At the beginning of the month, Chris and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in the Poconos. Before our trip, I wrote a post about our traveling budget for that trip where I came up with a plan of how much money we needed and where it likely would be spent.
I also promised an update to see if we met our goal and the answer . . .
We were both under budget by $97!
Here’s some tips about how we ended up that way.
1.) Make a plan. Click HERE to read the post detailing how I came up with how much we needed. Doing this helps us think about how many meals we will be eating, how many activities we will be doing and a rough idea of what they will cost.
2.) Research the area. Having an iPad made this super easy but you can also do it before you leave. We were able to find places to eat and things to do as well as the prices of each. We used the Yelp App quite a bit which did end up helping us choose places to go based on customer reviews.
3.) Go off season/peak. We are famous for doing things when big crowds of people are not. This way we were able to get a great room cheap and also get off season prices on things like golf.
4.) Pack Yo’ Snack . This Balancing Money rule applies to your trips too! Before we left, I hit up Trader Joes for a plethora of drinks and snacks to keep in the room. This helped us when we weren’t hungry for a meal but could go for something light that we didn’t have to go out and buy. Which leads me to my next tip . . .
5.) Consult your hunger. played a big role in saving money this trip. Because we knew we were saving, we checked in with our hunger and figured out what we REALLY wanted. Often when we are in a new place, we like going to restaurants for the hell of it. We had 2 instances where we wanted to go out but settled for hotel snacks (or Indian food leftovers) because we werent truly hungry. 
6.)Take advantage of amenities. Our hotel offered a mini fridge and a continental breakfast.
We were able to bring our leftovers back to the room for later eats and not have to worry about going out for breakfast. Also, we were each given $20 in free slot money at the casino which ended up turning into ~$300! That was a very lucky night and please not that I didn’t include those winnings into the budget.
The important thing is that we never felt deprived of doing anything we wanted to do! In fact, it worked out so well for us that we are very excited to plan out our budget for our next trip. This ones got our work cut out for us. A good challenge but completely possible!
What are your best travel tips?
At the beginning of the month, Chris and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in the Poconos. Before our trip, I wrote a post about our traveling budget for that trip where I came up with a plan of how much money we needed and where it likely would be spent.
I also promised an update to see if we met our goal and the answer . . .
We were both under budget by $97!
Here’s some tips about how we ended up that way.
1.) Make a plan. Click HERE to read the post detailing how I came up with how much we needed. Doing this helps us think about how many meals we will be eating, how many activities we will be doing and a rough idea of what they will cost.
2.) Research the area. Having an iPad made this super easy but you can also do it before you leave. We were able to find places to eat and things to do as well as the prices of each. We used the Yelp App quite a bit which did end up helping us choose places to go based on customer reviews.
3.) Go off season/peak. We are famous for doing things when big crowds of people are not. This way we were able to get a great room cheap and also get off season prices on things like golf.
4.) Pack Yo’ Snack . This Balancing Money rule applies to your trips too! Before we left, I hit up Trader Joes for a plethora of drinks and snacks to keep in the room. This helped us when we weren’t hungry for a meal but could go for something light that we didn’t have to go out and buy. Which leads me to my next tip . . .
5.) Consult your hunger. played a big role in saving money this trip. Because we knew we were saving, we checked in with our hunger and figured out what we REALLY wanted. Often when we are in a new place, we like going to restaurants for the hell of it. We had 2 instances where we wanted to go out but settled for hotel snacks (or Indian food leftovers) because we werent truly hungry.
6.)Take advantage of amenities. Our hotel offered a mini fridge and a continental breakfast.
The important thing is that we never felt deprived of doing anything we wanted to do! In fact, it worked out so well for us that we are very excited to plan out our budget for our next trip. This ones got our work cut out for us. A good challenge but completely possible!
What are your best travel tips?