Vacation Costs

The cost of a family vacation can be overwhelming. When you look at the cost of a hotel, car, and food it can quickly put the family travel budget over budget! Many people are discovering how affordable home exchanging or house swapping is and using this as a means to keep within their budget, extend the vacation or just to expand their travel destinations. Todays gas prices are eating away at everyone's holiday. You need to save money everywhere you can so that you can still take the holiday trip you planned.

Lets look at some of the cost savings that a home exchange can provide.

Hotel - One of the biggest savings is of coarse lodging. Not only do you save money on the hotel but you also will get more room. Hotels are great for a couple of days or a business trip out of town but nothing beats having an entire home to enjoy.

Food - Feeding a family at restaurants every day can be very expensive. While you most likely will still eat at restaurants on vacation you can also choose to eat at home for some of the more expensive meals such as dinner. These savings can add up quickly.

Yes, you will still have expenses associated with feeding your family. You will have to buy groceries but the cost is considerably lower.

And if you don't feel like cooking, remember you have more money to dine out because you are still saving money on lodging.

Car Rental - Car rental costs can also take their toll on your vacation dollars. While not every home exchange includes a car exchange, some do and this can add a lot of dollars to the vacation budget.

Here is an example of a two week exchange for a family of four. Here is our breakdown of the savings. And these are very modest pricing examples for a hotel and car rental. Even with these bargain rates our home exchange family saved an astonishing $2,000.00. Add these savings to the family vacation budget and you can see why it is easy to st r e t c h the family vacation.