Take a few minutes and copy these great tips for saving money on your next Cruise from Galveston…

1- Book early or very last minute.

2- Have more taken out of checks

3- Take advantage of banks debit/credit card policies.  Some will round up purchases and place the change in savings.  Other may match the amount.

4- Have $25 every  paycheck sent straight to a savings account.

5- Use the Internet to your advantage. Search a trip to death. Use forums, boards and other sites to find the best deal on hotels and car rentals.

6- Take a plastic 5 gallon water jug and have everyone drop their change there.  Savings could equal several nice shore excursions.

7- Request overtime around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

8- Use a portion of your Tax refund after paying other bills.

9- Buy a little at a time, i.e., one month pay down the deposit the next buy equipment like snorkel gear. Later buy clothes when on sale.  Another month pay for excursions.  Another month renew passport and so on.

10- Pay with paper bills, and drop the balance into your “cruise jar.”  If you pay for milk at a convenience store at $3.48, when you get home drop the balance into you cruise jar.

11- Pre-buy drink coupons.

12- When shopping at your grocery outlets use coupons.  Put the saving into your cruise account.

13- Use a cruise line credit card and then build up points use them for your next cruise.  Be sure to pay off c/ceach statement  to avoid costly interest penalties.

14- If you have work related travel, use miles and hotel points to offset travel expenses to and from a port.  Pay the bill in full each month and bank what you’ve earned both on the credit cards and the “frequent”
mileage/points. It’s like getting a double payback!

15- Kick your ‘Bucks’ habit.  Instead brew your own specialty coffees and teas and take them to work.

16- Use a credit Union or Bank ‘CoinStar’ machine.  Usually they’re set to give you 100% back vs. keeping 8% at most grocery stores.

17- Bring drink mixes and mix with water to save on sodas, coffee or tea purchases

18- Booking tips:  Book well in advance.  Book during an online sale.  Book off season.  Go Moderate!  Don’t think your trip will be more fun if you book a suite or eat at specialty restaurants, etc.

19- Clean out your closets and garages once a year and have a sale.

20- Become a great shopper. Learn to coupon buy, shop late evenings when things get marked down, buy sale only stuff, etc. Learn to save and budget.

I’ve put together a great book on budgeting for vacations. It’s chocked full of money and time saving tips that will have you vacationing ‘debt free.’ For a limited time, you’ll also receive a FREE copy of another 10 page report on money saving travel tips. In this economy, who can’t afford every money saving tactic for their next vacation. www.VacationBudgeting.com

Have you been thinking it would be nice to treat your family to a fun and affordable family vacation?

Here are a few questions for you.

• What steps have you taken to determine your family’s preferences?

• Is everyone together on a destination?

• Have you set a budget?

• What is it that all family members can be flexible on?

• Do you have to fly… or, can you drive?

Before leaving on any trip, it’s best to sit down and make notes of the top 5 vacation ideas that might be suitable for everyone in your family.Is it going to be a ski adventure, a river rafting trip, a cruise, a vacation to the Caribbean or Mexico? Do you want to save money this comingyear and maybe try camping? Whatever you decide on, the next step is to determine what your budget will be. Once you have those two steps completed, you can spend a little time poking around on the Internet.

Research is fun and important

Not many people know this, but you can save a significant amount of time researching affordable family vacations by using quotes (“ ”) in your search. For instance, if you were searching for river rafting vacation… without quotes you would get around 670,000 pages of information, lots of them duplicated. On the other hand, if you were to type”river rafting vacation” in quotes, you would get 9870 relevant results. In fact, I do almost all of my Internet searches using quotes as it saves a lot of time. Go ahead and spend an hour or two looking around on the Internet. Now discuss what you find with other family members and attempt to hone in on three destinations or, if everyone is in agreement, it’s time to do some serious research.

Every family has its own level of affordability

Determine if you want to fly or drive. If your destination is within 500 hundred miles, it might make a lot more sense to drive. But before you plan a trip in your family vehicle, consider a rental. It may be cheaper to rent than put a thousand hard miles on your own car. Wear and tear on your car is something to keep in mind. Besides, current model SUV’s or vans offer a lot of creature comfort and could possibly add an additional bit of excitement to your family vacation pleasure.

What about lodging?

Have you every considered a vacation rental? Affordable vacation rentals offer several alternatives to traditional hotels. If you have a mid-size family of five, you can spend a lot of money on meals. Vacation rentals not only give you more privacy, but almost all of them have kitchens where you can prepare healthy meals for a fraction of what it costs to eat out. Many vacation rentals have pools or spas and are located a short distance from major attractions. There are thousands of great rental properties available for your next family vacation or quick getaway.  Visit this link for more information on Vacation Home Rentals

Planning a fun and affordable vacation isn’t easy, but it’s completely fulfilling when you return and everyone has had a good time, you didn’t stray too far from your original budget and you feel good about getting started on your next affordable family vacation. Just remember the steps outlined above and prepare for a little flexibility.  If you have a hard time budgeting, check out this recently published eBook on Vacation Budgeting.