As you long-time readers know, the FG family often vacations (frugally, of course!) in Myrtle Beach.
Though I don’t usually do such area-specific posts, Myrtle Beach is such a popular destination, some of you readers are bound to be Myrtle Beach vacationers as well.
And even if you’re never going to set foot in Myrtle Beach, I think some of these suggestions could be applicable to other vacation spots as well.
I started to write this post and it ended up getting awfully long. So as not to stress your attention spans, I decided to break it up into two posts, and I’ll probably publish the second post next Tuesday.
At least, that’s the plan.
Go off-season
This may not be possible for everyone (homeschooling definitely makes this tip easier for us to apply), but if you can manage to avoid going to the beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day, you can save yourself enormous amounts of money on accommodations.
For instance, a beach-front condo that costs $1200 to rent in July will often cost $600 after the first week of September.
The cheap prices aren’t the only upside, though.
–The weather is still very warm but not too hot in South Carolina (we usually experience 80s in September, and in May, the temperatures are usually in the upper 70s)
–The water is pleasantly warm (warmer than the Delaware ocean water is in August!).
–The crowds are much more manageable (this makes the beach and pretty much any other activity more enjoyable, as you don’t have to stand in long lines for anything).
Bring your linens/Do your departure cleaning
We rent through Elliott Realty every year (their prices are the best we’ve found), and unlike a lot of rental agencies, they let us choose if we want to pay for linens and departure cleaning.
Linen rental for the condo can cost between $75-$100 for a week, so we bring our own. We bring towels, sleeping bags for the kids (we just lay them on top of the beds, so it’s super easy to pack them up), and sheets for the master bed (it’s a king usually, which is bigger than our bed at home, so we just picked up an inexpensive set of sheets and we bring them with us each year).
The departure cleaning is definitely harder than bringing linens, but you can save about $125 by doing it yourself. And if $125 is the difference between being able to go to the beach and not being able to, you may decide doing your cleaning is totally worth it.
I usually do our departure cleaning, but when my sister and I stayed in a condo for a week with 8 children, we decided that the stress of cleaning it ourselves while trying to pack up might possibly put us over the edge. So, we paid for departure cleaning and I think it was a very wise choice.
I’m not trying to say that everyone should clean their own condo, but just know that the option might be there for you if you really need to pinch pennies.
Rent a place with a kitchen
Dining out, especially if you have a family, can get insanely expensive. We could easily spend more on dining out than on our condo, actually.
If you stay in a kitchen-less hotel room, you’ll pretty much be forced to eat out for the duration of your visit. If you rent a place that has even a fridge, though, you can at least buy cereal and milk and eat breakfast in your room.
A full kitchen makes the most sense for us, so we always rent a condo instead of a hotel room. We eat breakfast and lunch in the condo (well, sometimes we pack lunch to take wherever we’re going) and we eat most dinners in our condo as well.
Now, cooking fancy meals is not my idea of a vacation, so we keep things super simple.
We eat cold cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and our dinners are easy, quick meals like tacos, frozen pizza, spaghetti,or grilled hamburgers (most of the condos we stay in have charcoal grills available, although I must say that trying to light charcoal near the beach does require a small pile of matches!).
Get coupon books
These are available free all over the Myrtle Beach area…at your check-in location, at grocery stores, at drugstores, and so on. In North Myrtle Beach, you can grab almost every coupon book available across from the Tricia Lynn hotel in the Windy Hill section (coupon book dispensers are by the newsstands).
Not every coupon in the books will be useful to you, but you’ll probably find a keeper or two. We always use the Del Sol coupon each year (if you buy $5 worth of merchandise, you get a free $20 color-changing canvas bag). I use these bags for my groceries every single week and I love them.
You can find lots of coupons for dining, mini-golf, real golf, shows, and shopping, so always check in the coupon book before you go spend any money.
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Ok! That’s it for today, but next, I have a list of affordable Myrtle Beach activities.
Sean
Thursday 16th of February 2017
Hello Kristen, we a family of 5 (3 kids) would be staying at the Dunes Village Resort comes late March.
In terms of transportation wise, we are looking to use Uber instead of rental car which cost us $200 for 4 days. I don't imagine going venturing out too much, unless if you think there are many worthwhile places.
1) Go to grocery store once to get 3 days worth of food. 2) Go to downtown for the wheel or attractions. 3) Probably would skip the Myrtle Beach State Park which would cost my family $16 to enter. What the heck?!
Or would you recommend taking bus instead?
