Cheap Travel Tips – Vacation Money Savings

This Cheap Travel Tips and Vacation Money Saving Page contains a growing list of money saving tips from our readers. We hope it helps you find free or inexpensive Vacation Fun!

Cheap Travel Tip #1 – Identifying Luggage

Since I have black suitcases, and it seems like half the world has black luggage as well, I developed a handy trick. I have a wide piece of colored satin ribbon that I tied and knotted near the top of the suitcase. As the flight’s luggage is dumped onto the baggage carousel for retrieval, I can easily identify mine and grab it!   Becky Ludwig – Phoenix, AZ

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Travel Tip #2 – Airplane Vacation Health Tips

Staying healthy on vacation is another way to save money. Here are 3 things you can do to minimize picking up germs when traveling by plane.

1. Use a cotton swab with triple antibiotic ointment on it and swab the inside of your nose. This will help to kill germs you inhale.
2. A flight attendant told me that they wipe down their faces, hands and mouth with an antiseptic wipe to minimize contaminating germs.
3. A friend who travels quite frequently said that two days before he travels he takes probiotics to help strengthen his immune system.  Virginia Thompson – Clarkdale, AZ
   

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Cheap Travel Tip #3 – Keeping Suitcases Smelling Fresh Hack

When I empty my suitcase after returning from a trip, I put two or three fabric softener sheets into it. It always smells fresh the next time I need to use it.   Ann Marie Pella – Penn Hills, PA

Editors Note – We also use the little perfume sheets that come in Sunday Newspaper Ads or other ads found in our mailbox. S&A Economides

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Travel Tip #4 – Trash Picking Funds our Vacation

I’m a stay-at-home mom with two little boys. We live on a very tight budget. But saving money has become a fun game between my husband and me. One way that we “earn” extra money is “Garbage Picking” furniture. We sell what we find at our yearly garage sale and use the proceeds to pay for our vacations. My oldest son has also learned how we save money. He knows that we won’t buy luxuries like “Chips Ahoy” cookies unless they are on sale and we have a really good coupon.   Cindy Hicks – Grosse Pointe, MI

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Cheap Travel Tip #5 – Free Vacation Transportation

One of the ways I like to save money, while on vacations is keeping an eye on the areas public transportation to see if they have days where you can ride for free. I’ve done so w/ Metro Transit in the Twin Cities in Minnesota & I’ve been able to ride Metro Transit for free.
Joanne Lehrke – Cloquet, MN.

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Travel Tip #6 – Free Maps from Convention & Visitors Bureau’s

Many states will have a Convention & Visitors Bureau where you can get a magazine with maps and coupons for the area you want to visit. Here’s a link to it.  http://www.conventionbureaus.com
Christy Troehler – Ludlow, KY

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Cheap Travel Tip #7 – How Duct Tape Saved a Train Vacation

Before my husband went home to the Lord, we traveled a lot on Amtrak in their sleeper compartments. We discovered that the curtains on the room and door windows never seemed to meet properly. Plus, the curtains were cut too skimpy, always leaving gaps at the middle or sides, even with the Velcro closures most have. We needed privacy for changing clothes, bathing and doing his injections (due to his medical conditions) and needed a solution.

More Privacy for Train Travel

We carried a large roll of masking tape in our suitcases, and each time we needed to close curtains for privacy, we could tape them together in the middle with several strips of tape, and then also to the metal sides of the window to secure the ends. As soon as privacy was no longer needed, we would remove the tape. It never damaged the curtains or the metal, and was easier and worked better than trying to use pins, which also didn’t work on the ends.

One inexpensive roll of masking tape would last us even if we were on a 30-day train trip. It was lightweight, easy to pack between items in the suitcase, got smaller as we traveled and Amtrak personnel we talked with thought it was a great idea. We’ve even used masking tape to hold a rattling bathroom door shut at night in our compartment. It could be easily removed if the toilet was needed, and keeping a roll on the sink counter made for quick use.

Now that I am traveling on my own, I don’t need as large a roll of tape, but cost-wise it is the best buy. One large roll will last several trips.

Amtrak Uses Duct Tape Too!

Incidentally, Amtrak is proficient at using duct tape for many repairs while out on the rails. Many cars are older, and since the government doesn’t give Amtrak funds needed to update these, duct tape has become a big aid. We’ve ridden in rooms where the sliding door between two rooms will not stay closed. Solution . . . bring on the duct tape which holds the door very securely when used all around the door frame. We frequently laughed in the past, when we would mention a problem, and someone would come into our room to fix IT, holding the standard gray roll of Duct tape.    Katie Larson – Fallbrook, CA

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Travel Tip #8 – Car Ride with Kids – Vacation Hack

If you are taking a long car trip with children, it pays to plan ahead. Before leaving the house, ask the kids to draw pictures on scraps of paper or index cards of things that they think they’ll see while driving – barns, cows, horses, airplanes, semi trucks, McDonald’s, farm tractors, etc. Take the pictures with you and have a contest to see who can find all of the items on their cards first.   Francine N. – Franklin Furnace, OH

For more vacation ideas, consider buying America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money and reading the vacation chapter.
For a great blog about fun family adventures, read here.
And for some great vacation ideas, visit our Pinterest board here!