Spring break budget roundup

I've been paying a closer eye to the budget for our upcoming travel, as we have a bunch of expenses related to Sam's college (orientation, move in date, as well as just the cost of college itself), combined with me not working. I also have the flexibility to travel more myself (what a gift that is), but can only do that if I'm setting a budget & being more frugal than in previous years. 

The good news is that we have a lot of travel credits, points, miles, etc, so staying on top of those & using those first has been really helpful. Beyond that, we are also just evaluating the value of each trip & prioritizing how we want to spend our money. 

I set a goal for our spring break trip of $1500. Originally, we were going to do a road trip to Redwoods National Park, but opted to ski at the last minute, when the resorts were still open. Nick convinced us. ;-) We had a fabulous time. 

Here's how we spent our money:

• $3.76 - lunch for the teens on the way to Lake Tahoe
• $179.97 - dinner out our first night
• $37.87 - lunch for me + Sam on our last day
• $177.85 - lunches on the mountain, including bonus teen friend for one of the meals
• $380.66 - cost of the hotel (two rooms) + two dinners that we charged to the room
• $13.21 - coffee for MR each morning (he's not a Starbucks fan)
• $93.32 - gas
• $13.96 - snacks purchased at Trader Joes, to bring on the trip
• $80.33 - Breakfast for the boys + coffee for me each morning - Starbucks gift card, so technically not out of pocket, but including for completeness 
• Ski passes - free, as we had season passes

Total spent = $980.93, so well under budget. This was possible, as we used points at the hotel to offset much of the cost of the three nights rooms. The most outrageous cost was my coffee every morning, as they charged an extra $1.50 for oat milk, which is wild to me. They do have a coffee maker in the room, but we've tried the coffee before & it's pretty abysmal. I convince myself that, if I buy the Starbucks gift cards at a discount (often this is how I earn grocery store rewards), I'm saving a bit on that. I also try to use Starbucks rewards for at least one of the coffees while I'm there. 

Fancy/pricey oat milk lattes aside, I'm very pleased with the cost of the trip. Feeding two hungry teens is expensive at the best of times, and throw in additional appetite from skiing, and it's quite pricey. :-) 

I've set budgets for the upcoming Sedona trip with my mom, as well as my trip to Costa Rica with M, so I'll share the recaps on those trips, as they happen. 

Do you track spending for travel? Are you typically able to stay under budget? Any tips to share?