We spend a lot of our summers on the road. I’m always amazed when people are shocked when we drive 3 hours one way and then back again in the same day. It’s just what we are used to since my husband does lumberjack competitions. Most weekends from July through early October see us driving anywhere from 1-5 hours one way. Summer road trips are just a common thing for us. Because we spend so much time in the car and not at home we have had to find ways to save money. Here are some of those ways.
Using a gas rewards program
Since gas is one of the biggest expenses of a summer road trip it can be one of the most important things to save money on. Most gas stations have a reward program where you can save on fill ups. I currently only use one through Shell so we do our best to stop at Shell stations when we can. We can save at least 3 cents on every gallon. I did sign up for a Plenti card in the spring so I will be able to save some at Exxon and Mobil stations as well. In this part of the country Irving is big. They also have a rewards program, I just haven’t taken the time to go into a store as I usually have my kids with me and you cannot sign up online. Whatever gas stations you have in your area, check to see if they have a rewards program.
Bring your own food
I learned a long time ago it is much, much cheaper to not only pack our own snacks but also our own lunches. We do tend to buy breakfast and dinner on the road but bring the rest of our food. We have a food box for snacks and a cooler for lunch foods and drinks. With snacks, I usually add things like cheese crackers or pretzels to wide mouth mason jars with plastic lids. So much cheaper than individual packs of snacks. I do buy individual packs of a cookies as those tend to go stale faster. I will warn: fruit snacks/gummies do melt together when it is hot and tend to get hard if packed in the cooler. They do not make a great road trip snack.
Stay with friends
If your road trip is going to involve an overnight stay, try to find friends in the area to stay with. We have a few competition weekends where we stay out of town instead of driving back the same day (basically any drive over 3.5 hours). Almost every competition for us is near at least one friend. We stay in hotels 1-2 times a summer. The rest of the time we are able to stay with friends for free. Not only does it save money but it is almost always fun to spend more time with friends and catch up.
Follow these tips to have a great summer road trip without spending a ton of money Click To TweetPack your own entertainment
Don’t be tempted to pick up books or car games at rest stops. Those can be really expensive. We have a plastic box that is just like our snack box only it holds toys, books, coloring, etc. for our four year old. We also have a portable DVD player for the really long trips or if we have to travel after dark. This year we are also adding a Kindle Fire to the list of entertainment items. The toy box holds items that are only for road trips. She does not get to use them at home. It keeps them special and not boring. One important thing for the DVD player and Kindle is kid headphones. I don’t really want to listen to my daughter’s movies and games all the time. The headphones allow her to have some entertainment while letting the adults talk.
Summer road trips can be find, sometimes they are necessary to reach a destination or event. But they can end up costing quite a bit. Follow these tips to be sure to keep expenses down.
Lisa notes says
These are great tips. I just saved $.03 on my gas too (but I like it best when I save $.10 per gallon on special days!). My husband and I spend a lot of time on the road these days and I don’t pack food like I used to when we had kids with us, but we would save more money if I would! Thanks for sharing.
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Julie says
I’ve only managed to hit one of the special days once. I may have actually spent some Christmas money on it. lol
Nicole says
These are very useful tips for saving money on road trips. I really like the one about bringing snacks and drinks in the car. If we are on a trip, and don’t have anything with us, we end up spending a ton of money on junk at the gas station. I try to plan ahead and pack food and drinks (my kids are immediately hungry and thirsty anytime we get in the car!) LOL
Tanya Holt says
Your husband does lumberjack competitions? How cool is that?! 🙂
Love some of your suggestions and I’ve found so many of them to be spot-on. I obsess sometimes over making sure we have enough snacks and entertainment for a road trip. But it’s paid off for me because the kids are usually thinking about some of that prep before I even have the chance. I like to pack individual baggies of popcorn or chips or crackers, just to make distributing them in the car a little easier. We used to bring drinks, too, but we tend to prefer fountain drinks, so I finally gave that up, which has definitely saved us space in the vehicle, even though it costs us a little more money. But just putting some thought and planning into it can save money for sure!
Julie says
lol. He does! We were both part of our college’s woodsmen team then he went on to do the professional competitions at the fairs, etc. during the summer and fall. I can’t imagine life without it. 🙂
We tend to drink mostly water (me), Gatorade (Matt), or juice (Abby) so it saves a ton to bring drinks with us. We buy the Gatorade powder mix or the 32 oz bottles when they are less than $1 so we save a lot compared to gas station prices.