Naptime Blog

I am a stay at home mom and don’t get sick days, vacation days or even a proper lunch hour. That’s just how it is, right?  I have figured out, however, that you have to carve out “me” time  to recharge the batteries, so to speak, if you want to give your children your all and be the best parent you can be.

On a weekly basis, I have my personal blogs and this blog as a creative outlet when the boys are napping, still asleep or already in bed at night. I also meet up with several very supportive girlfriends for Bible study once a week. And, even though we are on a tight budget, we try to find creative ways to have weekends away when we can. You don’t have to have a lot of money to enjoy a weekend or several days away without the kids (I’ll give a few tips I have learned about getting away with kids next week).

First off,  find someone to watch your children. Do you have a grandparent, other family member or close friend that would watch the kids overnight or for a couple days? Perhaps you could do a trade off and watch a friend’s kids for them the next time they need a break. If you are new to the area or don’t have anyone nearby that you trust with your precious little ones overnight, many hotels can help you find a local reputable babysitting service to sit with the kids in your hotel room while you go out to dinner, etc.

Secondly, figure out what you’d like to do and make it happen. This past weekend is an example I will use for you. I am lucky that my in-laws live in the same town as us so they offered to watch the boys for us while we took a weekend trip to San Antonio several hours away. I have a sister who works at a hotel and earns free nights that she can give to friends and family so our hotel stay was free. I know most people don’t have that option, but many people have reward nights through credit cards and frequent flyer programs. If not, you can always try staying on off peak nights. How about a business hotel that is virtually empty on weekends? Many times, you can get a great price on a hotel room if you shop around and use these tricks.

Our idea of fun is eating out at restaurants and hanging by the pool and in the hot tub so we chose a hotel with two pools and hot tubs. Check out restaurant deal sites like restaurant.com to save money on dining out (sometimes as much as 80% when they have sales). We also choose hotels that offer free breakfast and free evening snacks to cut down on our food budget. Many hotels have refrigerators and microwaves so you can bring food to warm up and eat in your room as well.

I also like to pack light. This weekend was awesome because I only had to pack one tote bag for me and one for hubby along with a few hanging clothes as opposed to the whole house when traveling with my boys. It is so worth it when they are with us (because we miss them when we’re gone), but it’s nice to pack light on occasion.

And, lastly, to save money on snacks and other travel supplies while traveling to and from our destination, we always stop by the store and stock up on store brands. We save a lot of money doing this as opposed to shelling out 2-3 times as much at truck stops or convenience stores on the interstate. We also save on bottled water, sun block, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash and toothpaste by opting for the store brand version.

Do you have any tips for saving while traveling? Do you have any ideas for ways to refresh and unwind?

Shannon
Potamus Prefers
http://www.potamusprefers.com/

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 2:51 am and is filed under Holidays, Shannon, Store Brand, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.