I’m a big fan of travel. Not only do I frequently write travel articles, I also really enjoy meeting new people and trying new things. My family likes to go along on these trips. We will be heading to Branson, Missouri soon for a mini-vacation but our next big family vacation is going to be one to Ireland. This is going to require quite a bit of advanced planning and saving.
The planning involves checking online sites to see when to get the best deals. We generally prefer to go in the off season. Not only is it less expensive but it also tends to be far less crowded. As none of us are big on doing the tourist things, we are able to take advantage of a great number of discounts.
The first step for anyone is learning how to book reservations online. I’m already good at that and usually book my reservations online for both convenience and the discounts. Booking early enough can give you discounts as high as 70 percent on hotels and airfare.
The trip is usually the easy part. It’s finding the money to take the trip that can be difficult. While many will talk about buying in bulk and using coupons to save money, few mention extreme couponing as a means of saving money.
Extreme couponing involves a great deal of planning in its initial stages. You have to line up your coupons with the stores you normally shop in and learn how to stack your coupons for maximum benefit. As an example: butter coupons are common. When possible, hold on to the coupon until the butter is on sale at the store. Then use your paper coupon for additional savings. The best case scenario is to use your coupon on a double coupon day. The butter I normally purchase was on sale from $4 to $2. I had a coupon for $1.50 off of that and used it on a double coupon day where the store would double coupons up to $2. The store gave me .50 for buying that tub of butter. I bought 4 of them. That extra money was immediately put into the vacation fund. It’s not unusual for my grocery bill to total $200 before coupons and less than $100 after the discounts. That money goes into the vacation fund.
I’ve also quit smoking. That $6 a day translates into $180 a month. That money goes into the fund as well. Roughly $500 a month goes into the vacation fund. Because I also consolidate trips to the stores, I save on gas. All of this adds us quickly and in early spring we will be taking our trip to Ireland. With any luck we will have money leftover.