Vacation Budget Planning

Family vacations are so much fun to plan. Where will you go, what hotel to stay at, what sites to see, etc...But for many families, the biggest concern is the question of how will this vacation be paid for. Our family has a specific "vacation fund" and every month, money is put into that account that will be used towards the family trip. For some families, especially in this economy, vacations seem out of reach. However, with careful planning and saving tips, you can have a great family vacation, making memories for years to come.

There are many resources available to help you budget a fun vacation. One such resource is Consolidated Credit services and they have a website with lots of great tips for saving and family vacation budgeting. They offer loads of tips for saving money, such as planning off-season travel and utilizing services that offer discounts, such as AAA, Costco Travel Club and Sam’s Travel Club. These clubs can often save you money on hotel stays, car rentals and complete vacations. They also talk about different lodging options to save money that aren't often thought of, such as home exchange vacationing, or staying at a National Park or hostel.

I was amazed at all the different ways to save money, enabling families with any size budget to have a great vacation. Besides budget tips, they also offer other services, such as debt consolidation, credit card debt help and credit counseling.

Please share any budget tips you have used when planning your family vacations!

Save Our Summer Vacation and Win a $10,000 Getaway!

Summer is finally here! It is my favorite season, despite the heat. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with my daughter and enjoy lazy days at the pool, bike rides to the park and popsicles on the porch. And every summer we take a family vacation somewhere, whether it's to visit relatives in another state, a camping trip or a family resort with all the amenities. However, it seems that in the times we are living in, people are working more hours and taking less vacation time. Wouldn't it be cool to have a summer day declared as "National Vacation Day"? HomeAway, a vacation rental marketplace, has started a movement to make that happen.

I invite you all to join the “Save Our Summer Vacation” movement by petitioning Congress to proclaim August 7 as a “National Vacation Day.” Follow the link and you can join the movement and sign the petition as well as check out HomeAway's contest to win a $10, 000 getaway to a vacation rental of your choice. All you have to do is submit a short text, video or photo entry explaining why you deserve to have your vacation saved by HomeAway. The contest ends July 2nd so get your entries in!

So where would you like to go for a $10,000 getaway? I'm sure those of you who know me would say mine would be a Disney vacation, I am a Disney addict! But I think it would be really cool to go to Hawaii and bring along some good friends and family along. I've been to Hawaii once and it was so stunningly beautiful and peaceful, I would love to go back! I think a relaxing trip to the beaches of Hawaii with the people I love most would be my ideal getaway. I'd love to hear what your ideal getaway would be, share it here and don't forget to enter the contest, wouldn't that be a fun one to win?

Beaches Family Resorts Special Offer

The holidays are over, spring is a few months away and it's bitterly cold (at least where I live it is). It is the time of year when many families are looking for a winter getaway to a warm, family friendly vacation hot spot.

Beaches all-inclusive family resorts make a perfect choice for such a getaway and they are running an awesome special right now-you can save up to 60% and get 2 nights free. You need to act fast, though, you can only get this special for 2 more days.

What's so great about Beaches? Here is a description from their website:

Beaches all-inclusive resorts includes all the fun, adventure, and luxury that families want most, elevating the family vacation to world-class standards on the Caribbean's best beaches. Beaches provides the best family beach vacations at resorts in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos. And now kids can share their vacation with Elmo and friends with Beaches' exclusive Caribbean Adventures with Sesame Street.

You can check out their promotions here and even if you don't book a trip, it's fun just to look at the gorgeous pictures of the resorts. What are your favorite family-friendly winter getaways?

Great Disney Vacation Deal

Disney is offering a special promotion if you're planning on visiting Walt Disney World in 2009. I am so excited about it!

When you buy a non-discounted 4-day, 4-night package (package includes a stay at a Disney resort and a 4 day Magic Your Way base ticket), you get 3 nights free! That includes your hotel and park tickets. It is valid for stays January 4 through June 27, 2009 (April 5-18 is blacked out-that's during their busy spring break season). Plus, as a bonus, if you are traveling before March 29, you also get a $200 Disney gift card that you can use for food or souvenirs on your trip. You have to book your vacation by Dec. 20. You can call and book directly with Disney or through a travel agency specializing in Disney travel, such as Small World Vacations. We usually take a Disney vacation every other year and we were just there last Thanksgiving, but with a deal this great, we are going to take advantage of it and plan a spring Disney trip. For me, planning the trip is half the fun!

LL Bean Travel Organizers-LOVE Them!

LL Bean makes the most wonderful personal organizer bags, they come in 8 colors and you can even get them monogrammed with your family name (that's what I did). They come in 4 different sizes-small, medium, large and family size. If you are looking for a travel bag just for yourself then go with the small, but the family size is awesome because you can put in SO much stuff-like full bottles of shampoo when you go on trips. We have a smaller family so I bought the large and it has room for all of our stuff for a week long vacation. Everything is neat and organized and it can fit on a bathroom counter or hang from the door. I have used ours on cruises and it works perfectly because if you've ever been on a cruise you know that Barbie has a bigger bathroom in her townhouse than the tiny closet they call a bathroom. Even when we've had larger cabins the bathroom is always itty bitty. The bags have a rust-proof hanger that you can hang from the back of the door. There are separate compartments for things like medicine and toothbrushes and the bags are waterproof too. Ours has been from Hawaii to the Bahamas and everywhere in between! Now is the perfect time to get one because LL Bean is offering a $10 gift card with a $50 purchase. You can get one for yourself or for someone you love-they make great holiday gifts!

Make Your Birthday A Happy Day

I thought long and hard about what I should make my first post about. Then it hit me, my blog is The Happy Mom blog, why not post about the happiest place on Earth...Walt Disney World.



This is a picture I took last year while we were waiting for the Pooh breakfast at The Crystal Palace. WDW is definitely one of my happy places and even though I've been there many times, I could NEVER get tired of it. Seriously. I could actually do a whole blog just about Disney stuff. This year, Disney has a special gift for you on your birthday-free admission to one of the theme parks at Walt Disney World or Disneyland in 2009. You can find out the details and register for your birthday here. Isn't that cool? Wouldn't WDW be an awesome place to spend your birthday? That would make me a very happy mom.