Saving Money

As I've mention before we are on a pretty tight budget for this trip. While we are not one of those families that you see splashing money around on useless junk on holidays, we are also not those cheap people who wont even spend a dollar. We like to have fun but in a responsible way lol

Here are some money saving tips that we have found to be very useful.

Before your holiday

Save coins

As soon as I've booked a trip I start to collect my coins. At the end of the week by purse is usually full of coins. I used to only collect $1 and $2 but i found out the silver coins were adding up much faster. In about a year since I booked my cruise I saved over $450 in coins. 

Swap currency when you get 'extra money'

As we are venturing overseas we are going to have to swap our Aussie money for USA dollars. I like to travel with a bit of cash as I can track it better than credit card purchases ( and no nasty bill to pay off at the end of the holiday) So to take advantage of the excellent exchange rate I have been swapping a bit of money as I get it. I had a friend owe me about $150 and instead of spending it on stuff I swapped it into US dollars. This will prevent me from spending it before hand and I wont need to rush about nearer to the trip.

Look for deals and Groupons

The whole buying a voucher online is quite a new thing so I haven't used it on a trip before. At the moment I am looking for voucher for activities. There's heaps of food and drink vouchers that you can purchase. I know that in Australia we had some trouble with businesses not honoring the voucher so I wouldn't spend a lot of money on them. But for reputable businesses I wouldn't hesitate. 

During the trip

Eat out less

Eating out is nice on holidays but can add up fast. We like to go to a local supermarket and stock up on breakfast things like milk, yougurt and muffins. This only costs a fraction at the supermarket compared to a cafe or restaurant. We do like to go to nice restraints so we limit ourselves to either a nice lunch or dinner. Some places are cheaper if you have dinner before a certain time so make sure you know when that is so you can plan your day. 

BYO snacks and drinks

Bottled water or cans of soda are cheaper when you buy in bulk. We like to get those 24 packs of water and 20 cans of coda boxes and keep them in our room. When we go out on tour of walking about we just bring a bottle with us for when we get thirsty. This saves us at least $4 per drink and saves us getting ripped off in touristy places. Same goes for snacks. Those little packet of chips are a great little snack that takes up hardly any space in your bag. Its great for when you are in  between meals or your not hungry enough for a full meal. We also get some bags of lollies to eat during long drives or tours.