It may be hard to believe with the nasty weather some of us have had so far this “Spring,” but Summer is just around the corner. Summer can bring some very expensive activities with it: vacations, trips to the water park, nights out on the town, etc. There are alternatives, though! Consider trying one (or all) of the frugal summer activities listed below.
1) Have a Garage Sale & Shop at Garage Sales
Photo by Bob n Renee
Being frugal and making your dollars go further is great, but even better is making money. Having a garage sale can be the perfect opportunity to get rid of you old clothes, movies, books, furniture, and anything else you have sitting in your basement or closet that you no longer use. The best part is that you can make some extra cash in the process. If you live in an apartment consider looking into partnering with someone you know who has a house (the more stuff there is at the garage sale the more likely people are to stop and look).
Shopping at garage sales can be a frugal alternative to purchasing new stuff. If you are looking for a new piece of furniture, say a TV stand, why not pay $20 for a used piece versus $200 at a furniture store? If you are really good at scouring garage sales you can even find pieces that are worth more than you are paying for (again…you have to have a pretty keen sense of what something is worth or have knowledge of a particular collectible or antique). Sometimes there are city-wide garage sales, which may be a better use of your time than going to random ones on weekends.
2) Bonfires
Photo by Tony Alter
Bonfires can be an excellent frugal entertainment alternative to going out to bars, professional sports games, concerts, etc. You really only need access to a fire pit and some firewood, everything else is optional. Even if you live in an apartment, there’s a good chance that there is a park somewhere nearby that has fire pits. Last summer we had a bonfire at a local park and everyone brought something to share, whether it was food, drinks, chairs, etc. and it worked out great. Bonfires are even easier if you have your own house. We plan on putting in a bonfire pit as soon as the snow melts (yes, sometimes it snows in mid-to-late April in Minnesota…).
If you want to have more to do than just grilling up some hot dogs or marshmallows at your bonfire, consider some inexpensive outdoor games that can be used year-after-year. Some of my favorites are bocce ball and bean bag toss (I’ve had some heated games over the past few summers playing this…it gets intense!).
3) Go to the Beach, Zoo, or Park
Photo by Dave Lonsdale
Beaches can be a surprisingly inexpensive summer outing. You can swim, tan, grill, read, throw a frisbee around, and more. I don’t know where you live, but in Minnesota there are a ton of free public beaches (but then again we are the land of 10,000 lakes…). Even Hawaii, which many people associate with “expensive,” has full public (free) access to all its beaches. The main benefit of beaches, in my opinion, is that it can keep many different personalities content. If someone wants to be active they can swim, play beach volleyball, or throw around a frisbee. If someone wants to just relax they can lay down and take a nap. It really can please just about anyone.
I hesitated when it came to including zoos on this list, as they actually can be quite pricey depending on which one you go to. We have a free zoo located only a couple miles from our house. Using coupons or deals you can also sometimes snag a cheaper entrance into some of the bigger more well-known zoos. While zoos are preferable (especially if you have kids to keep entertained), parks can be great cheap alternatives. You can do pretty much anything in parks you can do at beaches, but you can do even more activities such as soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. Don’t forget the grill!
4) Take up Running
Photo by lululemon athletica
I have been an avid runner the past couple years and even attempted my first half-marathon last Fourth of July. I say attempted because it actually got reduced to a 5 mile run due to extreme heat. When it comes to running there are very few expenses. All you really need is running shoes and a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Of course you can spend more on things like an armband to hold your phone/iPod, lightweight workout clothes tailored towards runners, and more, but it truly can be a frugal activity.
5) Play Disc Golf instead of Regular Golf
Photo by TownePost Network
Golf can be a lot of fun, but there’s one problem: it’s expensive. Paying for clubs, the driving range, and not to mention the actual green fees can really add up. There is a cheap alternative: disc golf. It depends on where you live, but there are cheap or even free courses all over the place. Here in Minnesota, there are a number of courses and I have friends who go all the time. You can get a set of discs for less than $50. So if you are looking for a good alternative to golf, consider looking into whether there are disc golf courses close to where you live.
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Entertaining yourself in the summer doesn’t have to be expensive. This Summer consider taking part in some frugal activities instead of expensive ones.
Now I have a question for all of you: What frugal activities do you do in the Summer?
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I love bonfires! Holly plans on having (and going to) garage sales this summer. I’m sure you guys are ready for the snow to melt there <em>:D</em>
@GregatClubThrifty Yeah we hopefully will have a bonfire pit in the next couple weeks since we already have one planned pretty soon (even though there’s still snow out there haha). Our garage sale is slated for June 1st.
I have never heard of disc golf, i’ll have to check it out as I don’t mind normal golf.
@MonsterPiggyBank I think it’s growing in popularity and has been relatively unknown the past decade or so.
We go to the park all the time with the kids and it’s great since it’s free. We went to the beach all the time when we leaved in San Diego, but sadly those are far & few between here in Omaha.
@FrugalRules Haha yeah I’d imagine the number of beaches would be a lot less in Omaha compared to San Diego, but at least you still have parks to go to.
I love the bonfire idea. While I live in an area that’s perfect for bonfires, my lot isn’t perfect for it. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to do some landscaping work to have one. Our frugal activity? We like to drive to nearby little towns that we’ve never been to and walk main street to see what the town is like. That’s been a good activity and has helped us know our new home well over the last four years.
