It’s a tradition for many families to plan a vacation at least once a year. Although flying to some exotic location can come with its own set of perks, the memories that tend to last the longest are when people pack up their car (or SUV, minivan or RV) and set out on a road trip. Of course, in order to make the vacation as stress free as possible, it’s a good idea to have a budget set in place. That way, you can enjoy your trip without worrying about returning home to a lot of (credit card) debt.

If you’re going to take a road trip this year, we have five failsafe tips that will help you to save money. That way you can focus on the true purpose behind a vacation: rest and relaxation with the ones you love.

Have a plan. We’ve all seen movies where people have jumped into cars with no real destination in mind. That might seem like a lot of fun, but it’s not necessarily the most realistic thing (especially financially) to do. It is far smarter to look at an online map or atlas and mark a few places you’d like to see. From there, you can use your GPS system to help you create a route that will get you to those destinations the quickest. That way, you can conserve [Read more…]