Thanks
Kristen
Thursday 16th of February 2017
Hmm. In warm weather, I'd say hey, just enjoy the beach! No ubering necessary! In March, the beach will probably still be a bit on the cold side, so you probably are going to want to venture out to some of the attractions to stay busy.
Unless it's pretty warm, I'd skip the state park. There are lots of free places to access the beach, and I think the state park would really be most fun when it's beachy swimming weather.
You might consider ubering to Broadway at the Beach if you want to do some shopping. There's mini-golf available there, and there are also amusement park rides in addition to shopping. I think Broadway at the Beach is actually a little more fun than downtown MB.
Hope you have fun!
Ashleigh Janulis
Monday 9th of May 2016
Just stayed in Myrtle Beach this past weekend (May 6th - May 9th) and it was probably the most amazing trip that my husband and I have been on in a while. We stayed at the Hampton Inn at Broadway at the Beach and it was such a convenient location. Because hotel location is definitely a plus when you save on gas by walking everywhere! My husband and I did Myrtle on a "budget" It was just the two of us, but we got quite a few souvenirs, so you can definitely save a ton of money by not falling into the souvenir pit! Also, if you can, find a hotel that offers continental breakfast. You will save a TON of money that way. It also helps if you work for a Hilton owned hotel too because you get to stay at a Hilton Hotel for $29.00 - $49.00 per night. So we saved about $300.00 there! Ask for discounts as well. Most places will offer a military discount (with valid ID). We went to Wonderworks there at Broadway at the beach. The tickets were normally going to be $30.00+tax a piece, we showed our IDs and were able to get a 50% discount on each ticket. So we pretty much got a two for one deal! A lot of the shops there too will offer a 10% military discount if you ask for it. And SOME hotels, depending on the season, will offer a military, AAA, and AARP rate as well if you show proof of membership (Valid non-expired ID).
As far as hotel season goes. On-Season goes from Easter to about the middle/end of October. That is when room rates really start to go up. If you're lucky, you can maybe find a few hotels with low rates, but don't expect to find anything in the Myrtle Beach area for anything less than 100.00 without discounts during on season. And just because you paid 115.00 last year, does not mean it will be 115.00 on the very same day this year either. Hotel rates can change within a blink of an eye and are usually at the discretion of the hotel gm/owner. Scope out the hotel and rooms too if you have the opportunity before actually staying. Majority of the time, if the hotel has a vacant room and you ask to see it, they will let you. AND IF YOU ARE COMING FROM OUT OF STATE, PLEASE make sure your room is in our system before you leave. Just give us a call and say, "Hey! This is (insert name on reservation) and we are supposed to be arriving on (insert arrival date) just checking that you have me in the system for (insert arrival and departure dates)." They will be more than happy to help you. I hate turning guests away because the reservation center they booked through messed up their reservation and we have no available rooms to give to them. I'd much rather be able to tell you that something was messed up on your reservation NOW rather than later. Especially during on season when most hotels in high tourist areas are completely booked!
Just thought I'd add some helpful advice! Hope it'll help keep you a happy hotel guest and have a happy wallet!
Crystal Shaver
Wednesday 20th of April 2016
I will be traveling to Myrtle Beach SC for three days, and I'm on a budget. I want to be able to find good deals to where I can save money while I'm there.
I will be staying in a room that has a kitchenette. I might want to go out and eat two or three times, but I will mainly be eating in the room.
How much money does one need when traveling to the beach for three days.
Kristen
Wednesday 20th of April 2016
That all depends on what you plan to do. If you mostly hang out on the beach, then your expenses will be quite low! If you stay away from all of the entertainment (mini golf, arcades, shopping), then you can get by on very little money.
Jay M
Monday 29th of September 2014
I have been going to a place south of Myrtle Beach called North Litchfield Beach for 28 years now and when my children were younger we would always go right before Memorial Day and it was great. Everything was open getting ready for the tourist season and it was like we were the only ones there. If you ask the locals though they can tell you where you could go out to eat that wouldn't strain your budget. There are lots of little places to eat that are very affordable there.
Lynn D.
Thursday 21st of July 2011
Love all of your tips and actually use a few of them myself. We have rented cabins quite a few times in TN. We have found them to be more reasonably priced than hotels and they have the kitchen. We always go grocery shopping before leaving home. We bring along our food for breakfasts, lunch and some dinners. We also bring snacks, cases of water and also our pop. I also bring ziploc bags to put leftovers in so that we can have them the next day for another meal. Thanks for all your great tips.