View Full Version : Do you holiday on a budget?
Do you go to Orlando on a budget? If so how much per day do you allow for each adult? All villa food, fuel and parking monies have been sat aside and park tickets are already purchased. So the daily spend is for anything you like, e.g. snacks in the park, breakfasts, etc.
There are some other threads on this subject Bigeye, we budget ourselved $150 per day (there are 5 of us) and as yet we have never overspent our daily limit and we have never said no to anything that the children have wanted throughout the day. That money pays for breakfast, snacks, icecreams etc at the parks and either a take away or a meal out in the evening.
How do you manage all that on $150 per day for five, thats $30 each.
Lots of people manage on that much per day for the family, we allocate £100 per day but end up sectioning the cash into $150 per day, with the dollar having been between £1.50 and £1.60 for a long time the extra few dollars go towards a special meal at the end of the holiday along with any money left over at the end of each day. Believe it or not we do have money left over at the end of the day some days. We don't go out for breakfast every day but when we do it is normally the Waffle House near the villa where breakfast is very cheap but good, we take snacks and drinks to the parks with us and just reload the water bottles at the fountains and buy ice creams, slushies etc when we want them. Dinner is normally somewhere on 192 and we use any coupons that are to hand or we have a takeaway. We don't eat at expensive restaurants when we are there but that is just us.[msnsmile2]
We have always budgeted our money this way and it works for us. We do take the credit card with us and I have been known to buy the odd handbag on that !! But that is mainly in case of emergencies.
sammibabe
03-09-2011, 22:07
Same as us Wendy; almost identical. 5; $150 a day etc etc special meal out on last night. Only difference I do need my craft shop spend which is a couple of hundred dollars[msnwink] Didn't need cc this time apart from excess at hospital ans sea venture at dc. Used travellers cheques with no problem apart from Joannes no longer take them. Everywhere else took them wuth no bother. Woman in Walmart did double take as she had never had a $500 one!
Is that $150 a day pp or for everyone?
sammibabe
04-09-2011, 12:50
Is that $150 a day pp or for everyone?
Defianately everyone and not pp - and we came home with money. We did buy stuff, we took a spare case and struggled to pack to come home. Slightly different on the buying front now as kids saved about $150 - $200 each. We bought clothes and shoes for daughters at/starting college. As we didn't spend our quota each day that then became shopping money.
I think it is fair to say that we all try to run on a budget of sorts when over there, and certainly when my three boys were younger $150 would be about right.
However as they have grown up their tastes have to, and they would not be seen dead in the restaurants we used to use when they were young. They also eat as only growing boys can so the food allowance has had to go up.
The big advantage of the villa is that we do not go out for breakfast very often, and take aways, especially the size of the chinese ones, helps keep things in check.
freddiehollie
05-09-2011, 14:36
I'm amazed you can do it for $150 per day[msneek] We can't, no where near[msncry] Even though there are only 4 of us (7 year old twins). Well done[clap][clap]
We don't get childrens meals now, when dining out. They get fed up of the limited choice, (do American kids only eat burgers, pizza, hot dogs or mac & cheese)? & its very rare we have sit down breakfast's.
sammibabe
05-09-2011, 17:22
I agree most people are on a budget, be it large or small. Not many can go and not even think about how much they are spendiNo kids meals as ours are 18, 16 and 11 but we mainly eat at places that typically cost around $60 - $70 (we like our 'cheap' places like Bob Evans). We rarely have dessert as the portions sizes mean we're full (stuffed, actually). It can be done. By doing that we had a meal at Cheesecake Factory which was obviously more. As we have to go in the summer hols with 4 'adults' and 1 child it's either that or don't go. As everyone in our family is happy with the way we do things it's fine
Ditto Sam, this is sooo spooky !![msnwink]
bargainqueen
05-09-2011, 19:34
We've always budgeted $50 a day for food etc per person. This year we decided to eat in the villa and rarely ate out, we found that £25 covered everything. We don't do the parks so that may have kept the costs down.
Hi sammibabe, this sounds more like my position and much more realistic.
But Sammibabe still only budgets $150 per day for the whole family ..... no different to what I originally said !!
sammibabe
06-09-2011, 17:04
Hi sammibabe, this sounds more like my position and much more realistic.
