A family vacation may be much more affordable than you think! Here is a list of some of our favorite products an services which we absolutely love for helping us to get the best bang for our buck and keep us traveling and making memories together as a family.
Acorns
Now, I realize that this is a financial service, and you might not be thinking about this as a travel hack, but just hear me out! Acorns is a simple, easy-to-use investing tool which rounds your purchases to the next dollar amount and stashes away the change. Their average rate of return is about 4% to 6%, which is much higher than the average savings account. You’d be surprised at how much money accumulates through this methods throughout the course of a year.
They also have browser extensions and various tools to help you get a certain percentage back on many of your purchases including gas, food, and more.
We use Acorns’ tools for checking, savings, retirement, and early savings for our children.
There are also typically specials running at any given time where referring a certain number of friends can result in up to $1,000 being deposited in your own account.
A dollar saved is a dollar earned, and more dollars means more vacation memories for you and your loved ones!
Get Acorns here: https://share.acorns.com/aaiken12
Disclaimer: We are not financial experts or advisors, so be sure to do your own due diligence prior to making any investments.
Upstart
Fuel prices are always unpredictable and can actually be a huge hindrance to being able to take the road trips that you love. Thankfully, there is a way to get cash back on those gas purchases.
Upside is an app which allows you to save on gas and other errands, and the cash-back can be redeemed for gift cards which you can use on your next vacation.
You’d be amazed at how much cash-back can accumulate simply by regularly using gas stations which accept the Upside app.
Click this link or use promo code ANTHONY73394 to get an extra 15¢/gal bonus the first time you make a purchase. https://upside.app.link/ANTHONY73394
Credit Card Points
Once again, we’re not financial advisors, and we highly recommend doing your own research prior to getting involved with churning credit card points–if debt accumulation is a great risk for you, then we highly advise that you follow Dave Ramsey’s advice and avoid credit cards altogether.
Credit card points, however, can be extremely helpful in the travel space. Our favorite way to use credit cards is points for hotel stays, of course, you can also use them for airline miles, and other travel amenities.
Most major hotel chains and airlines have introductory offers, which, once met, will provide you with enough points for a few nights stay at said hotel chain or with enough points for one or two round-trip tickets.
Our favorite way to practice this is to select a particular credit card, assign all of our recurring monthly expenses to that card for the duration of the introductory period, and pay it off monthly. Then, one spouse can refer the other spouse through the card’s referral program, accumulating more points, who will then repeat the process on their card account.
Then you can move on to another card and repeat the same process. We just use a spreadsheet to help us keep track of which card we are using, the full introductory terms, etc.
One card which we find extremely helpful right now is the Disney Chase Visa:
Get the Disney® Visa® Card. You can earn up to a $300 Statement Credit after qualifying purchases. Learn more.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/m/200f/6L5/GDRL/1574871237
BOOKING.COM
Even though we typically like to use credit card points for our hotel stays, if we are looking to stay at a resort for 5-7 nights, we typically look at Booking.com. Booking.com is arguably the best website for finding the best deals on resort stays. In fact, searching for deals on Booking.com is part of the way that we even decide where we are going to take a vacation to being with. We can sometimes find 5-7 night stays at nice resorts for about $500 total (obviously this pricing is also impacted by the season as well).
Activities & Attractions
Our favorite way to save on activities, attractions, and even food and accommodations from time to time is Groupon. You’ll see us post frequently about Groupon all across our website and often recommend it in our videos, and that’s because we have had great success with using their service to help us save hundreds of dollars (maybe thousands for us at this point) on the various things which we have done all across the state of Florida.
Here is a full run down of various Florida-specific passes which will allow you to experience some of Florida’s top attractions at steeply discounted rates during your stay. CLICK HERE.
Also, be sure to check out this page where we give a full run down on the best ticket prices we have found for the major Florida theme parks. CLICK HERE.
Also, be sure to take a look at Entertainment.com. For a small monthly fee, you could easily save hundreds of dollars on shopping, dining, travel (car rental, flights, cruises, accommodations), shopping, and more.
Disney World
Also, consider comparing the prices for tickets with UndercoverTourist.com. Get the same tickets for less, and save the most when you bundle your car rental, hotel stay, and theme park tickets with UndercoverTourist.com. This is the best way to purchase discounted Disney World tickets. UndercoverTourist.com also sells tickets for the other major theme parks as well including Universal, Legoland, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, etc.
We used UndercoverTourist.com for the first time on our honeymoon, and have loved this website ever since.
Another great resource for Disney World is DVCReservations.com. DVCReservations.com offers a steep discount for on-sight rentals to all the Disney Vacation Club Resorts. If you are a Disney Vacation Club owner list your DVC points while choosing your own price. The website features an interactive availability calendar and multiple tools to help you book your Disney vacation. We recommend signing up for their newsletter in which you will receive alerts about special pricing and availability for your favorite Walt Disney World resorts.
Be sure to check out this article where we give you a full run down on how to keep your next Disney World trip affordable. CLICK HERE.
CONCLUSION
We want you to have a fantastic time with your family during your next vacation, and we sincerely hope that these simple tips will go a long way in helping you make many lasting memories together.