Boston, MassachusettsJoined in May 2004I'm a mother of four and a budget traveler. I do splurge occasionally when I go away with my husband or other adults but I always try to get the best value for my money. I love to travel but being a Mom keeps me closer to home. If I can't go far, I try to take advantage of all the wonderful day trips I can visit locally. I frequently take my children to the local museums, walks, historical sites, and/or special events whenever we can. We are members of a local children's museum and zoo members. We use our membership for free visits to reciprocal museums and zoos. I also take advantage of free admission days at the other local museums and take advantage of library passes. I occasionally use the discounts coupons offered from the 'Entertainment Book' or from 'Restaurant.Com' To be able to take advantage of all the great restaurants in the area, I try to dine at lunch time to save a few dollars or order from the bar menu. Every year, as a family, we go on a least 6 local overnight trips. My husband and I try to squeeze a few weekends away without the children and occasionally I will travel with my extended family or go solo. I love Hotwire.com and have stayed at some wonderful 4 star hotels for a fraction of the rack rates. For the past few years, as a family we have started to do repeat trips to Newport, RI for New Year's and February School Vacation week and Hyannis, Cape Cod for April School Vacation week and a week in August, for these trips we stay at budget, family friendly motels. We also spend many of our vacation days in Meredith, NH in our extended family's vacation home. I try to do an international trip once every two or three years, most of the time it's to Germany where I have extended family.