This Week In Real Life
Hope your Fourth was good. Ours was quiet — exactly what we needed.
Holiday weekend just wrapped. Four kids, a dog, a backyard, and a long weekend that felt like the exhale between two big things — graduation behind us, summer road trip ahead of us.
Speaking of which — we're doing it. This summer we're loading six people into a 2018 Suburban and driving to Montana, across to Minnesota, and back through the Grand Tetons. Four kids. One dog staying home with a sitter. Several thousand miles of highway, national parks, family we don't see often enough, and whatever snacks survive the first three hours before someone eats them all.
I've been meaning to sit down and actually budget this trip for weeks. I knew it was going to be expensive. I just hadn't added it up yet.
This week I finally did. The number was higher than I expected. And I work in finance.
"Most families have a vague sense that a road trip will cost 'a few thousand dollars.' Almost nobody sits down and calculates the actual number before they leave. The families who do that one thing stress less the entire trip."
This Week's Money Move
The real cost of a family road trip — our actual budget for Montana, Minnesota, and the Tetons
The average American family vacation cost in 2025 is $7,249 according to Squaremouth — up 12% from last year. And that's the average. Longer trips with bigger families run significantly higher.
Here's our actual trip breakdown. Springfield Oregon to Montana, across to Minnesota, south through Wyoming and the Grand Tetons, back home. Roughly 4,000 miles round trip. Family of 6. About 12 days on the road.
Gas — 4,000 miles ÷ 18 mpg × $4.99 — $1,109
Hotels — 4 nights on the way back × $180 — $720
Airbnb — Grand Tetons, 3 nights split with family × $175 — $525
Staying with family in Montana + Minnesota — $0
Food — 6 people × $60/day × 12 days — $720
National Parks + activities — $400
Snacks, gas stops, random purchases — $300
Pet sitter for the dog — $300
Buffer — 15% for the unexpected — $612
Total realistic budget: ~$4,686
The family stays in Montana and Minnesota save us roughly $1,800 in lodging alone. That's the real math on maintaining close family relationships — they literally pay for part of your vacation. The Airbnb split in the Tetons cuts what would have been a $500/night property down to a manageable $175/night.
Four thousand dollars is still a significant number. But it's a fundable, plannable, guilt-free number when you see it broken down like this.
The Hidden Costs Most Families Miss
The booking mistake that costs families $200-400 every single time
Booking hotels the night before. It sounds flexible and free-spirited. In practice it costs significantly more than booking 2-3 weeks ahead — especially in peak summer near national parks where rooms sell out fast and last-minute prices surge.
Here are the other hidden costs that derail most road trip budgets:
Hotel size for a family of 6 — a standard king room fits 2-4 people. A family of 6 often needs either two rooms or a suite. That doubles your lodging budget instantly. Book early and search specifically for suites or family rooms. Many hotels have them — they just don't surface unless you filter for them.
National Park entrance fees — individual park entry runs $35 per vehicle. If you're hitting multiple parks — Grand Tetons, Glacier, Yellowstone — the $80 America the Beautiful annual pass pays for itself on the second park. Buy it before you leave.
Gas price variation by state — Oregon to Montana to Minnesota back through Wyoming means dramatically different gas prices by state. Use GasBuddy before you leave to identify the cheap fill-up spots on your route. On a 4,000 mile trip even a $0.30/gallon difference matters.
The cooler strategy — a well-stocked cooler from a grocery store the morning you leave cuts your food budget by 30-40%. Pack breakfast and lunch every day. Eat dinner out once per day as the experience. The difference between three meals out versus one meal out per day on a 12-day trip for 6 people is roughly $800.
The souvenir conversation — have it before you leave, not at the gift shop. Each kid gets one souvenir from the whole trip, budget set in advance. Without this conversation you are negotiating at every gift shop for 12 days straight.
Vehicle prep — oil change, tire pressure check, and a roadside emergency kit before a 4,000 mile trip is a $100 investment that prevents a $1,500 problem in the middle of Wyoming.
"The goal of budgeting a road trip isn't to make it cheaper. It's to make it guilt-free. Spend the money. Just decide in advance that you're okay with the number before you leave the driveway."
THIS WEEK'S ACTION:
This week's action — the 20 minute road trip budget: If you have a family trip planned this summer open a notes app right now and write down six numbers: estimated miles, gas cost (miles ÷ mpg × gas price), hotel nights × average nightly rate, food per day × number of days, activities budget, and a 15% buffer. Add them up. That number — however uncomfortable — is better to know today than to discover at the end of your credit card statement in August.
Dad Life
Why we're doing this trip even though it costs $4,686
My oldest just graduated. The next one is two years behind. After that the youngest two. Somewhere in the not-too-distant future loading six people into a Suburban for a road trip stops being something that just happens — it becomes something you have to plan around college schedules and summer jobs and lives that are starting to look more independent than not.
This summer window — four kids still home, still excited about a road trip, still willing to share a hotel room without complaint — is finite in a way I'm starting to feel more acutely than I ever did before.
Four thousand dollars is a lot of money. It's also a very specific price for a very specific thing: Montana at sunset. The Grand Tetons through a windshield at 6am. Four kids seeing Minnesota for the first time. All of us together, unhurried, for twelve days.
That's not expensive. That's the whole point.
Coming Next Week
What's in issue #009
Back to school spending — most families overspend by $400-600 every August on things their kids don't actually need. We'll break down what's worth buying, what to wait on, and the one purchase almost every parent makes too early every single year. Plus: we'll report back from the road.