Our oldest after catching a wave at Ocean Isle Beach, NC last summer.
I mentioned last week that we weren’t sure if we were taking a beach vacation this summer. Thanks to all of your comments and feedback, we’ve decided to plan a low budget (for us) beach vacation.
The memory of a summer trip to the coast is more important to us than the money we would save by skipping a year.
It’s become well known that with passing time, memories or experiences appreciate, while stuff we buy oftentimes depreciates. And even if our stuff doesn’t depreciate in actual value, our happiness with it usually does.
For example, if you take a hard look at the new refrigerator you bought five years ago, it probably doesn’t make you boil over with excitement. You wouldn’t likely glow with enthusiasm when telling the tale of the first time you swept the coils and then pull up your digital photos to relive the experience.
An enjoyable family trip on the other hand, will likely bring fuzzy memories and stories for years to come. When you gather with your family for holidays you’ll laugh as you talk about the time little Timmy didn’t realize that pretty shell he was collecting was actually a live crab.
And as this CNN.com articles verifies, our brains need vacations!
What Makes for a Fun and Affordable Beach Trip?
We have about $1,300.00 saved in an account specifically earmarked for a summer vacation. We knew we wanted to visit either North or South Carolina, but we weren’t sure exactly where. As our search progressed, we decided that we would really like to visit Hilton Head Island — but we didn’t want to pay the Hilton Head vacation rental prices!
From what I’ve seen while searching for vacation rentals in Hilton Head, there are some stunning, and expensive vacation resorts on the island. It is important to us to have kitchen so we can prepare many of our own meals, so we knew we wanted a condo-type rental.
It’s also important that all of us have a place to sleep, but we decided that a pullout sofa bed would be fine for our oldest, while our toddler will sleep in a portable crib. This eliminates the need for a two bedroom condo.
The highest priorities for us overall are a great location and a covered balcony with ocean views.
We saw many phenomenal condos throughout our search over the past week. We talked to a handful of owners we found through VRBO.com. And after an all-consuming search, we found a vacation rental.
The Winning Vacation Rental
The condo we went with is a one bedroom unit with a pullout sleeper sofa, a full kitchen and one full bathroom. It was newly renovated this year and the covered balcony has a great view of the ocean. It will be a smaller place than what we would usually stay in, but the price is really, really right.
We saved a little money ($50) by shaving one day off our trip (thanks for that tip Rachel!), and making it a six night vacation instead of seven. We’re also going during the first week of the off-peak season. Or so we thought.
The VRBO site had the first week of off-peak rates listed as mid-August for the unit we rented, but the site was supposed to list summer rates through the end of August. Because the site was erroneous, the owner honored the off-peak rates for us.
Hilton Head has something like 50 miles of bike paths streaming throughout the island, and our condo rental comes with two bikes. This means Kirk and I won’t have to rent bikes and we’ll just need to decide whether we’ll rent a bike for our oldest, or try to bring his with us.
The unit also has two beach chairs, which is a bonus — if we ever get to sit in them. Last year we never bothered to rent beach chairs because with two young boys, we never got the chance to sit down!
Our youngest splashes in the ocean for the very first time.
The Cost of Our Low Budget Beach Vacation
So, you’re probably wonder how much the rental will actually cost us. And you know I LOVE to share the juicy numbers…so here they are: For six nights, we’ll pay $525.00, which averages out to about $87.50 per night. There is an 11% tax on top of that total, which brings it up to $582.75, or $97.00. Not bad.
This means we will have spent $717.25 less then what we thought we would on a vacation rental. I would love to say that we’ll use the savings to pay down debts, but it will likely go towards gas and food for the trip, along with something fun while we’re away.
And if we have any money left over in the account after our trip, we’ll just let it grow into a new fund for another trip!
How do you prioritize traveling or experiences in your life? At what point do you decide to skip a trip?
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Jenny,
Hilton Head is awesome, although quite touristy! Lots of bike trails, so definitley take advantage of that! Hilton Head is not far from us, only about 5 hours so we go every few years.
We use VRBO all the time and love it!
Vacations are important to us! We don’t take fancy extravagent vacations, and try to maximize our money by cooking some easy meals in the room. Many of our best memories are on trips we took with the kids!
We may not realize how big of an impact these vacations have on our kids, but have you ever heard the country song “She thinks we’re just fishing”? It talks about how in doing things like fishing, we are actually creating memories and opportunities to connect with our kids.
If you want a chance to get away from the touristy area, takea day drive over to Hunting Beach State Park, gorgeous!
