Money Saver Monday!!
My family and I always fly to Walt Disney World. There are many reasons why we choose to fly but the main reason is because my husband has a very limited amount of time he can take off of work and we don’t want to spend it driving from Chicago to Florida. While we have flown more times than I can count, this past October I felt like I may want to deviate from flying in the future…at least just for a while.
As we all know it is not cheap to fly! Not only are the ticket prices going up but the restrictions on luggage have infringed on the cost of flying for an average family of 4…forget it if you have a family of 5…like me! In case if you have not flown recently it cost between $25 to $30 per piece of luggage each way…that is another plane ticket….yikes!
I digress…what I am going to focus on today is the fact that I refused to pay for more than 2 pieces of luggage for our family of 5 which include; Me, hubby, DD Lexis 14, DS Logan 6, DS Lucas 3. Both Lexis and I do not travel light…lol We like our makeup, straightener, Aveda products, round brushes, and our very specific hair-dryer. I knew that it was going to be a challenge to get 5 people into 2 suitcases which also needed to fit our Halloween costumes. A few months back I read an article on another Disney blogger’s site (please forgive me as I cannot remember where I read it but please feel free to comment and credit yourself if you are reading.) about how you can put all of your clothes into gallon zip lock bags and that it is supposed to save room in your luggage. I was determined to give this a try!
I went to the local dollar store and bought 1 and 2 gallon zip lock bags. I laid out all of our clothes as outfits, including underwear, socks and accessories. I then places each day’s clothes in a separate gallon bag and rolled it until the air was out completely. You can go as far as to label the clothes by day if you would like to but I did not do this. I have to tell you that ALL of our clothes fit into on suitcase. The extra suitcase held our room decorations, Halloween costumes and yep…our beauty supplies…lol.
When we arrived at our resort it was super easy to unload the suitcase as we placed the clothes in our own drawers while still in the baggies. Now here is the best part! In the morning it can be rough to get ready in a small room when the kids are sleeping and you are trying to find your stuff…well all you need to do is open the drawer and pull out a bag, bingo you have everything in a bag and it matches. I LOVE it! Hubby loved it too!!
This is a tip I will use every single time I travel from now on…not only did it save me money at the gate but it kept me SUPER organized as well. What a way to get more bang for your buck!!!!
Here is the total I still had to pay for bags though…$50 each way….yikes! But better than $75 each way!
If you have a great money saving tip we want to know it! Email Kelly at Kelly@thewdwguru.com and we will feature your tip on our site.
See ya real soon!!
Kelly
2 Comments.
My entire collection of needed toiletries fits into one small ziploc . . . My blowdryer is held together by duct tape, I am not carrying it to WDW since the one in the hotel room is better than mine!
On my last trip, I told my nephew it would be $20 each way (on Alaska) to check a bag, he promptly sorted his stuff and fitted it into a carry-on.
I like only bringing carry-on, it keeps me on a tight souvenir budget! Otherwise I would try to bring home one of everything.
Flying from the UK, my only concern was the weight restrictions because I forgot to weigh my bag. I think it was a maximum of 23kg. Luckily I was under. I find it harder to pack for the flight home though, because I have accumulated so much stuff during my trip! It’s a good idea to contemplate extra room for this before you even go I think.