budget,  travel

Budgeting for a small trip or weekend

February 12, 2020 /

I do not know about you but when I am not planning to go on a full blown vacation (aka a trip abroad or a full week at the beach for example), I am a lot more careful about the amount of money we are going to spend. Case in point, the 2-3 days vacation we are going to Chattanooga, TN next week. We have been to Chattanooga before since it has some fun family activities and is less than 2 hours from Atlanta. Since it is not an exotic location and the purpose of our vacation is just to get out of the house and do something fun as a family, I do not want to spends bundles and bundles of cash. Here is how I planned, budgeted and allocated money for our trip.

Lodging and breakfast

This is where we save the most: lodging and breakfast will be free since we will use some of my husband hotel points/credit. We will stay close to downtown so that we can walk to different points of interest. We will stay two nights and arrive Sunday afternoon, saving some gas by going directly from church since church is 45 minutes closer to Chattanooga. I will also bring some snacks with us for those “I am hungry” moments that are not close to meal times.

Activities

So I had these grandiose ideas of which places we would visit which all include admission fees. The boys have asked to go to the Tennessee aquarium the last couple of summers (even though we have been to the Georgia Aquarium several times and it is hard to beat that one) so I decided this was one thing we would do. I looked up prices and searched high and low for discounts (the best I found was a dollar off each person’s admission) and realized that it will cost our family of 6 around $250 dollars. So needless to say that is the only paying activity we will be doing and that aquarium better have made some improvements since the last time I went about 10 years or so ago. I do remember really enjoying their butterfly exhibit and we plan to take our time visiting the aquarium.

Since our budget would not allow for any other costly adventures (no Ruby Fall for us this time!), I spent some time searching for free things to do. There is a large market Sunday afternoon that we will visit and we will enjoy the river walk and bridge that are fairly new and that we haven’t seen yet. The Chattanooga zoo is actually really affordable but since we have visited it several times, it was not a point of interest for this trip.

As you can see, I like to use paper and pencil to plan out somewhat of a schedule of what we should do. After our last little similar vacation in Savannah last year, I realized that swinging it was not going to do it for me. I was stressed that I had no ideas about where we would eat and what we would do. This time, I should be a much more calm mama and be able to enjoy our mini vacay a little more.

Eating out

This is the other area I had to take into account in our budget. We will be eating out for 2 lunches and 2 dinners. I looked for children eat free with one adult entree places and there are a couple but I am not sure that we will end up choosing to eat there. One way I like to save a few dollars when eating out is having the children and I order waters instead of a soda/drink unless it is included in their meals. I also have learned which meals the children can share (like chicken tenders) and which they will not (macaroni is enough for one usually). I am thinking we might do chain restaurants or find some type of food trucks for lunch while finding something less mainstream for dinner. We do not eat at fast food places unless it is Chickfila so maybe we will eat there for our lunch on Tuesday.

There are many trip budgeting sheets you can download online and I do sometimes use one to plan out a trip. For such a small trip though, I typically do not use one but take some time to think about where we will most likely spend money and figure out how much to bring. The children have been receiving allowance so I will remind them to bring their wallets in case they want to buy something as a souvenir.

I will report back on how well I budgeted after our trip.

A bientôt!

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22 Comments

  • Ellibelle

    February 12, 2020 at 9:13 am

    These are great tips. I too write out plans on what to do each day of vacation. My family always thinks I pack too much into each day but I rather have it all planned out and skip something than not having a plan at all. Of course I usually want to do everything on my list …
    One way we like to save money on eating out is by making a picnic lunch kept in a cooler with delicious homemade sandwiches with fruits and veggies on the side. This of course is only possible if the hotel has a fridge. Saves a lot of $$ and it’s fun to eat outdoors!
    It’s crazy how expensive some attractions are! I always check groupon for deals, but sometimes there are non!
    Ellibelle’s Corner

  • Claudia

    February 12, 2020 at 11:46 am

    Budget for a small trip… with a family with Kids this is the best you can do. I also liked the idea that you combine like saving gas starting the journey right after church. You are lucky to be able to get free Hotel and Breakfast, I always plan a lot in advance so that I can save on that. Enjoy your Trip and I look forward to your adventures.
    xoxo
    Claudia

    • mimifce

      February 12, 2020 at 2:53 pm

      Thanks, Claudia! Without the free lodging, there are a lot of our vacations we wouldn’t be able to take so I am very grateful! It is a huge help!

  • Grace | Graceful Rags

    February 12, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    Such good ideas! I need to start thinking about stuff like this for when I study abroad this fall and plan little weekend trips. Unfortunately, the hotel points and kids-eat-free methods won’t work for me, ha!

    • mimifce

      February 12, 2020 at 2:52 pm

      Ha ha! But there are hostels and different cool places to visit. There was a blogger I used to follow who was teaching English in Spain who shared how she visited different places on a budget. I don’t remember the blog’s name though but if I remember it, I will share with you. When will you know where you will go?

  • Joanne

    February 12, 2020 at 4:26 pm

    I still plan most of our trips using paper and pen/pencil too! I often look up free things to do and plan waay more activities than we need.

  • jodie filogomo

    February 12, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    You are so good to plan like this Mireille. It’s nice having the internet to find so many free things to do too.
    XOOX
    Jodie

  • Terri Gardner

    February 13, 2020 at 10:10 am

    I really am happier on a smaller trip than a larger trip. I just start missing my fur-babies. If we do go somewhere, there’s a good possibility that there is either some food or attraction that we want to try. Being from the mid-west, Springfield, Illinois has to be one of our favorite short trips and we really want to go to Omaha, Nebraska. I don’t think I’m quite as organized as you. I’m afraid, I get lazy and let Michael do most of the planning, But, I do track the budget like a hawk and try to make sure we stick to it. Also, I make plans in my notebooks. I can’t resist a pretty notebook and try to use them as much as possible. I love your photographs, especially the Blackened Crawdad /Crayfish(?) dish-yum!

    • mimifce

      February 13, 2020 at 11:26 am

      Thanks, Terri! Nebraska sounds like a great destination. The food plate was a paella dish in Spain this past summer. I always have a hard time taking good pictures of special dishes so I tend to reuse some of my pics in some posts.

  • Claire Justine

    February 13, 2020 at 11:26 am

    I am always planning ways to spend less when we go away for the weekend. Great tips. I really enjoy a few days at once 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at The Wednesday Link Up; It’s Not What You Wear, It’s How You Wear It. Hope to see you tomorrow for The Weekend Link Up 🙂

  • Amy Johnson

    February 16, 2020 at 11:39 am

    these are all such great suggestions, and I follow most of them myself as well. We always get a hotel that serves breakfast, and then we skip lunch and have an early dinner instead.

    • mimifce

      February 18, 2020 at 4:56 pm

      We actually did better than expected this trip even with going out more lunch and dinner. With the kiddos, can’t skip lunch or we will have a mutiny!