =)
It did look a bit like a heart! It was definitely delicious. 🙂
I am fortunate, while I am horrible with the shears and clippers (my children fired me, refused to let me cut their hair) my husband is very adept. He cut my hair for me shortly after we started dating, no one else has been allowed to touch it since. I had three really bad haircuts for my boys in a row at the barbershop and my sister yelled at me for hacking them so bad. I told her they were from so called “pros”. I asked my then boyfriend to help, i got clippers, etc. but got flustered and he finished both haircuts. He has been the family barber ever since. My best friend stopped by to visit when i wax getting my locks trimmed and she commented that hubby does a very nice job, when he finished she asked if he had time to do one more. Hubby did a great job as always so now she stops by for a trim as well. My mom got a bad haircut at the salon and now gets freebies at the house as well. Hubby is laid back, if the biys want it longer, he is fine, he can do the scissor and comb cutting, but both want their hair short, not skin head bald. So it saves me a lot of money each year. We are growing a fair sized garden, so when veggies and fruit are ready, there will be significant savings and good eating as well.
Nicely done! Hope you’re having loads of fun & travel safely. Also, I luuuuv fresh fish!
It is so nice to save money… good job. 🙂