How to save money holiday road trip

Fortunately, through the woods to grandmother’s house to the holidays this year should lower cost of traveling by car in the river. At $ 2.99 per gallon, the national average price of regular gasoline is 28 cents lower than the price per gallon of years ago, according to AAA. So, if your car’s fuel tank capacity is 15 gallons you can save about is amplified every time you fill out a $ 4 if you need long-distance savings during the holidays.

Have to save a few steps on a road trip can be taken. Here is how to trim more gas expenses, meals, lodging and entertainment in mind and to control the child’s expenses.

Preparing your car, you go. your wallet will thank you if you make sure your tires properly inflated before you hit the road. This means that more gas stations stopped – according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, per square inch per pound for all four tires reduce your fuel consumption from 0.3%. In addition, the car removed from anything, you do not need for your trip, do not pack more than necessary, because you have a room. Otherwise, your fuel economy each year you load into your car more than 100 lbs of 2% affected.

On the road looking for the cheapest gas station. free GasBuddy app can help you find the lowest gas prices near you. You can search by zip code or city. Also, if your car’s owner’s manual says it is often a fine not gifted high grade gasoline to fill.

Using a gas rewards card. If you do not already have one, consider getti ng gas reward credit card to earn cash back on gas purchases. Our favorite is the PenFed Platinum Rewards VISA, it gives you 5 points for every dollar spent on gas. You can redeem points for travel, merchandise, gift cards or prepaid cards. (Anyone can contribute a one-time fee of $ 14 to US forces or sound cost $ 15 to join the National Military Family Association PenFed credit unions.)

Avoid traffic backups . using the free Waze app to get real-time traffic and road information of its user base. And the application to open the drive, if you need to change your route to avoid the back-up will notify you- so you do not waste time and gas sitting in traffic. If you come to a halt, because of an accident or construction, closed car. Idling can deplete your tank by a quarter and a half gallons of fuel per hour, depending on your engine, and use the size of air-conditioning, according to Fueleconomy.gov, the site run by the US Department of Energy.

Eat cheap. in order to save food (avoid time-consuming Station) money, the best way is to pack sandwiches, snacks and drinks cooler. In order to let the kids have fun, you can buy a few trinkets at a dollar store, they put a bag of food with repeated child meals from fast food restaurants. If you want to keep scrap your car, buy discount gift cards to your favorite fast food restaurant before you hit the road. Recently, we found Granny Subway gift cards gift cards $ 50 $ 44.50 – instantly save $ 5.50

Get treatment on lodging. If you know you need a hotel room on the road, you’re more likely to get better by booking at least two weeks in advance of speed, since many stores offer discounts in advance booking (See How to get the best deal at the hotel sites such as GetaRoom.com, Hipmunk.com, Hotels.com and Priceline.com can easily compare prices. If you have to make an unexpected stop along the way, free of last minute travel app or negotiations on Priceline app to get a deal on behalf of the room

Let the kids entertained there is nothing better than listening to your children ask:. “are we there yet?” hour after hour, by keeping boredom at check book or DVD from the free public library drive bay. If your child has a tablet or smartphone, using your home Wi-Fi before downloading free games, you go so do not have to use your (expensive) Download the data plan on road applications.