These are best tips to save money on your summer getaway. They are not conventional. To really save money on a summer vacation, there are half a dozen basic tips to seriously consider. If, after reading the first four tips, you agree that the tips are worth considering and then following because you are really, really serious about saving money, then you will find that the tips that follow the first three have additional money saving value.
Tip No. 1. Stay home. It may sound ridiculous, but last summer lots of folks did it for very good reasons. The most important reason was to save money. Any vacation is expensive- even if you did not stay home last year but went camping instead. If you did not have the gear, it cost you money to get outfitted. It would have been less expensive to stay home. Get your calculator out and, depending on last year's destination, crunch in the cost of the getting there. That would be the flight's total cost or the cost of gas and regular maintenance and other expenses getting to your destination.
Tip No. 2. You have already saved on hotel or vacation home rental for the week or weeks of your vacation stay and other expenses on food and souvenirs and other extras normally part of a vacation as well as expenses for side trips or amusement parks. Your savings are adding up quickly.
Tip No. 3. Whatever one saved above, there is an added bonus to staying home that hasn't been figured into the cost as yet. In the intervening year between last summer and this Sumner's vacation, the price has gone up on everything, from lodging to entertainment, from food to beverages. Even the snacks sold at those dispensers in the rest areas have gone up!
Tip No 4. Should it rain while you vacation at home, enjoy the comforting feeling that will surely come over you just thinking about how miserable you would have felt had you been obliged to cut your vacation short to come home from a vacation where you were forced to remain indoors by the daily downpours caused by climate change.
By staying home this summer, there is all that money you save by not going on vacation. So you are staying home. Call it your vacation. Decide that you will do all those things you have often thought of doing where you live or not too far away but never have because you kept putting them off.
Tip No. 5. Pick a nearby beach at the shore or lake that is somewhat different from the pool if you have one and enjoy going there for the day. Pack a lunch and bring your beverage and save even more. Stay for as long as you want. Enjoy the sun and the fun. Read without hassle. If you dare, bring along dinner, or shop it at your regular market, someone can run over and bring your dinner back while you relax.
Tip No. 6. If number 5 sounded good, consider a series of visits to local art galleries, or the great ones not all that far away considering that you're vacationing at home. If you think about it, you will be surprised at the number of venues you have always wanted to visit but never found the time to place them on your calendar of things to do. So many are truly exciting. The possibilities of enjoying yourself while doing the things you have always put off doing at home for something you wait to do on vacation somewhere else are truly bewildering.
Tip No. 7. Just consider the underutilized State Parks in your State. The ones that charge no admission but nevertheless have good hiking trails or even mountain bike trails. Get the maps on-line, attach the bike rack, or get one because you can afford to with money you saved, and go hiking, short or long, bring a camera, the bird and tree guides, a small backpack for a good snack and water to drink. You and the family will be sure to love all these activities because you are doing them together and within ad day's ride to home. You are on vacation, a time for family fun and relaxation.
Tip No. 8. There are all kinds of other exciting choices that you can pick from that will cost less because you are on a home-based vacation. If you have not entertained neighbors in a while, invite them; have it catered from the dollars you saved by staying home. In addition, if at any time you yearn for a scrumptious meal, a lobster, fried clams, great steak, take the family, rent a reliable sitter to sit, and provide the films, popcorn and ice cream, then go ahead and have your fun.
Saving money on a vacation may sound at first like making sacrifices to get away to that special place. But all told, the best place to be is at home in your own bed with the money you saved tucked under the mattress.