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The best things in life are free! So why do we have to spend a fortune to have a fun family vacation. Well, the answer is you don’t! With gas prices at $4 dollars a gallon, the price of groceries up nearly 10% this year, and the value of your home and stock portfolio dragging, many families just don’t have the disposable income required to take a fancy vacation. The theme this past memorial day weekend has been “staycationing” : staying close to home rather than taking long trips for your vacation. And with no positive outlook for the economy in the near future the theme will continue throughout the summer. So how do you make the most out of your vacation without shelling out a small fortune?

Here is a list of some of the most popular activities to entertain you on your vacation for little or no cost:

Zoos - Zoos are a cheap way to spend your day. It can be a lot of fun for kids and grown-ups too. This is a good way to teach little children about different animals, you may even learn something yourself. Often there are some animals that you can pet and feed.

Museums - Museums are a great way to bring education into your family vacation. Museums are often free or cheap and they provide a fun way to learn about the past. A lot of times museums host special exhibits that are truly fascinating once in a lifetime experience.

Picnicking - A day at the park can be a lot of fun too. Some of my best vacation memories are family trips to the park. Parks offer playgrounds for kids, walking/hiking trails, and picnic areas. If you bring some food from home, this is a cheap way to spend the day and get some fresh air.

Water Recreation - You don’t have to drive all the way to the beach to have fun in the water. There are lakes, ponds, and swimming holes all over. Try taking the kids fishing. Not only is it great fun, but with a little luck it can be a free meal too!

Hiking - Americans are getting more and more overweight. This is because they are not getting enough exercise. The biggest problem with gyms are that they are boring. People get tired of them. Try finding a nice trail that you can hike in the woods. Try looking online for local trails, most cities have them people just don’t search them out.

Movie/Game Night - Having a movie night or game night is a lot of fun for the whole family and its cheap too. Head over to the video store and pickup a couple movies the family can enjoy. Redboxes are all the craze now, you can get videos from your local grocery store for just $1. Plus if you look online, you can find codes to get your first night FREE.

Bookstore or Library - Spend the evening at your local bookstore. Find a relaxing chair and sit down with a good book. Sometimes bookstores and libraries will have live entertainment too. Or if you prefer to read on-line you can checkout your favorite blogs.

Plan ahead if you do go anywhere. Always check for coupons and ask if they are running any promotional offers. Remember what makes a vacation great is not where you go or what you do, its who you do it with! I was able to spend the weekend with my family, relaxing, playing outside, and enjoying the wonderful weather; and that made for a terrific holiday break.

Tags: Frugal, Gas prices, How to Save // 2 Comments »

About a week ago I posted the techniques I use to increase my car’s efficiency. Well I have been doing them for a while now and I finally filled up. Sean, from Financial Ramblings , and I both participated in my challenge to see how much better over EPA estimates we could get. The results are finally in and here they are:

Sean’s Results:

Miles: 299.1

Gallons: 9.321

MPG: 32.0888

EPA: 26 mpg

% over EPA = 23.4%

(Yea that’s my car. Well mine isn’t really quite that nice but it a picture of the same model. Fancy isn’t it.)

My Results:

Miles: 320.2

Gallons: 9.844

MPG: 32.527

EPA: 29 mpg

% over EPA = 12.16%

And the winner is Sean by a landslide. He did very well and congratulations to him. I really don’t see what else I could have done better. I think my car does need a tune up. I kind of tend to neglect it a lot. Maybe I will try this again later if I get a tune up or do something nice for my car. It has been reliable for years and I owe it something nice.

These days a credit card can be used to avail loans of all sorts, in addition to the credit crunch. The perks include a travel insurance as well as the possibility of debt consolidation loans.

Tags: Frugal, Gas prices, How to Save // 3 Comments »

My expenses haven’t been as high as they could be for taking up a new hobby like this. I already had a rod, reel, bucket, cooler, and some tackle. I am kind of a beginner so I haven’t gone out and bought hundreds of lures like the professionals have. I am just hoping to catch some fish and have a little fun, not go pro. The expenses still can add up even if you are doing it for a hobby though. This doesn’t just apply to fishing, there are other hobbies that may seem cheap to do, but once you really add up all of your costs, sometimes it can become real expensive. Take gardening for example, many people spend lots on all the different tools, fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides.

(no unfortunately I didn’t catch this one, but a nice fisherman gave me one that was about this size! )

Expenses

Lures – $7

Line – $4

Hook – $4

Gas – $5-6/trip

Total for 3 trips: $30 – $33

I thought I had some lures from a long time ago, but when I went to my tackle box, it was practically empty. So I went out to the store and bought just a few to get me started. When I went fishing, some of the more experience fishermen told me that my line was too thick (too strong, the bass can see it) and that my hooks were too small. I had to go out and get some better ones. Then there is the gas that it takes to get to the lake. The lake is about 22 miles away so it adds up fast even though my car gets pretty good gas mileage.

How to Reduce these Expenses

Usually if you try hard enough, you can find ways to cut down on your expenses. This is probably true for all hobbies. What I could do is try to find some lakes or ponds closer to where I live. I know there are a lot, but most of them don’t have largemouth bass in them either. That would help cut down on the gas, which is probably the largest expense. All the equipment I am not as worried about because I can use it again and again. If I fish enough I will be getting good use of all of these and relatively they will become inexpensive. Earlier I wrote about how I was planning on raising my own worms to save money too.

I hope I catch a big fish soon b/c so far my expenses have been $30 so this fish will have to be pretty big to be cheaper than it would have been for me to just buy one from the grocery store(although it wouldn’t be nearly as fun).

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Tags: Frugal, How to Save // Add Comment »