The thought of either flying or driving to California makes most people decide NOT to do the trip. Honestly, I don't blame them. Traveling with kids is one of the most stressful, horrifying, annoying things you can do...UNLESS you know how to do them right! :)
Driving
I am totally not a fan of driving. This is how my parents took us every year. I remember getting car sick and having ALOT of bloody noses. Here are a couple of tips for those driving with kids:
1. Make sure you plan where you are going to stop. Try finding a McDonald's with a play place and plan on staying for at least an hour to let your kids fill up on greasy fast food and get their wiggles out.
2. Leave early in the morning. Wake up your kids five minutes before you leave and hand them breakfast in a baggie. They can wake up and eat breakfast while driving, which cuts some time off! If they are used to watching morning cartoons, wait about thirty to forty minutes and then start a movie. That is a good two hours of driving right there!
3. Activites! Kids need LOTS of different activities. Try buying them new toys, crayons, books and other items they have never seen or done for the trip specifically. This will keep them occupied longer. IPADS and IPODs are AMAZING in the car! Make sure to pack the chargers. They have adapters that you can plug into your cigarette lighter so that you have a plug in the car. I have even heard of people printing off maps of Disneyland and California Adventure so the kids could circle which rides they wanted to go on the most so they could plan the days around those rides.
4. Stay in Vegas. Who doesn't LOVE Las Vegas? Stay in a cheap hotel there for a night and make your vacation a little longer. They do have lots of activities and good places to eat.
5. Research! When you are taking a long road trip it is good to research where the rest stops, eating joints and Wal-marts are. Then you know if you have time to make it to the next one without someone peeing on the side of the road or starving to death.
Flying
This is where it gets tricky! Let's start by talking about HOW I got round trip flights for $7.50 each. I totally believe in credit cards. I believe they are good IF you are controlled on spending and KNOW how to use them. My husband and I always look into credit cards and if they have a good program worth the rewards. Those rewards will PAY for your trip if you know how to use them correctly. My way is with a Southwest Chase Credit Card. A couple times out of the year they will offer 50,000 bonus points if you sign up for their card, are approved and spend so much money on it in the first three months. My husband and I see this as something we would get normally. There is usually a $99.00 yearly fee or if you are lucky, you can find the one with the $69.00 per year fee. Once you get your credit card you put EVERYTHING on it and I mean EVERYTHING! Groceries, bills, walmart expenditures....etc. Here is the tricky part. You have to spend it like it was a DEBIT card. Once you put something on your credit card, you deduct it from your checking account like the money was taken out right then. That way you keep track of your spending and when you have to pay for the credit card, you have the money and already planned on it being gone. You must be VERY careful with this. I pay my credit card balance in FULL every two weeks when my husband gets paid. I pay it with money that is not from that paycheck he just got, but the paycheck from the time before. I take the money out like it is a DEBIT. This way I don't pay any late fees and I rack up the points to use for flights and other things. If you have questions about this process, please comment and I will answer them. After you spend the $3,000 on the credit card and pay it off, you will get your 50,000 points. Next is the waiting game. You know when you are flying out and back. Check those dates every Tuesday and Wednesday nights for how many points they cost. These are when flights are the cheapest. Never book on a weekend. They will always be higher. If you can get them for under 6,000 points per way, you should book them. I always get the NON STOP FLIGHTS. Especially if you have kids! That is so important to know if you have stops or anything. The NON STOP flights take about an hour and a half. Very short. Kids under two do NOT need a ticket. They can sit on your lap. So if you have a family of four and it is 12,000 points per person, then you use about 48,000 points to fly round trip to Los Angeles. Everyone does have to pay $7.50 per person for the 9/11 tax. That is it. I have done this several times with Southwest and have enjoyed them every time. Please remember that if you are not responsible with credit cards, this is NOT a good way for you. Credit cards should always be used like a debit card and NEVER like a loan. It takes a lot of planning and discipline to use a credit card. For the credit card application, visit www.chase.com and look for the southwest chase credit card. DON"T get it unless they are offering the 50,000 points. They always do it eventually. Wait for that opportunity.
My next post will be about surviving the airport and airplane with kids.
