Travel on a budget? You bet!

Some of you may wonder what travel has to do with redemption OR wellness. But for our family, traveling together has created memories, facilitated healing, allowed for some amazing educational opportunities, and just blessed us SO much. Then, of course, there are the perks of having a wellness-related side-hustle that can bring in income from any location. So it all comes together. 🙂

It’s a common assumption that traveling frequently with a large family means we have a lot of money to do so. I want to set this straight right now- that’s not true! With that said, I want to share some of the most valuable resources our family uses when saving for, planning for, and preparing for travel.

Credit cards: I ALWAYS milk the credit card rewards system. We are very intentional and never carry a balance on our cards- we treat them like debit cards. (this means I have to regularly balance our “checkbook”) By doing so, we earn rewards/points/cash back on nearly every single dollar we spend, and it allows us to get cards that have great promotions. We apply for awesome sign-up promos (I can hook you up with some if they’re currently available). As much as it’s discouraged, I WILL pay an annual fee if the benefit outweighs the cost. For example, some of our hotel reward cards have a very small annual fee (under $50) but the annual benefit is a free hotel night. Very few places in this universe are going to offer me a hotel room for a family of 7 for under $50!! So this makes it worth it for us. If the cards begin to lose their value (usually in the form of us not utilizing their rewards as frequently, if at all), we will cancel. Should we want that same card again, we can wait the appropriate time and re-apply, getting another promotional sign-up bonus! This method has not negatively affected our credit- in fact, we both built excellent (over 800) credit scores in this way.
Our favorite card for hotels: IHG via Chase (they often have a 100,000+ promotion!)
Our favorite card for airlines: We use the United Explorer Card via Chase for personal reasons, but the Alaska Airlines card with their Companion Fare is great too (BofA), as is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa and their Companion Pass (Chase).
Our favorite general rewards card: Freedom Flex

Hotels: We stay within hotel chains that allow us to use our points, primarily IHG hotels, whereas previously mentioned, we get one free anniversary night per card PLUS all the free- or discounted- nights via points with our IHG Mastercard. This has been a great card for earning. Occasionally they send out bonus point categories, so we can be intentional about when and where we use the card if we’re trying to earn on another one at that time. Also, having the IHG cards gives us perks at the hotels- freebies upon check-in PLUS bonus points per stay being one of our favorites! They also give you 10% back when you redeem points for hotel nights, which you can do using points exclusively, or points and cash together. We LOVE the flexibility of this option. And IHG offers us some great family-sized rooms. But almost every other hotel chain these days has a rewards program. ALWAYS sign up for it when you book a room somewhere- if it’s new, start earning right then! Even if you don’t utilize their credit card (most have those, as well), do not miss out on your points! Those add up, even with just a few stays!

Adding to Reward Points: I use online survey programs to add to our points or get free gift cards. E-rewards, Mypoints, Opinion Outpost, Swagbucks, you name it…if it can add something of value to our lives with just a short time commitment, I’ll do it! We’ve earned SO many gift cards, Paypal funds, and extra points this way. E-Rewards, specifically, offers points for most credit card reward programs. If you don’t want to bother with surveys, do an email click program like MyPoints or Inbox Dollars. You can stack up points just by clicking on the emails they send you- nothing else required. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Disney Resort Rooms: There are a lot of ways to make a Disney World vacation affordable, but one thing I always do is check DVC rentals (we have used DVC Rental Store) if we will be staying on-site because it’s consistently the best deal for the best rooms/resorts. This option has regularly come out to be far less than reserving a Disney room at a regular- or something even discounted!, and this is for Deluxe resorts! Renting DVC points gives you options you may have never had otherwise. As I mentioned, DVC Rental Store is our preferred agency (we work with Kate Guthmiller, if you need a recommendation!), but there are others out there like DVC-Rental and DVC Request, aka David’s. You can also rent from someone personally, without an agency, and save even MORE money, but doing so requires taking more financial risk.

Car Rental: When booking a travel package of any sort or renting a car, always check Costco! I am a detail person and will price out every possible option, and Costco is usually one of the least expensive (if not THE least expensive). If you have already paid for a warehouse membership, then use those perks! However, we’ve also found that some of the independent rental agencies like Alamo and Budget, just to name a couple, offer some great rewards and occasional discounts or upgrades that can sometimes beat Costco. So definitely research this one if you have time, but if not, Costco isn’t likely to let you down.

Eating Out and Groceries: While we’re on the topic of reward programs, don’t forget about your restaurants and grocery stores! If you’re road trippin’ to any extent, you’re probably going to find yourself eating out a lot. Make sure you see if a restaurant has rewards, and sign up ahead of time if possible. You may see some free meals or discounts before the time you make it back home. Same with grocery stores- like other industries, most chains these days have some sort of rewards program with a loyalty card. Often, checkers will give customers the loyalty discount if they are just visiting, without having to sign up for a card, but remember that YOU aren’t getting any points for that purchase that way. If you think you’ll shop at that store more than one or two times, definitely sign yourself up!

Park Tickets: For certain theme park tickets, Undercover Tourist has better deals than the parks and amazing customer service. Other than Legoland Florida (where there is an AMAZING homeschool rate…or at least there was, pre-Covid…please bring that back, Legoland!), I usually can’t find cheaper tickets anywhere else, including for parks like Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World. And if I do (usually right after I already purchase them because that’s the way life works, right???), Undercover Tourist has been awesome with customer service and refunds.

Cash Back: I use Ibotta every single time I shop at the grocery store, and I check Evreward for the best cashback sites for online shopping (it tells you which will give you the most back but you will still need accounts at the appropriate cashback sites). PEOPLE, I can’t stress this enough- never, never, NEVER shop without checking for cashback first. We have saved thousands of dollars over the years simply by clicking through Ebates (now Rakuten) or Mr. Rebates, and using Ibotta at the grocery store. Now I have Evreward to help me figure out which site will offer me the most, but I never hesitated to go to each site I knew of, including our credit cards (as they often offer cashback within their programs), to discover the best deal. Again, NEVER shop online without checking for cashback. You’re missing out on getting free money for things you’re already buying.

This is just a small smattering of ways to help save money and pay for your next vacation. Keep this up, and you’ll be able to travel more frequently for less cost….sometimes even nearly free!

If you have some great money saving vacation hacks, let us know!