This summer our large family of ten has one car that seats eight! Guess what we are saving money for? Yep, a used second vehicle. But we don't want to take out a loan, so we need quite a bit. Here are a few of my frugal tips to try this summer.

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[ctt template=”4″ link=”Ikz1m” via=”yes” ]Are you saving money for something? So are we! Looking for new ideas? Here are a few of my frugal tips to try this summer.[/ctt]

Frugal Tips To Try This Summer

One VERY Inexpensive Vacation

My son is turning 18 soon and presently he keeps changing his mind on what he wants to do, but if he is not around next summer, I want to make memories with him now. So we decided to do ONE summer vacation as frugal as possible. What we did was borrow Grandpa's truck so we could all get there (it's less than two hours away), rent a timeshare, which we have done in the past. We were able to stay in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath suite that included 10 water park wristbands daily.

Our suite had a kitchen so we brought our own food (I brought my huge portable slow cooker). The one we stayed at had an indoor dry play area with climbing tunnels and slides as well. When the younger children were tired, I stayed in the room with them and watched children's DVDs and played board games that the timeshare company offered on loan for free overnight, while the older kids enjoyed the big water-slides, playing pool on a pool table near the arcade, or walking around. We gave each child a little money for the arcade and if they wanted more, they had to use their own money that they had previously earned. Boarding the dogs was the most expensive part of the vacation because, even though we took the least expensive option available, we could not find an inexpensive way to care for three dogs.

There is a local antique store and trading post that we visited and gave the kids each a small amount of souvenir money. With all that we paid (including: gas, room, water park, dog boarding, food, souvenirs, arcade and one Dominoes pizza night), we were able to stay for less than $300 per night.

Watching the Thermostat

I need to watch pennies everywhere. In the past we have spent a lot in the summer to pay for the air conditioning bill. I don't want to do that this summer. The windows are being opened in the morning and evening when it is cooler, the drapes are closed when it is very sunny to keep the interior cool, and I am changing the thermostat that came with the house quite often.

In the future, I am going to purchase a programmable smart thermostat because it does get annoying to change this cheap unit that came with the house. I often forget and go to bed and wake up and remember and go change it for the overnight. As a breastfeeding mom of a three month old baby, I need all the sleep I can get, but I need to be frugal as well. The Ecobee and the Nest seem to be the most popular so I've mainly been considering one of those. I actually found this comparison review page of the two by iPropertyManagement that is super helpful if you need a good place to start your own research.

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

Instead of spending money buying cleaning supplies, why not make your own? Here are some homemade cleaning recipes to make your own laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, toilet cleaner, HE washing machine cleaner, and all purpose or glass cleaner.

Buying Less Convenience Foods

One thing I do not need is boxed pancake mix, biscuit mix, muffin mix, cookie mix, and cake mix. Yet I love the convenience of not having to put in all the ingredients and hope the baby doesn't get fussy and I lose count of what I put in! So I have come up with a solution to this problem. I call it the Master Mix. It is like a base recipe that includes flour, baking powder, salt, and other ingredients. I keep it in my refrigerator in a big batch. When I need to make something, I have a cheat sheet of how many cups of the master mix I need and what ingredients to add to it as well as temperature and time, etc. to make what I want. This saves me both money and time!

I hope you have enjoyed reading these frugal tips to try this summer. I would love to hear some of yours in the comments.

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