Brianne
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Disney land for CHEAP: Part One
Disney land. Doesn't that word just make you giddy inside? It sure does me! I can't help but think about pirates, princesses, ice cream, happiness, fun...etc. I could go on and on about Disney Land and the AMAZINGNESS of it! I was lucky and was born into a family that believed Disney Land was a necessity growing up. I have since passed this tradition onto my children (without force) and my husband (with force).
So you see this great commercial on TV about Disneyland and you think, 'I would LOVE to take my kids there!' You get super excited and start to plan it out in your head. We will go for an entire week and stay in the Disney Land Hotel and eat ice cream all day long! Then reality hits. You look at ticket prices and think, okay...maybe we can do this. Then you look at hotels...ugh...can we do this? Then you look at flights...okay we can't do this. Then you give up. Does this sound familiar? I did the same thing the first time I looked at pricing when we wanted to take my daughter. How in the WORLD can people AFFORD THIS! That was seriously my first thought. Then I called my parents, "HOW did you guys AFFORD to take FIVE KIDS to DISNEYLAND?!" My mom's answer was 'We just did it'. The more I thought about it, the more I looked into finding the CHEAPEST way to Disney Land. After a couple years...I think I have this down pretty well! :)
First thing to do: Plan a date at least SIX MONTHS in advance.
There is a reason we plan our Disneyland trips months in advance. Everything is cheaper farther away! Booking a hotel six months in advance will guarantee the cheapest price. They don't know how busy they will be at that time so they are just cheap. Flights are ALWAYS cheaper in advance. So first you want to decide when to go. Ask for time off work. Save up those paid time off work days for your vacation. Make sure it doesn't conflict with anything your kids do. I promise that planning that far in advance is NECESSARY for a big trip.
Second: How long are you going?
This will help you decide a lot of things! How many days you want to spend in the park? Do you want to go anywhere else in California? We usually like to go to Disneyland for at LEAST three days. With two kids, getting around Disneyland can be crazy and slow moving. If your going to go, you better have enough time to get in most of what you want to do!? Right? We also like to go during the week days. Weekends are CRAZY at Disneyland (obviously...). So we usually spend two or three days going on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then we spend one day on a weekend like a Friday. That way we can see all the fun stuff that is only on weekends, but avoid most of the crowds on the first few days.
Third: How are you going to get there?
I personally like to fly. I don't want to drive for 12 hours with two kids. That is not fun to me. Every person is different so I will do pros and cons of each.
Flying
Flying is expensive, UNLESS you know how to get around that. It is ALOT faster, less stressful and less tiring. It is expensive, time consuming in different ways and scary for some.
Driving
Driving is still expensive with gas prices the way they are, it is extremely time consuming (2 days for JUST travel), tiring, annoying, boring....etc. Driving does give you the option of having a car to drive to other places and it is convenient.
These are three things you must decide before you can even begin planning much of your trip! Once you have made up your mind on those things, then you can move forward with trying to save money on each part of your trip.
My next blog post will be about getting to California for Cheap! I will explain how I received four round trip flights for $22.50, driving for cheap and traveling tips with children as soon as I can!
Brianne
So you see this great commercial on TV about Disneyland and you think, 'I would LOVE to take my kids there!' You get super excited and start to plan it out in your head. We will go for an entire week and stay in the Disney Land Hotel and eat ice cream all day long! Then reality hits. You look at ticket prices and think, okay...maybe we can do this. Then you look at hotels...ugh...can we do this? Then you look at flights...okay we can't do this. Then you give up. Does this sound familiar? I did the same thing the first time I looked at pricing when we wanted to take my daughter. How in the WORLD can people AFFORD THIS! That was seriously my first thought. Then I called my parents, "HOW did you guys AFFORD to take FIVE KIDS to DISNEYLAND?!" My mom's answer was 'We just did it'. The more I thought about it, the more I looked into finding the CHEAPEST way to Disney Land. After a couple years...I think I have this down pretty well! :)
First thing to do: Plan a date at least SIX MONTHS in advance.
There is a reason we plan our Disneyland trips months in advance. Everything is cheaper farther away! Booking a hotel six months in advance will guarantee the cheapest price. They don't know how busy they will be at that time so they are just cheap. Flights are ALWAYS cheaper in advance. So first you want to decide when to go. Ask for time off work. Save up those paid time off work days for your vacation. Make sure it doesn't conflict with anything your kids do. I promise that planning that far in advance is NECESSARY for a big trip.
