How to Save Money on Your Next Road Trip Before You Even Hit the Road

Expenses for family road trips can add up quick! Find out my #1 tip for How to Save Money on Your Next Road Trip Before You Even Hit the Road...

This post was created in partnership with Kroger. As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.

The end of the school year & the beginning of summertime always means one thing for my kids & I- it is the official start of road trip season in our home. Whether we are driving just an hour or two to spend the day hiking or embarking on a 6+ hour drive to a cabin in the Tennessee mountains, we are always game for a good family road trip. 

But when you factor in gas, stops for snacks, road tolls (ugh- am I right?), the expenses for those family road trips can start adding up pretty quick. That is why our local Kroger store has now become our first official stop on our road trips before we even hit the road. 

How to Roar & Explore in Columbus, Ohio

Not only is the fun-packed Columbus Roar & Explore Getaway budget friendly, but it also offers a little something for everyone in the family from the preschooler to the teenager to the adults...

My family & I were were offered the Columbus Roar & Explore Getaway package to review courtesy of Experience Columbus. 

As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.

My family & I have deemed the summer of 2016 as the summer of our family weekend road trips. Instead of going on a longer week long vacation to just one destination like we usually do in the summertime, we are opting for 2-3 days visits to 3-4 different family friendly spots instead. First on our family summer road trip list was the Columbus Roar & Explore Getaway. Not only was this fun-packed getaway budget friendly, but it also had a little something for everyone in our family from the preschooler to the teenager to the adults.

We started our visit to Columbus, Ohio with a little Roar first and headed to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell...

The Best Money Saving Tips for Ski & Snow Family Vacations

Plan a budget friendly wintertime family getaway this year with these Best Money Saving Tips for Ski & Snow Family Vacations...

This post was created in partnership with Family Travel Forum. 

While I was compensated for this post, all opinions expressed below are 100% my own.

Winter and snow (aka, ski season) is upon us, and it is time to start planning those wintertime family getaways. Whether you are planning to stay close to home, heading to the snowy slopes of Colorado, or heading northeast to ski the mountains of Vermont & New Hampshire, it is no secret that ski & snow vacations for the family can get a little pricey. But there are ways to save money and cut the costs without also having to cut back on the experiences and the frosty family fun.

I have partnered up with my friends at Family Travel Forum today to bring you all the very best tips for saving money on ski passes, lift tickets, equipment rentals, lodging, and so much more this coming ski season. A fabulous wintertime family vacation doesn't have to break the bank, folks. :)

5 Simple Tips for Sticking to a Travel Dining Budget

Staying on a dining budget while traveling is easy with my 5 Simple Tips for Sticking to a Travel Dining Budget...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Visa Clear Prepaid program and 

the Green Dot® Reloadable Prepaid Visa® Card.

If you happen to travel at all- whether it be once a year for a family vacation or you take multiple road trips throughout the year- you probably already know that dining out while traveling can really eat up (pun intended ;) ) most of your travel budget pretty quickly. 

Being a foodie and food blogger, experiencing the local food scene in a new city ranks right up there in my top priorities when traveling. And because of that, the dining out expenses can really start adding up. Mainly because I want to try it all. 

Since my family and I love traveling, we have had to find ways to keep our dining budget in check because going over it one too many times means less trips throughout the year as our annual travel budget is depleted. Savvy savings and sticking to a budget with our travel dining = more trips as a family for the year! :)

So what are my best tips for staying on a travel dining budget? I am sharing my top five with you all below...

Travel Budgeting Made Easy With Visa® Clear Prepaid

Staying on budget while traveling can be challenging. I am partnering with Green Dot® Reloadable Prepaid Visa® Card to stay on budget this travel season. While I was compensated for this post, all opinions below are 100% my own.

My family and I love to travel (I think you all have noticed this by now), but what we have learned from our recent travels is that it is not always cheap. In fact, traveling with a family of four can get downright expensive at times. But we have had to find ways to save money, cut corners, and budget better to get more bang from our buck, and in turn to be able to afford to squeeze in more family trips throughout the year. Our hardest challenge though when traveling is sticking to our budget. I can find all the deals on the internet, but we always seem to go over our allotted travel budget by just a smidgen almost every single time. That smidgen may not seem like a big deal by itself at the time, but those little budget overages can really add up throughout the year. When you are on vacation and away from the reality of home, work, and bills, it is easy to get caught up in the moment and splurge a little too much and a little too often. 

Our biggest travel budgeting weakness? Dining out for sure! 

5 Ways to Save Money on Day Trips

Get out and about and explore without breaking your travel budget with these 5 Ways to Save Money on Day Trips...

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Brita, but all my opinions are my own.

Though we tend to travel and take little road trips all year round, summer seems to be when we really get out there and hit the road for a little family vacation time. My oldest is out from school for a couple of months, and we are pretty much free to pick and go when an opportunity or urge arises. 

But one thing that I have learned about summer travel is that the expenses of taking a trip- even what seems like a little weekend getaway- can add up fast. I can snag a great deal on a hotel or B&B. We can find the best price on gas and fuel up before heading out. But what I was finding is that those little day trips we took to get out and about and explore once we arrived at our destination were just eating up our travel budget. 

Walk around a little town or explore an area of a city, and you will find that there all kinds of ways to spend money around every corner. I soon discovered that those little day trips were eating up our travel budget for that trip quick, so I implemented a few changes over the past year or so. These changes have saved us hundreds of dollars. And money saved means more stays in our travel fund for the year which equals more trips and family time! :) 

So, what haveI done to save my family money as we explore and discover the areas that we love traveling to? I gathered up my five top tips for you all below...