Best price for hotels.

Check with hotel registries to see what's their lowest price in the area. Be sure to mention any affiliations you have such as teacher, military, USAA, senior. Also check online to see if there is another price available that they are not offering you. As the evening gets later on the day of travel, you may be able to get the best price by walking into the hotel in person. Be prepared to walk back out, though, and make your reservation on your Smartphone in the parking lot.

Stay with friends and family en route.

Whether you are visiting said family or not, most family and friends will happily accept your family for the night. You might even be able to ask friends if they have friends where you are going.

Cooler and fridge space on trips.

When you are traveling, pack a small cooler to travel with you. Place in it some fresh fruits and vegetables, deli cheeses, meats, and beverages or bottles of filtered water. By keeping these fresh foods available while driving, you can keep yourself safe and focused by not being hungry. You can also avoid fast food black holes that are bound to suck you in otherwise. By making sure your accommodations have at least ice if not a small fridge, you can place your food in overnight to keep it better longer. Be cautious of what to include considering the temperature of your cooler may not be food safe for some foods after a long drive.

Enjoy a stay-cation and spend travel FUNds on the fun.

There is no rule that your vacation days must be spent away from home. There is no rule that your kids must go on a vacation to some super fantastic great and expensive place. Enjoy a stay-cation at home. Invest the funds you would have spent traveling on family fun, entertainment, and tools that will be around for longer than just the weekend. Buy an Xbox or a PlayStation and a really special game. Plan a day at a local fun shop instead of going far, far away, maybe go-carts, putt-putt, or even just pizza. Ask members of the family in advance what they would like to do.

Stack term policies.

 Once your considered your life, you can reasonably plan the timeline of what you will need for insurance throughout. By stacking policies, you can lock in at the best rates and only add on additional amounts as needed. These additional amounts can then be removed as you move out of those phases of life.

		Child Support
		Mortgage & College Funds
		Income Replacement
	Adjustment Period to Return to Work
Burial Costs
Single Person	Young Married Spouse	Young Married with Kids	Married with Older Kids	Married with Grown Kids

Buy term and invest the rest.

There are a lot of life insurance packages out there. This one will accumulate cash value for you and this one will send you to Disneyland and this one... I'm somewhat kidding. These package policies that do more than insure cost more. That money is never really returned to you. Term insurance is a basic insurance that does all it is supposed to do, pay on your death a specific amount. Because of its simplicity, it costs a lot less too. Purchase term insurance if you have calculated that you need life insurance. The money you save by not paying the price of whole life or Disney life you can invest and earn compounding interest on without paying someone else most of those profits.

Consider if you need life insurance and get it if you do.

 Life insurance for some is an absolute in their minds. Life insurance is for two things: to replace a lost income and for the burial costs. Does an 80-year-old need to replace an income? No. Hopefully they have enough in their estate that they don't need that money for burial costs either. A 35-year-old husband with two young kids definitely should have the insurance to replace an income that could be lost. With no kids in the house, a spouse could move on to support themselves and would not need an income replaced when there was no longer a family to support. These are not rules, simply thoughts to help make good decisions.

Have a will.

 (Try to get it written for free.) Not having a will can be very costly. If you die without a will, your estate will be tied up intestate and its fate decided through your state. THIS is not what you want, make sure they know what you do want. Free wills can be found through sources online but there is debate as to how good those wills are without the personal assistance from actual legal aid. If you do create your own will, be certain to get it notarized.

Upromise.

Create a Upromise account. By creating your own account you can earn money for your child's education when you use linked loyalty and transaction cards. Plus you can share your Upromise ID with friends and family and they can choose to connect their cards to your account as well for earnings when they make regular everyday purchases. 

Make your own party decorations and invitations.

 Themed Birthdays with something you can supplement from a recent holiday (closeout sale) or a current trend. By using the available products for something trendy, like a current movie, you'll save a lot of money on shipping and on the products themselves. This can also be really exciting for the party goers because they are familiar with the theme of the party.  Capture big item concepts to use in your decorations and stick to a main color theme. Buy one set of themed plates and use your color theme to buy additional plates that you  need. Go online, find, customize, and print designs for all of your needs; design your own wall decor, invitations, welcome signs...