Second: How long are you going?
This will help you decide a lot of things! How many days you want to spend in the park? Do you want to go anywhere else in California? We usually like to go to Disneyland for at LEAST three days. With two kids, getting around Disneyland can be crazy and slow moving. If your going to go, you better have enough time to get in most of what you want to do!? Right? We also like to go during the week days. Weekends are CRAZY at Disneyland (obviously...). So we usually spend two or three days going on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then we spend one day on a weekend like a Friday. That way we can see all the fun stuff that is only on weekends, but avoid most of the crowds on the first few days.
Third: How are you going to get there?
I personally like to fly. I don't want to drive for 12 hours with two kids. That is not fun to me. Every person is different so I will do pros and cons of each.
Flying
Flying is expensive, UNLESS you know how to get around that. It is ALOT faster, less stressful and less tiring. It is expensive, time consuming in different ways and scary for some.
Driving
Driving is still expensive with gas prices the way they are, it is extremely time consuming (2 days for JUST travel), tiring, annoying, boring....etc. Driving does give you the option of having a car to drive to other places and it is convenient.
These are three things you must decide before you can even begin planning much of your trip! Once you have made up your mind on those things, then you can move forward with trying to save money on each part of your trip.
My next blog post will be about getting to California for Cheap! I will explain how I received four round trip flights for $22.50, driving for cheap and traveling tips with children as soon as I can!
Brianne
Who and Why?
Hello to those who have "encouraged and pushed" me into finally doing this blog. I suppose to start a blog, you probably should know who I am and why I am doing this. My name is Brianne. I am a wife, mom to two beautiful children, a dance studio owner/teacher, avid reader, lover of ANYTHING that has to do with Disney, penny pincher, travel hacker, baker, child at heart, Pretty Little Liars watcher (don't judge) and chocolate lover.
A couple years ago my husband and I found ourselves in a situation most people find themselves in. My husband was accepted into graduate school and I wanted to stay home with our little girl. This meant MAJOR sacrifice and MAJOR money issues. We both felt I needed to stay home, even though I had a Licensed Practical Nursing Degree with a VERY good paying job. At that moment I decided that I would dedicate my life to making sure my husband NEVER worried about us having enough money. I read up on MILLIONS of articles on how to save money, couponing, cooking for cheap...etc. After three years of living on practically nothing, I learned how to live with very little income. My husband graduated and was hired at a good paying job. We even cried when he received his first pay check. That one paycheck was almost HALF of what he made in an entire YEAR! That was the second time in my life I decided that we would be smart with our money. We wanted to make the money work for us. Even though my husband makes more than he made a couple years ago, we still live mostly like we are students. I just don't see the fun in spending $100 on a pair of jeans that I could coupon and buy for $20. This blog will be about different things I have done in my life to save money such as couponing, travel hacking and budgeting. I hope you all enjoy my CRAZINESS on how I manage our money. :)
Brianne
A couple years ago my husband and I found ourselves in a situation most people find themselves in. My husband was accepted into graduate school and I wanted to stay home with our little girl. This meant MAJOR sacrifice and MAJOR money issues. We both felt I needed to stay home, even though I had a Licensed Practical Nursing Degree with a VERY good paying job. At that moment I decided that I would dedicate my life to making sure my husband NEVER worried about us having enough money. I read up on MILLIONS of articles on how to save money, couponing, cooking for cheap...etc. After three years of living on practically nothing, I learned how to live with very little income. My husband graduated and was hired at a good paying job. We even cried when he received his first pay check. That one paycheck was almost HALF of what he made in an entire YEAR! That was the second time in my life I decided that we would be smart with our money. We wanted to make the money work for us. Even though my husband makes more than he made a couple years ago, we still live mostly like we are students. I just don't see the fun in spending $100 on a pair of jeans that I could coupon and buy for $20. This blog will be about different things I have done in my life to save money such as couponing, travel hacking and budgeting. I hope you all enjoy my CRAZINESS on how I manage our money. :)
Brianne
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