Saving for your road trips and other tips?

I was thinking about this because I'm thinking ahead to the next trip I want to take and am planning to find hotels that will give me points for my frequent flyer card, after this road trips hotel stays, I'll have earned a free ticket (which I plan to use to fly so I can drive from a new loation for my next trip).

I've also signed up as a frequent visitor for one of the chain hotels, even if you only stay there one night, you get some nice little perks.

Since I started actually taking real vacations, I'm always looking for ways to put money aside for my trips. One of the easiest things I've done is stop spending my change and put it in a jar, then roll it before my trip and cash it in. I managed $100 in a year towards my trip.

Anyone else have any tips?

You could see if your bank will let you do an automatic transfer from your checking account to a savings account every payday. Even if you set it to automatically transfer, say $40 or so to a Savings Account that is specifically reserved for your Roadtrips, that can add up after a few months (especially if you start it with a good base).

I often earmark any tax return refund for vacations.