Stock up on good sales.

If there is a clearance sale or summer sale on something you know your kid will be ready for and love next season or next year - buy it now. School supplies are discounted a few months after the big day - stock up. See some great toys or even things for every person - create a gift closet for when you need birthday gifts for your child's friends or your co-workers. BUT don't overdo it.

Repurpose clothing.

By learning to sew and being creative you can turn a shirt around into shorts, make brother's shirt into little sister's dress; and as things shrink give them a new purpose. Daddy's big button up shirt can also be made into a super cute little girl dress. http://thegirlinspired.com/2011/09/his-work-shirt-to-her-school-dress/   This one might be a little easier to sew: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/cool-idea-little-girls-dress-from-dads-shirt/2009/03/27/  

Hand me downs!

When someone offers you clothes in the size you need or will be needing - SAY THANK YOU! Hand me downs and hand me across is a great way to boost your child(ren)'s wardrobe which will be grown out of soon anyhow. It if has a stain, find a cute bow, button, flower, or patch to put over the stain. This can make the item even more personal and appropriate to your child.

Netflix

It's tempting to subscribe to a cable package when you have kids. There just isn't enough entertainment for kids (maybe they should go OUTSIDE!). Get a Netflix subscription. I understand that now they have more of a family package understanding which allows more people to share together to pay the $8 per month between friends, family, roommates, and neighbors. Netflix is a cheap alternative to constant movie rentals, theater trips, or cable packages.

Swap-out, trade, and borrow kid toys.

Whether this is through an official toy swap circle where each mom passes two toys to the next parent on the list or a swap meet where you go and pick a few, find a way to trade kid toys. Meagan of http://www.joytroupe.com/ created toy sets and would switch out the toy sets occasionally to keep toys interesting.

Borrow books, videos, puzzles, music… from the library.

Kids are such wonderful creatures. Save your family budget from purchasing shelf after shelf of new books by going to the library regularly. Check out videos and music, too. Our library also had a checkout section for wooden puzzles, audio books, and curriculum packages. Many big libraries even have a variety of tech gadgets that you can try out to see what you like.

Join a playgroup.

Sometimes playgroups and MOMS (MOMS Offering Moms Support http://www.MOMSclub.org/) clubs come with a required cost while others do not. Don't let this deter you if the amount is reasonable enough. Mom's groups can be a great source of last minute help, resource suggestions, free entertainment, and even a meeting ground for cooperative preschools. 

Split an entree with your child when eating out.

If your kid doesn't eat all of the meal you buy for them why get it? Order something they'll eat in a bigger variety and YOU eat most of it. We divvy out together and everyone is happy. And all of the food gets eaten for less $$$.

Cloth diapers!

Got babies? Then you know how expensive disposable diapers are! I LOOOOOVED our cloth diapers.

When I brought my first baby home, I joined a mommy group and someone mentioned these diapers. Bum Genius One Size diapers. http://www.cottonbabies.com/ They are super absorbent, have a plastic layer to stop leaks, and resize from birth to potty training! Plus if you have additional children you can keep using them.

Real costs: New 4.0 versions will cost $18 per diaper. You can get them on sale "buy five get one free" or you can buy "seconds" which have a cosmetic flaw and have been returned but are less expensive. There are also cheaper repairables for those who are needle-inclined. So for a set of 12 you have an investment of $216 or less. You can buy more and will have less stress over when to wash but they should be washed every other day.

So $216 for diapers plus $122 for cleaning is about $338 for using one size cloth diapers and washing them yourself. http://www.diaperdecisions.com/pages/cost_of_cloth_diapers.php cites the cost of disposables full time as $2577. $2000 in two years for basically doing your own laundry and not piling up the landfill. No brainer.

Cloth Rocks - so feed your pig!

Package your own individual sized snacks and foods.

Package your own individual sized snacks and foods. If your kids eat Goldfish Crackers, don't feel compelled to buy them five small size bags each week. Buy the cheaper large box and use baggies or washable plastic containers to divide them up into even more appropriate servings. By making the conscious decision to make your own portions, you can choose what an appropriate portion size is for every part of your meal.