Wendy is right, budget is (for most normal park days) $150. We came back last Friday so definately can be done and nobody felt like they were missing out
Is this purely spending money? Do you have another allowance for groceries and if so how much to you allow for ths? This year our money is a bit tighter than normal but decided we would still rather go to Orlando on a budget than go to the med! So now I'm starting to panic a little, not that in the past we haven't had to be careful but like most this year there's definitely less in the pot!!! So I'm curios as to how it will work. We don't always eat out ,but when we do we go to places like outback,hoolihans johnny rockets, millers,so nothing too expensive but may have to cut back to one visit each instead of two! My main concern is I find I spend quite a lot in publix on groceries ! So how do you manage?
Katys Grandad
07-09-2011, 08:06
I love eating out anywhere and any time but for me it's the 1 area that you can really cut back on without affecting your holiday too much. Supermarket food isn't cheap these days but when you take into account the tax and tips you pay in restaurants, it represents good value and the choice is amazing.
We go to restaurants much less when we're on holiday now and it's become more of a treat and I honestly think we eat better than we used to without that much extra work.
sammibabe
07-09-2011, 08:32
We do a biggish shop, as we don't take any toiletries with us, when we first get there between Walmart (much cheaper than Publix) for basics topped up with Publix (gluten free foods and stuff can't get at Walmart) which is not included. After that it is but not much needed as really only odd breakfasts here and there and is included. I have just taken what we took in total and taken off shopping for stuff we bought home (college clothes, trainers, craft stuff etc which I don't include in daily allowance), money we lent the girls (their $150 ish wasn't enough!), money for excess and prescriptions, first shop, but leaving in carparking, fuel, meals out, souvenirs, icecreams, drinks it averaged out at $98.70 over the 3 weeks. Some days we spent $130 other days we were over because we had been to Outback. Sadly I know this because daily I write down what we spent where[msnembarrased]
We ate in places like Denny's and Bob Evans which for 5 is about $30 - $40 cheaper than Outback. Then there are days like DC where little is spent as already paid for.
We keep it quite tight for the first week and then recalculate as the holiday goes on.
Luckily my girls are not into labels and are not fussy on where they go.
We do a basics shop at Publix which is nearest to the villa when we get there (we take toiletries etc with us because of skin allergies) and then just top up through the holiday with milk, bread, juice etc. Basically we calculate 14 days money including the day we get there, that day's allowance goes on the food shopping (any money left over gets put aside for topping up) a day at DC is already paid for so that money gets used for clothes trainers etc and the last day's money gets used the same way, sounds complicated but it isn't really, the children take their own spending money to use how they please. We are never strapped for cash and we always come home with suitcases full of stuff we have bought and sometimes money as well.
OK, here is how my budget is planned for five adults - three grown up kids, me & the boss .
Food = £120 pp. This covers our supermarket shopping and eating out for breakkfasts most of the days.
Parking = £30 pp.
Fuel = £52.50 pp.
It is up to each person how much they take for spending. But out of this will come daily meals/snacks in the parks, drinks, etc. eating out at night if we choose, night time entertainment (drinks & meals), and shopping. The boss & I usually take a lot more than necessary as we may do some XMAS shopping, and also end up subsidising the big kids anyway. But it will work out at about $200 per day for the boss, and about $300 per day for myself.
chrizzy100
08-09-2011, 00:47
we budget because we go to FL a lot..we use about $40 a day for the two of us for food ..then we spend about $40 on a meal once or twice this is an extra..in hot weather we take in a large drink to the parks and may have to add $10 for cold drinks..for a week we spend about $60 in the supermarket..we do own our house in FL but we don't keep any food there..we don't spend on stuff because I think we own everything they sell in Orlando anyway we go so much...lol
I am known to be a bit of a tight wad at home, so the same principles come with me on holiday. I hunt for vouchers for meals out . We always have starters OR pudding - free refills are great as we only have one round of drinks when we eat out at home.
Try not to over order in restaurants . For example we love Chevy's Nachos, but cannot eat them as a starter and have fajitas for main, so we go on two occasions and have nacho's for lunch one day and fajitas for dinner another. If you do overorder - do ask for a box to take it home for tomorrows lunch.
At the supermarket buy what's on offer and build your meals around that.
We take all food and drink into the parks, maybe buy the occasional drink or ice cream. We eat out quite a few times, but good easy meals can be done at home with a cooked chicken and salad from publix, pizza, barbecue etc. low effort meals.
Even from a young age the children had their own spending money so when its gone its gone. Explaining to children how budgetting works will help them to understand what trade-offs need to be made.
Whilst i would love to say yes to everyone all holiday , its not realistic - you have to cut your cloth according to your budget . I would rather go often and watch the pennies than have a ' holiday of a lifetime' but only go once.