Our Family’s Vacation – Weekly Wrap-Up

Once per summer we spend a week in Cape May, New Jersey with our extended family. We budget $1200 for the trip (saving $100 per month all year long for this week). Following is a breakdown of the expenses we actually incurred. Since we were with family, they treated us to a few meals. We took my mother-in-law with us and she filled up our gas tank a few time. All of those expenses are included here to show an accurate cost of our trip.

Lodging: We stay in a hotel where rates go up on July 1. By staying there the week before we are able to take advantage of lower rates while still enjoying nice summer weather. The rates are slightly higher on the weekend ($140) than during the week ($120). Our total for a six-night stay including taxes was: $856.
Total: $856

Groceries: We ate breakfast in our hotel room each day and at least one lunch or dinner at the hotel. The hotel has a barbeque around the pool area that we used for a few meals. We brought a few groceries with us that are not included in this expense list since they were bought in prior weeks with our regular grocery budget.

We stopped at WalMart just outside of the beach and bought a few groceries: $12.56
We shopped at Acme Supermarket at the beach: $50.94
Total: $63.50

Meals Out: One meal was eaten out each day at a restaurant or takeout:
Lunch at Sub Shop on way down: $15 (mother-in-law treated)
Dinner of Pizza: $16
Dinner of Chinese: $23.10
Dinner at Restaurant (just myself and husband): $29
Dinner for kids of pizza: $8 (my parents treated)
Lunch at Pancake Place: $30 (mother-in-law treated)
Daughter’s dinner while we barbequed: $4.27
Dinner at McDonald’s on ride home: $13
Total: $138.37

Souvenirs/Gifts:
We bought some taffy and fish magnets for my husband’s coworkers for a total of $10
We bought taffy and muffin mix for a couple of friends: $11.40
I bought a few things for our house: $6.76
I bought myself a shirt: $6
My husband bought a couple of t-shirts for his sisters: $8
We bought postcards: $3.50
My daughter bought a necklace for her friend: $2
Total: $47.66

Entertainment: We spent most days at the beach or the pool and went on a few bike rides with bikes we brought from home. At night we generally walked around the pedestrian shopping mall or around the town. For a few nights we treated the kids to some fun:

1 night of Miniature Golf: $12
2 nights at the Arcade: $10
2 nights of Ice Cream: $7.50
Total: $29.50

Gasoline and tolls: We had a full tank of gas before we left. We filled up once on the way, once on the way home and then topped it off at home to get an accurate total of dollars spent on gasoline. Our tolls come out of our EZ Pass account, but I think these are accurate.

Fill-up 1: $17 (MIL treated)
Fill-up 2: $24 (MIL treated)
Fill-up 3: $13
Tolls: $11
Total: $65

Chambermaid Tips:
We left $2 per night for the chambermaid. (Is that too low?)
Total: $12

Adding up all of the expenses, our total came to $1212.03. Our parents treated us to $94 of that, so we spent $1118.03. All in all, we were pretty accurate with our vacation expenses, and we will keep the budget the same for next year’s trip.