Traveling On A Tight Budget: How I Did It

  A little over a year ago, Joey and I set aside only a little over $1,000 to take ourselves on an eight day vacation to Florida during Spring Break. We packed-up my Rav4 and drove 10+ hours from Richmond, Virginia, all the way down to Mt. Dora, Florida. We spent countless hours laying out in the sun on the beaches of the east coast, spent time with family that lived in the area, visited a lot of different natural springs, and enjoyed breakfast sandwiches at "One Flight Up" coffee shop nearly every morning we were down there in historic, downtown Mt. Dora. By the time our vacation came to an end, believe it or not, we actually still had money left over. Today, on the blog, I'm going to share with you our experiences on how we were able to pull-off what felt like such a lavish vacation, all at the cost of just under $1,000:

  1. Joey and I booked our vacation through AirBnB.com. After searching around on their website for a little while, we found a cozy, quaint cottage nestled in one of the neighborhoods near Mt. Dora. It ran about $35/night, which was perfect. Honestly, I feel like most people would be amazed at how much money they could save on traveling, if they simply gave up the mentality of needing to stay in a hotel. We decided that we didn't need some expensive hotel room or a fancy resort. We had so much fun coming back to what felt like an actual home at the end of the day, and met new people in the little house we were sharing.

  

  2. The same day that we arrived in Mt. Dora, we drove-up to the grocery store and stocked-up on PB&J's, plenty of alcohol, Ramen noodles, and small snacks to share throughout the week. We were determined to save some of our money by not eating out every meal, which is such an easy habit to fall into while you're on vacation. Most days of our vacation were spent laying out on the beach, eating our sandwiches. We saved a lot of money by not going out to eat during the day, but instead, waited until nighttime and splurged on our dinners. 

  3. Instead of visiting theme parks like Disney or Universal, we opted for the near-by natural springs that surrounded Mt. Dora. There are plenty of National Parks in the area that are perfect for days where you feel like just laying out in the sun, kayaking down the river, or swimming around in the crystal clear springs. It only costs between $6-$8 per person and you can spend the entire day there. I thought it was so much more fun that we were able to enjoy the beauty of Natural Florida instead of man-made attractions, you know?

  Overall, this trip ended up being one of Joey and I's favorite vacations. Total amount spent: $996.00; and yes, that included gas, our AirBnB, and everything else mentioned. Vacations really don't have to break the bank, you just need to pour a little bit of creativity into how you plan. We still talk about it and how fun it was. I hope this helps someone who may be trying to plan a vacation on a tight budget-- believe me: if I can do it, anyone can.

kati