6 Ways to Save Money for our European Family Trip

My husband is planning on going to Grad school in Spain this fall. We just found out that we are expecting a baby in October . Since I will take 12 weeks off for maternity leave we thought it would be a great time to take our family on a trip to Europe (during their Christmas break).  We will be spending time in Valencia, Spain, but we hope to go to Rome, Paris and to visit my sister in Wiesbaden, Germany.  We are lucky since we can stay with my husband and my sister, but anywhere else we will need accommodations that will fit 7. We are also traveling with my mom, stepdad, sister and two of her children.  Besides the new baby everyone else will be needing their own seats on the flight.  So here are some ways that we will be saving for our family european trip.

1. Limited eating out- We spend so  much money on fast food. Even at Wendys our family meal will cost us $40+ or TacoBell $30+. If we go out to eat twice a week, which most weeks we do, that’s a lot of wasted money. Even if we spend $50.00 a week, if we could save that, that would save us $2,600.00  in a year.  Thats Crazy! That’s a lot towards a vacation. So my goal is to try to limit eating out to once a month for the family and once for date night.
2. Not buying things I don’t need- I don’t really waste my money buying expensive clothes or other things, but I do buy things on sale because one day I will wear it. I just went through mine and my daughters clothes and there were many outfits that we have never worn. I know I get really good deals, but still that is wasting money if I don’t wear it. Also, other things like groceries, cleaning and body products, etc.. I feel like we throw out stuff because we don’t finish eating it or I have several cleaning products that I never touch. So my goal is to only buy items that I need at the moment. If the kids need a pair of pants then I will buy them.  Also, I will only buy products (cleaning, body wash, tooth paste, shampoo,  etc) when I am out of that product. My sister and I did Ipsy and Birchbox in the past and my goal is to use all those samples up. We will also try not buy bottled water, but instead use our Brita filter container.
3. Making a Menu- This piggy backs off of 1 and 2.  One we eat out because after working two jobs (social worker and I teach two classes a week at a local college) I am tired and I have no ideas on what to cook for dinner so we usually eat out.  A menu solves that problem because I will always know what will be cooked for dinner. I also plan on using my pressure cooker and slow cooker.  Secondly, I feel we buy food and then they go bad before we use it. This is especially true with yogurt, lunch meats, fruits and veggies. If we plan a menu for the week then I know that I am only buying what we will use.
4. Saving on Utilities- This one is a hard one because trying to get kids to turn off a light or unplug somethings seems like a constant battle. I did speak with the kids and they have been better since telling them we need to save for Europe. We also spend a lot of money on internet services. My internet bill ranges from $125- to the highest $296 a month. I have been able to keep it at $125 a month for a few months now, but I still think that is too much. We live in the country and there are two internet companies one nice and fast the other a little slower, but a lot cheaper. We found a plan for 40 and it is unlimited data, but is a slower speed (still a whole lot faster than I ever had growing up. 😉 ).
5. Limiting outings- We are a big family and whenever we do something it cost a lot of money.  My goal is if we go to the movies we go on Tuesday when it is $5.00. I also want to find free things for us to do (parks, picnics and we have really nice hiking trails by us). I think I could find a lot of free things to do.
6. Working overtime- We decided that whenever I have to work overtime  I would put the money I earned from overtime into our Europe fund. For example, this past week I had to travel for my job so I got traveling expenses (mileage and a food allowance). I made 74 dollars in mileage and 20 dollars for dinner. My dinner only cost me 5 dollars so I will put 89 in savings (74 for mileage and 15 for dinner). This doesn’t happen too often, but when it does I will put all the money back into my savings.

It is amazing how much money I can save when I just watch what I spend. Especially when it comes to eating out. I am not a big spender, but little things add up over time. We were planning a trip to Europe in three years when my son graduates (he wants to visit Rome for his graduation trip), but we figured this would be a good time to go because my husband and sister will be in Europe and I will be on maternity leave.  I know to some people it is not worth it to live on a tighter budget just to travel, but to me it is totally worth it. I hope that we are able to save enough so we can truly enjoy our trip.