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We usually eat breakfast in the room; bagels, English muffins and bring our own Dunks lb.
we gets lots of blocks of cheese at the grocery store with asst crackers, pepperoni , grapes and eat those snack type things for lunch beach or poolside.
We we also bring flasks to the beach and order cran juice or mix our drinks in the room and bring down to beach in Tervis cups.
Dinners are Impt to us and we don't go cheap though.
No he is a little "fluffy" hahahaOriginally Posted by cpjones
Poor guy.... that must keep him petite too!
Believe me he is far from starving... lol
Bringing a softsided cooler for drinks is a huge saver for us too. Something else we do is drink tap water instead of buying bottled water. The taste is good, and the quality of the water is excellent. Other savings come from bringing sunblock from home that I buy throughout the year when its on sale.
The best trip is the next trip. Anxiously waiting to book something.
I usually eat my breakfast & lunch in. I don't mind making omlettes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch. The first night for dinner is usually Pizza and beer that I get as a take out from Pizza Bob. I order the largest pie so I can have left over for lunch. I buy a bottle of rum and juice which I take to the beach as a mix drink in a water bottle. I mix n match low price restaurants and for the last night I usually splurge at a pricey restaurant. Gotta do it if you want to take more trips. Last trip I saw a lot of familes usuing the resort grills which I think was great. One of the purpose of time share is to save money on food costs. Now a lot of resorts in Cancun make guests exchanging thru inteval or RCI take a mandatory all lnclusive plan at $125 per person per night which is crazy..
I need to take some of this advice. Our last trip was at the Tamarijn, so AI = no worries. But our next trip we are renting a house. I have a bad habit of setting a budget, making plans, and then bamm I am on on vacation and the budget goes out the window and we go and do whatever, lol. This house will have an outdoor bbq next to the private pool. So I think it is safe to say that we will eat Breakfast in, on most days anyway, then brink items for lunch to the beach. Dinner we will fire up the bbq. They key for me is being able to cook outside while jumping in and out of the pool, this way I am not missing anything.
We want to travel more, so I need to plan and make it work.
I'm not sure where Ace, but I recently read a conversation about the changing requirement to purchase AI at the Occidental. I didn't understand some of the conversation, but I seem to remember that Occidental may be changing their "rules" and any sales will now come with a clause that the owner must purchase AI for the week they are there. Wish I could remember where I saw this.
Also, back to the money saving tips. Our tip this year is no KIDS. They have been giving us grief about it, but at 20 and 18 they can just suck it up (can I say that?) (and hey, the 20 year old daughter went to Florida over winter break, and 18 year old son will be in Florida when we go to Aruba; they're not deprived). Their Aruba funds are going to colleges. I will miss them while we are there, but we will cut our food bill in 1/2; however, DH will probably use that money at the casinos, so I guess I won't be saving anything.
(ok; that convo was here, duh)
The tap water in Aruba is amazing. We usually buy liter bottles of AWA and refill them during our stay. I bring a bunch of single serving powdered drink mixes for the kids and some that go very nicely with some adult additives
Loving Aruba from NJ
As a house renter our biggest opportunity for savings is on the rental itself. The first trip we rented a way too large Oceania Penthouse because it looked incredible. Hardly spent anytime there although the rooftop jacuzzi was great for late night. Now we rent as much house as we need and have developed a great relationship with the owner who cuts us a pretty nice discount for being loyal renters who take great care of the place. She doesn't even ask for a security deposit anymore.
Visit onehappypodcast.com the officially unofficial podcast of the island of Aruba. Tips, tricks and stories about the best place on earth! If you don't listen you are missing out.
If over the years we didn't have to scrimp and save our pennies, we would never be able to go anywhere. Also, We do make sacrifices for our kids, that's life, at least we did. Half of the fun is seeing how we can save to afford our trips. I love this forum. All of the members are so very nice.
When is the "low season" I am not sure. Thanks for the advice.
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