How To Have Fun While Saving Money This Summer

I can’t be the only parent who dreads doing all those fun summer activities, right? I mean, theoretically, family summer activities are incredibly life-giving and memory-making and fun-inducing.

But in reality?

I have three kids 6- and under. Doing anything means an excessive amount of planning and packing and lost naps and dirt and sun and tears and somuchsand. SO. MUCH. SAND.

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Summer activities can be fun for the whole family but they are never relaxing for the whole family. In fact, they are often just the opposite.

Still, despite my general grumpiness about this motherhood role I signed up for three times over, the O’Rourke family has actually ventured out quite a bit this season, and school only just ended two weeks ago. We’ve road tripped, crossed provinces, stayed in a cottage, visited two beaches, checked out new local parks, waded in a lake, and explored in a science museum. We have va-cationed and stay-cationed.

And it has legitimately been wonderful. Even with the exhausted children and the temper tantrums and the whining and ohmygoodnessallthesand.

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We have sat on a porch in the morning sun with a coffee in hand listening to the happy shrieks of our beautiful children playing at a playground only a few feet away. We have walked barefoot in the grass. We have played board games late into the night. We made sangria.

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We decided as a family to choose love and warmth and sunshine and togetherness.

It has been a good summer. And it isn’t even close to being over yet.

We’ve tried to spend as little money as possible this summer while still maximizing our adventure, and I think we have discovered that it is possible. Here are our tried and true tips for your summer of savings and fun:

Tips for Saving Money while Maximizing Summer Adventure

• If travelling, try to share a trip with family and split the costs of accommodations.
• Make your own meals, even when away from home.
• Chose free or cheap and natural attractions to fill your day. Consider checking out a beach or going on a hike.
• Swap stay/vacations with non-local friends. Take some time to explore each other’s community while visiting. Plan a week or even a long weekend with them visiting you, then go visit them! Use this as an opportunity to explore your own community anew.