Vacation Savings

We are heading to the airport in a couple of hours. The weather here in Florida is a lot cooler today with expected high of 68. Of course that would be nice for New York, but cool for a beach day. Our vacation was 10 days and 9 nights. When we travel south in the winter our goal is escaping the snow and freezing temperatures and relaxing. My husband and I can accomplish that and still stay within our budget. Here is how we saved money on our vacation.

1. We went to the library before we left to get books to read on vacation. I read two library books plus a book that was in the condo. I have one more to start on the plane.
2. We used credit card reward points to pay for the flight down. All we paid out of pocket was $5.60 apiece for the 9/11 surcharge. We flew on Southwest.
3. We are not tied to school vacations or holidays so we can travel off peak. Our return flights were $96 a person on JetBlue.
4. We took one suitcase for both of us. This saved us $30 JetBlue baggage fee. Since we had a washer / dryer in the unit we were able to bring fewer clothes.
5. We used Home Away Vacation Rentals instead of a hotel. I compared what we paid to the nearby Hampton Inn and Suites rate (which would include sales and hotel tax). I estimate we saved $1,500 and we had a really cute condo.
6. We ate out 4 dinners and 2 lunches out of 30 total meals. I find that eating out less often makes our restaurant meals feel special.. On our last night we enjoyed a nice seafood dinner overlooking the water.
7. We walked to the beach instead of paying $10 per day parking fee. According to my phone it was just about 1 mile each way. The walk is pleasant and, hey, walking never hurts!
8. We used a condo-provided Fun Pass for free lounge chairs and umbrella at the beach. That was a nice perk.

We had a good vacation and soon we will be back to reality!

The restaurant had these neon-lit pools of catfish.

Beach in the morning. The best things in life are free.