Thursday, December 11, 2014

THE FRUGAL TRAVELER


Last month, Old Mother Frugal had the chance to spend a week at the home of one of Mother’s Little Helpers.  Travel- buddy hubby had departed several days in advance with his one duffle bag and back-pack.
He excels at frugal packing…me, not so much.
There is my one duffle bag “equivalent” for the daytime and bedtime articles of clothing.
This is accompanied by the one bag of personal hygiene and make-up items inserted into the canvas bag of ridiculously restrictive culinary items as prescribed by my physician, along with magazines, book, spiral notebook, plastic cutlery, paper cups and an assortment of my favorite tea bags. Decaf, of course.
If one counts the bag within a bag, the total sits at three. But there is more. Bag number four. Back-pack bag contains laptop, heating pad and chargers. One for the laptop, one for the phone.
Add a purse and the car would be ready to roll except for bag number six. The little pink cooler. It’s the last item in the car because it contains items from the freezer and refrigerator for my travels.
To contain costs while vacationing, I sometimes travel with food items that I can transform into meals at my destination, spending as little money as possible on food. Welcome to my version of "Meals on Wheels".
The destination refrigerator for this trip contains a working light bulb, milk, eggs, orange juice, condiments, cheese and beer. The freezer contains ice cubes, ice-cream, French fries and chicken nuggets. Plenty of room for chicken, pork chops, turkey parts, ground beef and spaghetti sauce!
With all six bags packed, the car was ready to go to meet my travel-buddy hubby and Mother’s Little Helper. There may be a New Year's Resolution in here somewhere!
SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Eating locally when on vacation is part of travel experience. To keep costs down, save your food dollars for one meal per day, lunch or dinner. Stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast with your stay or bring cold breakfast food items. Pack picnic lunches and drinks. If you need to free up space, shop locally. It is still more economical than dining out with the family for each meal of the day.
                                                     LITTLE PINK COOLER
 
 
SIX TRAVEL BAGS

                        
                                                  ALTERNATE GREEN COOLER


 
LARGER REPLACEMENT CANVAS BAG

 

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