Bernice
Is it touristy Bernice? Hopefully it won’t be as busy during the time we’re going. We really enjoyed Ocean Isle last year because it’s a quiet, non-crowded beach, but Myrtle and Calabash are still close by.
We love to go for bike rides, so the miles of winding bike trails will be a treat! We’ll check out Hunting Beach State Park for sure!
I recognize that song, but I think I saw it/heard it on your blog or one of your guest posts?
I hope you had a great time in St. Augustine last week!
Hey Jenny,
I have sadly deprioritized vacations for many years. We went on a grand 3 month tour of the southwest about 10 years ago and that was our last really incredible vacation! For many years vacation time was spent visiting relatives each year. While it was wonderful to visit, we really wanted some new amazing experiences.
My goal is to reprioritizing travel next year. We’ve had some big expenses lately (construction costs) and we also just finished paying off our consumer debt…. so vacation here I come! (We’re truly hoping to make it to Gena and Jeff’s Hawaii Go Slow Summit next spring. Fingers crossed!
Hi Tanja,
I know how easy it is to push vacation plans back when life gets in the way. Some of my best memories are from trips I’ve taken — either growing up or when Kirk and I were a traveling duo, and now that we’re a crazy traveling quad.
You’ve had such a busy year! Maybe you and Patrick could take a day trip somewhere in Florida after your tiny house is completed just to get away from things for a bit.
And yes, we’re planning to attend to the Go Slow Summit in Hawaii next Spring too! We’re still trying to figure out how the heck we’re going to fly all four of there for a reasonable cost.
I am so glad you have decided to go on your summer beach vacation Jenny! You won’t regret it! I too am desperately searching for a low cost beach house, so any tips or places to search would be appreciated !!!
Hey Jilly – Check out the http://www.vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner) Website. There are some really great deals on there if you take the time to sift through and chat with some owners of rentals you’re interested in.
We spent two days (maybe three hours each day) searching and chatting to owners. We ended up spending 1/3 of what we planned for a rental, so I would say that was six hours well spent.
In fact, I guess we saved almost $120 for each hour we spent searching for a great deal.
We made an effort to always take a trip with the kids, from my eldest sons first camping trip at six months. Now they are 19 and 21 and they love talking about ‘do you remember when we…..’
What i really like is that they can go where they like for their holidays now but they still come with us, now they just bring a few extra mates. Its lovely!
We dont put much value on material possession, as you can see, we much prefer to live a little.
I love hearing this Lizzie! I want my sons to have more family traveling memories then they can count.
I like your outlook.
You made a great decision to go Jenny, my kids used to love summer holidays on the beach (probably still do) and when I look back at the photographs you can see just how happy they where simply messing around on the sand.
Thanks Laura.
My oldest son had such a great time last year that he actually cried when we told him it was time to go home. And you can see by the look of sheer glee on his face while riding that boogie board that he was having a great time.
I used to worry about spending money on such guilty “pleasures” but have indulged in the last few years. I have found they do nothing but recharge my soul from the rat race. We prefer most times to stay off the beaten path and paid just a little more than this place for a six day stay in Economy (no, I’m not making that up!), Nova Scotia. 11 cottages with kitchens, far enough apart with no restaurant or touristy type things…it’s truly worth it. I wish I had the money to go every month!
Here’s the link if anyone ever wants to visit this secret hideaway:
http://www.fourseasonsretreat.ns.ca/
Awesome! Thanks for the tip and the link Kelly.
It’s so great to recharge. Ahhh. I’m feeling relaxed just thinking about getting the heck out of here for awhile.
Wow, that is VERY INEXPENSIVE!! Awesome!! I still need to post about my mini-vacation a month ago; we got the deal of the century by going somewhere where a family member had a condo we could stay at for free!
Hey Liina! I was truly shocked by the price we ended up getting. I’ve heard of people getting deals like that, but we certainly never have.
Yes, I would love to hear more about your trip!
I love Hilton Head, Jenny and I’m sure your family will to. For several years in a row, our church attended youth conferences there. (Whoever had the great idea to set thousands of teenagers loose on a beach for a conference sure made the job hard for us chaperones! But it’s gorgeous!) That is a super deal you got too.
We decided to do a beach vacation too. I hope to write an update about it this week but it may have to wait until next week when we’re actually on vacation. At first I was dreading the planning, packing, etc. but as it’s getting closer I’m really getting excited about the chance to unplug and reconnect with my crazy kids and my hard workin’ man!
Wow Faith! You’re brave for chaperoning those trips.
That’s great that you decided to go on a beach vacation too. I know what you mean about the planning, packing and traveling, but as soon as you arrive it will all have been worth it! You’ll have a great time with your family. I can’t wait to read all about it!