If there were one thing that my family enjoys doing together, it would be road trips. Think about it; you get to see countless landmarks and sights across numerous states and experience new food along the way as well, does it get any better than that? Yes, our children get loud sometimes, but that’s why you have headphones they can use and movies they can watch.
I would say the only downside of a fantastic road trip would be the cost of them. I looked through all of our bank statements and trip logs, across a few of our road trips. I did this to see what our expenses went to and came up with this list. More like a how-to guide to save money on your next road trip, take it from me, there are ways we can save. So enjoy the read, and hopefully, this list can save you some money on your next road trip.
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Bring Snacks
This category can take a lot of money from your trip’s budget; it can make you go over budget if you do not oversee your spending. On average ValuePenguin says vacationers spend $27 per person per day. I would have 
to say that it is pretty close to where my family spends a day eating as well.
Since we have a family of 8 that means cutting out a day of eating out and preparing our food would save us $21 per person per day which means if we do this for just one day out of a 5-day vacation we save $168; just for one day! Not bad for “toughing” it out for one day, hard to imagine doing that for 3 out of 5 days of your vacation, the savings are limitless!
Don’t drink too many liquids
If you have children you know exactly what I mean. You stop for some water or other beverages because driving is boring then an hour later you hear this “umm, I need to go to the bathroom”…
Yes, I know its human nature to need to go to the bathroom, but if we don’t watch it, our kids would say that one after another, which at that rate we will never get to our destination. This point not only saves time but money as well. When you slow down and speed up your vehicle is downshifting and shifting numerous times, and research has shown that this will use excessive amounts of fuel, so instead of doing that use your cruise control to maximize fuel efficiency.
Prevent yourself from being stranded on the highway with an overheated vehicle. Here’s my article on How often should I replace my car’s thermostat?
Air up tires
Have you ever tried driving with flat tires before? Well if you haven’t let me spare you some gut-wrenching mileage, they don’t drive too well. They increase the drag of your vehicle that your vehicle already has to pull along.
Low tire pressure decreases your fuel efficiency as well by 15-20% according to Tire Rack. So you want to make sure before you start a road trip or any form of driving that you check your tire pressure. The pressure that is recommended by the tire manufacturer is on the sidewall of the tire.
Make sure you do not go over the max tire pressure, I usually go to five psi under the max tire pressure then match all the wheels with the same psi.
Make sandwiches for lunches
There is nothing wrong with sandwiches, just like there is nothing wrong with snacks. I went over how much money you would save by just bringing snacks to help with the road trip munchies. But what if we took those numbers and replaced our entire road trip vacation with making our food instead of eating out, what would those numbers look like?
Well, the numbers we were using were provided to us by ValuePenguin, and they stated that food costs per day per person is $27 per day if eating out and $6 per day if making your food. So let’s use my family, for example, if we were to eat out every day for a 5-day vacation with our eight-person family that would cost us $1,080 just for the food alone.
But if we were to make our food in our kitchenette that is provided. The food would cost us $240 for the entire trip. That is quite a difference in expenses, and that also gives us more money to spend on other things if we want. Many people have ventured to this option with their vacations due to the increase in costs. Some people do not want to spend that much money to eat when the quality of the food they are buying at that restaurant is…..debatable. Haven’t you seen the kitchenettes in the hotel rooms?
It is always better to be safe than sorry. Heres my article on 5 Simple Ways to Protect your Car in Hurricane Season.
Have WIFI in the vehicle
Wifi has to be the best thing that has happened to cars since the creation of the wheel! I mean it’s like a magic button, all I have to do is press the button, and my kids go quiet. But if you accidentally turn this button off all hell breaks loose.
We were using our mobile hotspots before on our phones until we saw it slowed our data down too. So since we have our phones with Tmobile, we went to the store and purchased a mobile hotspot we could plug into our vehicle. It also tells us if anything is wrong with the car and tracks our mileage too, so it helps in multiple things.
But think about this point from a parent’s point of view. If your child is bored, what do they do? They get hungry, angry, and restless usually all three of these things within 5 minutes. So give them something to do, and they will not want you to pull over and get them food and snacks.
This is the model that we have ours with Tmobile, here is the model with Verizon with the updated price on Amazon. This thing has paid for itself in GPS tracking and mechanic auto checkups. This model automatically tells you if it has a problem and what the engine service light means!
Make a budget and keep to it
Have you ever heard the best way to not spend more money at the Casino is to take the money out you want to spend then leave your credit cards in the car? The same could go for a budget on vacation, and there can be some exceptions. But when it comes to achieving your bigger goals in life, it means you have to make a tough call now and then.
This call can save you hundreds on vacation, use the food category as an example. If my family bugs me about going out for dinner and I make that one exception that meal is going to cost us at least $100 and that is money we did not budget for. So make your budget but put a little wiggle room in there just in case you want to make an exception, it is a vacation after all.
You will be surprised by this one here’s my article on 12 Crucial Maintenance Things to Check on your vehicle.
Fuel up before ¼ tank
The one thing those vehicle manufacturers left out of that shiny brochure they gave you at the time of purchase, was whatever you don’t run your vehicle down lower than ¼ of fuel. Why is this, you may ask? That is because there is debris at the bottom of your tank, and when your fuel tank gets low, it starts to mix and kick up that debris.
The debris then gets sucked into the fuel line and gets stopped by the fuel filter that is usually forgotten as a maintenance check for most people until one day; your car won’t start. It won’t start because your fuel filter is clogged with debris, dirt, rust, and small flakes of your actual fuel tank.
Because gasoline is corrosive the older your fuel tank, the longer it is subject to the destructive power of your fuel. A fuel pump replacement is on average $450-$670. So keep it above ¼ of a tank and get better fuel mileage and prevent major repairs in the future.
Look for free attractions to mix in the itinerary
Nothing better than getting a beautiful hike in on vacation or you can even check out a botanical garden, and some do not charge anything to visit them. I know that my family and we have an annual pass to museums in Virginia, and that same pass works at other metropolitan museums as well, so that’s a cool way to use some time on vacation without spending additional funds.
Some attractions are lower in price that takes a few hours. My wife found a remarkable cavern exploration in West Virginia, and our kids loved it, so much that they tired themselves out and went to sleep early. So all you parents out there find one of these activities so you can get get a night off parent duties.
Winter is coming, and we need to be ready for it, make sure your vehicle is prepared by checking out my article 6 Simple Ways to Stay Safe on Snow Covered Roads. You will be glad you did!
Sightsee instead of shopping
Not shopping can be difficult at times, especially if that is what you love doing. This one should be easy to do since you are in that destination to see the sights anyway, so try to keep yourself busy, and just that one sacrifice could save you a bundle in the long run.
Limit souvenirs
Souvenirs is a hard one for the children and avid souvenir collectors. Even if you need that one last silver spoon or a shot glass, try to limit yourself to half of what you usually get. Just that small initiative even though hard to
choose is the best choice to decide to reach your goal of saving money on your road trip.
So hopefully from that list, there was something that stood out to you or helped you think of an idea to best suit you. Always have fun, but no need to go broke in the process! Thanks for reading and see you out there on the road!
