If you’re anything like me, it can be easy to get carried away with summer “treats” and fun things for the kids as school takes its pause for the season.
Everything from fun summertime snacks to more expensive outings or playdates, all in the name of summer break. But the only place that really lands us is summer broke.
One mom on TikTok is giving us five easy tips for saving our summer budget, and they’re game changers.
“If you’re a mom, and you are already dreading summer because you know that you’re just going to like, spend money over and over and over again, and it’s going to be so expensive. I got you because we’re not blowing the budget this summer. We’re hitting our big financial goal still,” she begins.
Elyse is a money mentor and she uses her platform to help others learn how to pay off debt and budget in realistic ways.
“It doesn’t have to cost $100 every time you leave the house, you just have to plan ahead,” she captioned the video.
@thesavvysagittarius It doesn’t have to cost $100 every time you leave the house, you just have to plan ahead #budgetingwithkids #summerfun #summerbucketlist #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity ♬ original sound – Money Mentor – Elyse
“So here’s five things we’re going to do this summer to save money. Number one, we are packing a lunch, snacks, drinks everywhere we go. Get a cooler, find one at a thrift store, get that cooler and pack it every single day. We are taking the, ‘We have food at home’ to ‘We have food in the car.’ The major exception. of course, being: I will always have money in the budget for ice cream. We can get ice cream on the way home.”
Her second tip is to take full advantage of parks. Playgrounds, state parks, national parks—any sort of maintained land that gives you access to a variety of other maintained lands with hikes and drives and entertainment is the way to go. Elyse recommends investing in a state parks pass or a national parks pass which gets you access for an entire year, and take advantage all summer long.
“I live in Nebraska, and we have a lot of state parks available within driving range of where I live, but I think it’s like $34 to get a state park sticker for the entire year in Nebraska … it gives you access to so many other resources and so many places to go, but also just regular parks in general. We’re going to the park. It’s 8 a.m. Parks are always open, at least most of them,” she said.
Her third tip is to become hostess with the mostest this summer — the mostest money that is because you’re not eating out with other people, you’re bringing them in.
“Number three: we are inviting friends over for meals. We’re not going out for dinner. It’s expensive. We don’t need it. We are exercising our hospitality muscle this summer. Invite them over for coffee or tea or a meal or snack.”
New clothes are a thing of the past.
“Number four: We are wearing last summer’s clothes, or we’re finding secondhand. We are done consuming just to consume. Maybe this means I’m getting old but I am not following the summer’s trend just because last summer’s trend was slightly different. I’m not spending money on new clothes if the ones from last year already fit,” she said before listing her final summer savings tip.
