Hacks To Save Money This Summer With The Kids
Well, guys, we did it. Another school year and another start to a new summer. The feelings are everywhere. Some of us are super excited to be done with early morning, and others of us are terrified trying to figure out how we’re gonna make it through the whole summer.I’m here to help. I’m still new to the summer break game as my kids are pretty young. However, I’ve learned a few things over the last few years that have made my summers way better. Today I’m gonna tell you a few hacks our family uses to save money during the summer and still have a blast doing it.I’ll give you one hint to start out with… Keep it simple. I think as parents, we tend to over complicate things. We think we have to make up these big extravagant plans for the whole family to keep them busy during the summer. The thing is they just wanna have fun. They don’t care if you spent hundreds of dollars on some big vacation or take a day trip to your local beach.Think through one big thing to do with the kids, A handful of medium-sized things, and a ton of free things. Then you can take some time to think through what you’re going to do and when you’ll do it.You can do this. You can make it through an entire summer and save money, earning extra cool points with your kids because they’ll have a blast, and you will be stress-free… OK, maybe not be stress-free, but it’s more stress-free than you were last summer.
Get Water For The Kids
During the summer, this mama gets a little tired. I love to go out and grab an iced coffee on my way out to the park with the kids. The problem is everyone wants something as well. That could end up being about five bucks a kid. No thanks. Instead, I get the kids a grande water and have a little lemonade squeeze containers. All you need to do is put a couple squeezes into bigger water, and voilà, you have a minute. That right there saves me $15.Keep your freezer stocked: how many times do you have to hear from the kids, “I’m hungry. Can we stop for a snack?” Doesn’t matter if they just ate lunch or just snacking on tons of food, those kids are going to get hungry the second you leave the door. This is why I stock my freezer with sandwiches. On the way out the door at the kids just need to grab a sandwich on the go.About once or twice a week take an hour and whip up as many peanut butter and jelly or lunch meat and cheese sandwiches that you can. Put them each in a small sandwich baggie and pop it in the freezer. I like to keep mine on the top shelf of our freezer because my kids know right where to look for them.
Make a snack box
This one is very similar to freeze. Kids are constantly hungry and love to question you all day long on what they can have to eat. It ends up driving me completely bonkers. Instead of the guessing game, my kids know exactly what they could have for snacks each day.How do we do that?I have a box in my pantry full of snacks they can have. I even put one in my fridge. If my kids get hungry and want to snack, all they have to do is take a look in one of the snack boxes. You can have rules like two fridge snacks and one pantry snack a day or anything else that meets your fancy. I like to change things up every time I fill it up. My pantry snack box has things like crackers, granola bars, pre-popped popcorn, pretzels, or homemade trail mix. My fridge snack box has things like string cheese, applesauce, different kinds of fruit, and yogurt.
Meal plan
I know I know this one is always easier said than done. In fact, I am actually the worst of us. However, I will say every time I sit down and meal plan, I end up saving a ton of money. During the summer I even cheap By purchasing some pre-made meals like lasagna or pizzas. Another favorite of mine is to make two of every meal. When I make something for dinner, I’ll make enough for that night plus enough to freeze. I learned that from The blog fun cheap or free. Jordan page is fantastic at that, and I’ve been doing my best to do that on my own as well.Take your kids to the dollar movies: most towns have summer movies going on. They can range anywhere from 1 to 3 dollars and trust me they are worth it. Most of the movies are ones that have been out for a while, but the kids don’t care. They get to go out with their siblings and maybe even a few friends to see a movie in the theaters. Not to mention it’s a theater full of kids so nobody there expects them to be quiet. So I may have my oldest use it Siri wants to watch everything in the movie while my younger kids are talking to each other and giggling about the movie the whole time. Guess what… No one cares. Their kids are doing the exact same things.
Schedule play dates
Most of the time, your kids will be just as happy to go out somewhere crazy as they would be to have their friends over. You can have the kids over and put on a projector movie or take them to a local Splash Pad. Kids just like the change of routine, and they miss seeing their friends like they did in school all day. Ask your kids if you people that they want to see you during the summer and make it happen. You’ll gain extra cool points, and you even get some adult time with the mamas. Then you can talk about how your kids are driving you crazy over some coffee or sangria.