Sunday, June 17, 2012

How to Have a Cheap, Fun Summer

I'm entering my 7th summer as a cheap homemaker and that just freaks me out (because it means I'm old and have been unemployed for a LONG time).  The kids both ended school on Friday and I'm determined to keep their hyper little asses full of activities and fun this summer - for dirt cheap.

One thing I have already done to ensure I save money is to dig out an old Igloo cooler.  One of the biggest sucker-uppers of money for me is grabbing food/beverages out because I am not properly prepared.  This sucks.  Not only for my wallet, but for my waistline as well.  If I get to the point of extreme hunger (which is common when I'm ill-prepared) - I don't go for healthy options out and about.  I go for nasty, fried, over-fatted garbage.  I was going to just buy a new cooler - but that wouldn't be cheap.  We have like three of them in the house since my husband is always bringing lunch to work.  So I just cleaned one out with bleach spray. So I have my cooler ready to go - I just have to remember to stock it with drinks and snacks before we go out every day.

Another way for me to stay cheap (and safe) - is I made a "Summer Essential" box and it's in the trunk of my car.  I just took a shoe box sized plastic container and put sunscreen, bug spray, bandaids and some other first-aid stuff in there.  And it's staying there.  I will admit that I have fallen victim to the "We're going out to do something fun today!" and have been caught without sunscreen so I just go and buy a bottle.  So we have 3 or 4 bottles around the house.  With a bottle or two always in the car, I don't' have to worry about dropping $6-$10 on a bottle when I already have it.

I keep at least once blanket and sweatshirts for all of us in the car.  Living and doing things by the ocean can get breezy - even on pretty warm or hot days.

Lastly, to ensure I always have some free or cheap event on hand for me to take the kids to, I have organized some local free events on a calendar on Cozi.com.  You don't have to use Cozi.  You can use iCal or Google Calendar or real calendar with a pen.  A prepared homemaker is a good homemaker.

Since we just kicked off our summer on Friday, we already started with our free fun - Thanks to the City of Quincy for their Flag Day festivities yesterday. A parade at 7pm and Fireworks at about 9pm at Pageant Field.  Good, free fun to kick off the start of summer and to celebrate the anniversary of our beloved flag.

2 comments:

365 things to do South shore said...

Great advice being prepared is absolutely key! we have compiled free events on the south shore for the summer

Unknown said...

Thanks for all your resources! Hope all is well! I try to focus only on Weymouth, Braintree, Quincy & Hingham since I'm too cheap to drive further! :)