Traveling with kids can be tricky but if you have the right tools packed, traveling with kids is a breeze. Instead of just throwing a bunch of toys in the car before you hit the road, here are five tips to help keep kids of all ages entertained while on road trips.

• Turn a rolled makeup bag into an entertainment center. Instead of putting your makeup and hair products in the pickets of a rolled makeup bag, fill it up with activities, games, and snacks that your kids will enjoy while in the car. You can even grab small suction cups with hooks and attach them to the window so the makeup bag is open and easily accessible to your child. Then fill the bag with items like crayons, markers, small coloring pages or books. Small electronics and chargers fit well in the pockets too. And don’t forget snacks-! You can load up a few pockets with snacks so if your kids get hungry, they can grab what they want.

• During your next trip to the dollar store, look for small plastic storage caddies, the kind that attach to walls or mirrors with suction cups. These can be placed your child’s window and filled with small toys, crayons, and coloring pages.

• Turn a dollar store cookie sheet into instant entertainment by using the cookie sheet as a surface for coloring sheets, a place to build with blocks or Legos, or the perfect place for to eat a snack. Rather than having your kids balance their crayons, toys and snacks while in the car, the cookie sheet becomes the perfect place to create a masterpiece or play a game in the car.

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·         Use an app to find the lowest priced gas near you. Apps like GasBuddy and IGasUp will help search gas prices in your area. This way you can choose the gas station that will help save you money at the pump. You may have to drive a little further to fill up but, in the end,, you’ll save money.

·         Take advantage of whole sale clubs and grocery stores that partner with gas stations. You can save big bucks while you shop at whole sale clubs and grocery stores that offer deals on gas, points towards gas or have their own gas stations.  Check out the deals in your area and join their gas perks plans to see the deals near you. If you are already going to these stores to shop, you should take full advantage of their savings on gas, too.

 

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If you are looking at the inside of your car and you can’t remember the last time it was clean-we feel your pain. Cleaning your car can be time consuming but having a clean car, even if it’s just for a few short days, feels pretty amazing. So to get your car shining on the inside and out and to cut down on the time it takes to clean your car, try a few of these car cleaning hacks.

If the seats and floor of your car are getting smelly, just sprinkle a little baking soda over the seats and floor, let it sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum up. The smells will be gone and your car will be left smelling clean and fresh.

If you travel with your pets and they’ve left behind their hair, there’s an easy hack to get your car clean. Using a spray bottle filled with water, mist the seats where the pet hair has been hiding. Be sure to not soak the seat, just a few sprays will do. Then using a squeegee, run it over the upholstery a few times. This will pull all the pet hair so that you can wipe it up or run the vacuum over the seats. You will be shocked at how much hair will come up.

There are so many places that dust and dirt can hide inside your car, and sometimes you need a little help cleaning this mess. A can of compressed air is great for getting all of the dust and dirt out your car of those hard-to-reach places like air vents, fans, and the console.

 

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With all of the things you put into your car trunk, it can easily become an unorganized mess in the back of your car. From emergency supplies to carrying groceries, here are simple hacks for keeping your car’s trunk organized.

·         Leave foldable laundry baskets in your car for grocery shopping days. This way you can load all of your grocery bags into the laundry baskets for an easy and organized way to transport them to your home-no spilled grocery bags for you. Plus, you can easily carry the laundry baskets into the house rather than making a dozen trips trying to carry all the bags. When you are done, just fold the laundry baskets back up and store them in the trunk until your next shopping trip. You can also store these baskets in a large plastic container.

·         Another grocery bag option is to attach a bungee cord across the inside of your trunk and string the bag handles through the bungee cord.

·         If you have plastic containers of different supplies in the trunk of your car and the bins are constantly moving and shifting around while you drive, grab double sided adhesive and a few inexpensive book ends. Place the adhesive on the bottom of the books end and attach to the bottom of your trunk. Then place the bins against the book end-which will now work as a stopper, so the bins won’t budge while you are driving.

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Before you travel with your baby, here are five travel tips to make life a little easier for you and your baby!

1.       Have groceries delivered to your hotel room. Rather than taking your baby with you to a grocery store when you arrive on at your destination or try to make just a few snacks from the car trip last your entire vacation, have groceries for the entire family delivered to your room. You’ll save money and your sanity with this tip.

2.       See what amenities your hotel offers or what you can rent when you arrive. Rather than bringing everything from home, your hotel may have cribs or pack n plays your baby can sleep in. Even complimentary breakfast can help as you plan your vacation with your baby. If you don’t want to pack big items like strollers, you can often rent these items, even double strollers, and have the delivered to your hotel room.

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When you are planning a vacation, it’s always helpful to find ways to save a few bucks. After all, you can drop some serious cash on a vacation. So, before you head out the door on your next trip, check out a few of these apps that can help you save money now so you can spend a little extra having fun on your vacation.

Hopper- This handy app can save you big bucks when you are planning a flight. It’s super handy if you have a few weeks or months to plan the trip and if your dates are flexible. Even if you have specific dates in mind, still check out the app. Hopper works by predicting the future price of flights. So, the app will tell you the best times to purchase your tickets. This way you’ll never have to worry you didn’t get the best price on your flights. Hopper can actually help save you up to 40% on airline tickets.

GasBuddy– If you are driving to your vacation destination or you’ll be driving around while on your vacation, you need to download this app before you go. Since gas prices tend to rise during the summer months, this app can help you keep the extra costs of filling up your vehicle with gas down. The app will help you find the best price on fuel no matter where you are, and another great feature is that you can calculate how much money you’ll need to budget for fuel during your vacation

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While you are making your vacation plans, be sure to add a quick trip to the nearest dollar store to stock up on vacation supplies a must-do. Even if you aren’t a frequent shopper at these stores, there are so many items you will need for your family vacation and you can find them at those stores. You’ll be able to find a ton on inexpensive items that only cost a dollar and that means you can save some money before your trip. That way you’ll have a few extra bucks to spend on your vacation.

Extra USB Chargers– We never seem to have enough USB chargers around here and when they only cost a dollar, I don’t mind grabbing a few extras for everyone before we travel.

Kids Sunglasses-If you have little kids, you want to grab sunglasses for them; however, if your kids are like mine, those sunglasses won’t last too long. From getting lost somewhere in the car or trampled on by siblings, sunglasses have a short lifespan. But if you grab a few pairs for just a dollar, you won’t need to worry about lost or destroyed kid’s sunglasses and you can keep a few on hand to replace the last pair.

Puzzles, stickers, coloring books and workbooks– There’s no need to spend more than a dollar on these must-have travel items. You can fill up a book bag full of these fun-filled activities for your kids and not spend a lot of money. You can also grab a baking sheet from the dollar store and use it as a lapboard while your child works on the puzzles and workbooks in the car.

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As the spring season comes to and end and we gear up for summer, it’s time to take advantage of the beautiful weather. So, grab your kiddos and makes some plans to get outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. While there are plenty of activities that could cost you a small fortune, here’s a list of 10 family friendly plans that are not only fun but free!

1.       Blow bubbles! If you don’t have any bubble solution at home, you can make your own Try finding different items in your home to use instead of a bubble wand. Bubbles are always a crowd pleaser!

2.       Play hide and seek. Whether it’s in your own back yard or at the playground, hide and seek is a game that all kids love.

3.       Fly a kite. Take advantage of the breezy spring weather and take a kite for a test run

4.       Take a bike ride. Get the entire family moving on bikes and scooters in your own neighborhood or go find a trail or park for a change of scenery.

 

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