@AverageJoeMoney I actually really like small towns as well. I have a lot of landscaping to do but I’ve already scoped out a spot in our backyard for our bonfire pit.
Bonfires are one of my favorite things, ever! Such a shame I can’t just start one in a garbage can outside my apartment. I’d never heard of disc golf but it sounds like fun!! Thanks for all the fun tips.
@BrokeMillennial Hopefully there are some bonfire pits at a park close to you, otherwise taking advantage of friends who do have access to one is what I did when I lived in an apartment ;)
Love all of these ideas! We are wanting to have more bonfires at our place this year :)
@SenseofCents You should! So much fun for so little cost.
Well of course you know I LOVE the beach and can find all kinds of free/cheap things to do there. I crack up every time I see the families lug 1/2 their home to the beach. What are you going to do will all that shit? lol! There is a park nearby with frisbee golf. I had always wondered what the hell those baskets were.
@Beachbudget Haha! I have wondered the same thing about the baskets until I found out my friend had one at his HOUSE to practice “putting” ;)
These are all excellent ideas. I absolutely love having bonfires during the summer. I was just talking to my wife the other day about getting more into garage sales this year. You can find some great stuff for pretty cheap. Also, I really enjoy biking during the summer (similar to your running suggestion) just because I can cover more ground and it’s easier on my knees.
@CommonCentsWealth Victoria is much much MUCH more into garage sales than I am (I will sometimes groan when she wants to stop at one!) but it definitely is a frugal thing to do. She has a series planned related to garage sales and I also will have a post or two about our garage sale coming up pretty soon here on June 1st.
I honestly think I could get addicted to flipping items from yard sales. I did it one time when I found some quality stuff and then resold it for a profit on ebay. I’d have to be careful on that one. I think if you live in a city with a zoo, memberships are pretty affordable. When we were in Phoenix, there seemed to be a good number of moms who came out early with their kids pretty regularly
@Eyesonthedollar I know someone who flips garage sale furniture for a LIVING. Yes, she does it full-time! I also know someone who flipped stuff they found on Craigslist for their side hustle. Definitely not a bad idea.
I love the bocce ball games too, lots of fun, and it can be played with a drink in one hand! We also love playing a game called “Kubb”, it’s a Scandinavian lawn game has become more and more popular in recent years. We’ve actually had games that lasted 3-4 hours long, but it’s a ton of fun.
Also love bonfires. We have a fire pit right now, but in our new place we may put in an actual in-ground one as we’ll have more space. Looking forward to it!
We may have to get a frisbee golf game going sometime this summer – none of my friends play, and as a result I haven’t played in a couple of years.. Now that I know you play, we may have to get a blogger frisbee golf meetup sometime!
@moneymatters I would be up for a blogger frisbee golf meetup this summer! I might have to look into this “Kubb” game, always looking for new lawn games.
I love bonfires. When I was a teenager my aunt & uncle purchased a huge acreage and needed to chop down trees to make room for a new house. So every weekend we helped and we would end the day with a bonfire with roasted hot dogs and roasted marshmallows. I love the smell of a bonfire as well.
Very cool! I definitely am a big fan of bonfires and wish I had them more as a kid. We never had a pit in our backyard but whenever we did have them up north or wherever it was always a good time.
TacklingOurDebt I also really enjoy bonfires, but we didn’t do them that often when I was younger. It’s been more a college/post-college cheap (and fun) hang out option.
I love bonfires. Except in Georgia we have a burn ban that goes into effect on May 1 due to drought conditions. Can’t burn all summer. So we have done ours already.
Luke_1428 Aw that’s too bad. We have had some burn bans in the past but usually only for a few weeks max.
Woohoo for yard sales! I love hosting them and attending them.
ayoungpro Nice! Maybe you can write a post about it sometime?
I may be checking out a few yard sales this year in hopes of reselling items on Ebay. We’ll see how it goes though.
JustinatTheFrugalPath That sounds like an awesome thing to blog about! I have considered doing the same thing. I still need to put a bunch of our giveaway winnings on eBay ;) Starting a “hardwood floor” fund from the proceeds.
Love the disc golf idea! i got into it a couple years ago and it is a blast, especially with a bunch of friends and a cooler of beer!
KyleJames1 Absolutely! I need to get into it this summer.
Great list. Attending yard sales is quite a bit more fun than having one, except keeping the money trumps it all.
Stopped by to welcome you to Collective Bias!
I love Frolf!! It’s free in my town. People usually take a beer or two after work and go wander the course. We just have a disc each and you can buy used ones for $10 from the pool :-) We used to live just down the street and I miss how easy it was to go over there. Now we have to drive or bike for awhile.
Some other great ideas, that are unique: visit a local organic farm and help the farmers for a day while you learn where your good food comes from, or take a tour of your local sewer system, subway system or dump (really, VERY interesting and eye-opening). Even just walk around your town or city, very slowly, and take pictures by themes: flowers, plants, animals, cars…
Anything outdoors — picnics in the park, hiking along wooded trails in state parks and nature preserves, attending free outdoor concerts, art fairs and street festivals.