My Weekend Getaway: Easy. Fast. Cheap!

This month my roommates and I went on a last-minute overnight trip for the Fourth of July. The best part? I spent less than $50 for the entire thing (hotel, travel, food and fun)! One of my roommates received an email on July 3 from a travel site (think Travelocity, Expedia, etc.) saying that there were still rooms available in select cities for the fourth. We decided on St. Louis since it was only a few hours for us to drive, and we booked a room for just under $100. We stocked up on cheap snack food and we were on our way!

As annoying as they can be, emails from these kinds of websites can let you know about great deals or sales they have going on that you wouldn’t know about otherwise. In this case, we were able to celebrate the holiday in a really fun way without spending more than we can afford. I decided to make myself an email account that is strictly for “junk” mail that I give to stores or restaurants when I have to provide one. Although I don’t check it everyday, I do check it at least once or twice a week to see if there’s anything good going on, but this way I can keep my actual email’s inbox clean without missing out on great promotions.

Living on my own this summer has taught me the importance of saving my money. Like most college students, I’m always on the lookout for ways I can cut costs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t treat ourselves to a weekend getaway. Whether it’s a weekend excursion to see an away game for your college, or a spring break trip to the beach, we just have to be smart about planning and use the resources available to us! If you are planning a trip that requires a flight, be sure to check out this travel site that offers cheap airfare just for students.

What ideas do you have for affordable weekend trips? We would love to hear!