Everyone loves a good vacation, but my goodness they can be costly! We recently took our family of five, plus our mother-in-law, and brother-in-law on a vacation to the beach. It was truly wonderful in a thousand ways. One of the ways it was wonderful is we were able to make it easy on our budget.
We are huge Dave Ramsey fans. We have one debt, our mortgage, and pay cash for everything else. It is challenging, but has huge payoffs and it feels great to not be limited by debt.
So, let's get to it. How we went to Hilton Head Island for eight days on an $800 budget all inclusive.
Where in the world can you stay directly on the beach for less than $800, you ask....well, let me show you how it worked out for us.
VRBO. It is the way to go. We rented a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom beachfront villa for $800 for the entire 8 nights. A couple notables here. First, we chose to go during the off season. This knocked off about $500 a week with every owner we spoke to. The weather was paradise. Highs in the mid 80s and lows in the upper 60s. We swam every day in both the ocean and the pool.
This villa had three levels, was very clean, and boasted a pool and a short walk to the ocean.
We could see the ocean from our patio. It was super refreshing.
So the first portion of our budget was used on the villa. We paid $400 and the our in-laws paid the other half. Now you javelin my first big tip: travel with family or friends and split costs. Second accomodations tip is to travel off season, and third, is negotiate. When dealing directly with owners, ask if they will accept less, or throw in a free day. You would be suprised what happens.
Alright, we are halfway through our $800 budget and only paid for accomodations. Next up, is food. We stay in a villa so we can cook! That's right, meal planning is the way to go for a budget friendly vacation. We planned our dinners and breakfasts and only ate out lunch a couple meals. I allotted $185 for food during our trip. This included eating out.
If you are doing the math, we now have $215 remaining. We used $160 for fuel getting to and from HHI as well as traveling on the island, leaving us $55.
With our remaining funds we rented bikes at $19 for a week per bike. Since we traveled together, this was also a cost we were able to share. Of our budget, we paid exactly $20 for bikes. This left us $35 for little items for our boys, or an ice cream treat at Sweet Frog's.
There you have it, our simple and budget friendly $800 week long vacation to Hilton Head Island.
Our boys had a wonderful time as did we. I'll spend some time sharing our favorite places to eat on the Island in another post.
So This is Life,
