- Use your creativity to enjoy an inexpensive Christmas vacation.vacation! image by Rido from Fotolia.com
For many, Christmas is the most expensive time of the year. Office parties, gift exchanges, and the added expense of baking all of those goodies can do some serious damage to your wallet. Toss in a vacation, and you may find yourself contemplating a second job. But with an ounce of planning and creativity, you can enjoy a holiday retreat without incurring serious debt. - House exchanges can provide you with the vacation of your dreams.Vacation Home image by John Sandoy from Fotolia.com
Imagine staying in a home overlooking a fully stocked lake or sitting on a porch gazing at snow capped mountains ... for free. It can happen if you are willing to share your home. Before Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet traded houses in "The Holiday," many people had never heard of house exchanges. However, the idea has been around for at least half a century, affording people from all walks of life the opportunity to enjoy a change in scenery without the high cost of hotel stays. While you can look for homes on free sites, paying a small membership fee to professional realtors is a legal and safety feature you may appreciate.
The process takes some serious preplanning and coordinating of schedules. You may go through a couple of houses on your list before you find a person or family who wants to trade homes at the same time you do. However, the few tedious hours it takes to find the perfect free getaway are well spent, and the return is priceless. - Turn your Christmas vacation into a group effort and take advantage of group rates for hotels, meals, and more. Whether you share your vacation with parents, friends, or siblings, this is an innovative way to enjoy the down time you crave without the expense you don't. If children are involved, arrange for girls to share a room and boys to share another, while parents both enjoy their own rooms. The biggest challenge may be deciding who gets the master suite. You can also enjoy each other's recipes as opposed to forking out cash for expensive restaurant meals.
- Some families choose to skip the gift exchange altogether in lieu of meaningful vacations. You might think your children will balk at the idea of not receiving gifts. But many kids enjoy going back to school with tales of exciting vacations and activities. While you can appease younger children with a couple of small gifts, the older ones will understand if you start a tradition that limits gifts to birthdays and fun vacations to Christmas. Without the burden of gift purchases, you can use the money to build memories with your family---a gift that will long outlast electronics and stuffed animals.
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