Life has been a whirlwind of county fair followed by nearly a week of camping. I enjoy both, but boy is it stressful to keep everyone in line! It’s nice to be home again and thinking back over the ways we saved money lately.
Catch up with the entire 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week series here.
Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week
Camp discounts. How can we get away for some family time and still mostly honor our #yearofno motto? Camping was the answer! And I found several ways to improve the price.
Luckily Hubby had some vacation time available. That meant that we were able to go through the week. Hitting the showers without waiting in line was lovely! The kids raced bikes without worry of constant traffic.
But you know me…the part I loved best was the savings on the week day camping! You can often find great discounts by camping on weeknights rather than weekends. Plus, the kids received a coupon from the library’s summer reading program. That got us an extra 50% off our bill. We got away for 4 nights and our total bill was $70. Bam, #yearofno approved!
Borrowing. My Dad is big on camping, and he bought a camper a couple of years ago. He was kind enough to loan it to us, and we loved it. For me, being able to wash my hands was the most exciting part. (Moms!)
Due to borrowing the camper, we saved even more on our already frugal trip.
But borrowing a camper isn’t always an option, and not everyone owns a tent. So check out your state parks to see what types of rentals they offer. A camper cabin has some nice features at an awesome price. Many of our Ohio state parks offer yurts, a variety of cabin types and prices, plus other options.
Simple foods. So I backed myself into a planning corner and ended up with just one day to put together our camping trip. But if you have the basic supplies, how much do you really need? I decided that if it came down to it, we could eat hot dogs and marshmallows for the whole trip.
Ok, so it didn’t come down to that. Luckily our kids are getting to an age where they are more helpful. So they put together their own foil dinners and threw them into the fire. We also had chili in the crock pot one night and of course we roasted metts and hot dogs on another night. We also ate out one night. That was a nice splurge since we’ve cut out dining out this year!
[Tweet “Keep camping affordable with this week’s money saving post! #yearofno”]
State Fair Fun. Next, we decided that we hadn’t had quite enough fair time the week before. So we visited our state fair while we were camping. Is that cheating a little bit? (We didn’t exactly rough it.)
The state fair is nice, because it’s usually very family friendly. We were able to find discounted tickets by buying ahead at Kroger. I had 2 coupons for kids tickets (gotta love the summer reading program!). Fourth graders get in for free (although we don’t have an exiting fourth grader, for once).
Once inside there were a lot of opportunities to grab pencils (free school supplies!). The kids came home with tons of free stuff. An Urban Meyer poster (O-H!), first aid kits, hand sanitizer, and the list goes on.
We avoided most purchases inside, but we did have to splurge for the most amazing ice cream at the dairy barn.
Fun. Now, when you’re spending time together as a family, the best fun is the stuff that doesn’t cost money. Playing board games (all the inside jokes) and hiking. Fishing (to be fair, you do have to buy a permit), teaching kids how to build a fire or pitch a tent. It’s a lot of fun for not much price. Don’t feel like you have to buy tickets to get quality time together.
Looks like this was a special “camping and state parks” edition of the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week series!
Be sure to join the Medium Sized Family…uh, family 😉 over on Facebook. Lots of great conversation on money and life with kids. Give it a like!
Did you have a frugal week? Tell us about a win with money you’ve had lately!
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Sounds like you and your family have had a great summer! My son did a big camping trip with his Cub Scout troop this summer — we didn’t get a chance to do it as a family. Bit of a bummer!
Glad you guys found so many ways to spend fun time together without having to spend a ton of money to do it! On our recent vacation–we took up a friend’s offer to stay in their apartment while they were away for a week, which definitely saved a lot of money and made that vacation possible! We had 8 people staying in an apartment that usually 2 people live in, but it was still nice and comfy! 🙂
I’m going to have to look for weeknight discounts. My kids really want to go camping!
I went camping with family this week too! It is an inexpensive way to have fun. And nothing beats a campfire with s’mores!
That’s for sure! S’mores season is my favorite. 🙂
Awesome! $70 for 4 nights!! Wow! The best part for me was riding bikes with no traffic! Hallelujah! State fairs are fun, too! Great savings!
I loved that they could ride around with minimal worry!
What a great frugal getaway. The coupon from the library was the best of all!
Great ways to save!
Hi Jamie, I discovered your cute blog from the #ShareTheWealthSunday blog hop! ????
I love mid-week travel – so many savings to be had, and getting the place practically to yourself is like your own private getaway!
Gorgeous photos too!
Sarah
enrichmentality.com
Sounds like lots of fun, with very little spending… congratulations! That sounds awesome!
Joyful Savings recently posted: Saving Big With Grocery Coupons!
This sounds amazing! What I appreciate more about your fun family trip is the creativity it took to save money but you did it! I am dying to go camping, I was thinking Labor Day but everything seems to be booked.
Yeah, Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends are especially popular among campers.
Is that your daughter fishing in the above picture? She has the best fishing outfit! 😉
It is! Doesn’t everybody fish in a tutu and a TSC hat? haha! Thanks, she is a character for sure. 🙂
Hey, we were just camping and attending the Ohio State Fair too. LOL I love that fair, there’s so much to see there. I wish we could have gone for more than one day, I don’t think we even saw half of the fairgrounds. We splurged and got a ride armband for my son, so we spent a lot of time on the midway. I wanted ice cream, but the lines were insane.
The line for ice cream at the dairy is always insane! But we always stand in it because it’s worth it (to us). We never get to see everything we wanted to see in just one day, either. It’s such a big fair!
Borrowing is a blessing! 🙂 And I love that fun is free too with board games. Thank you for sharing with us on the Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth!