Parents are looking for ways to entertain kids during the summer months without breaking the bank. Day camps offer the scheduled atmosphere and also provide a number of unexpected benefits for the parents and the kids. With a few simple guidelines you can use day camps to save you money.

Tips for Saving Money with Day Camps

1. Use tax credits and deductions. The IRS provides for parents that need to work with child deductions. Many times the fees that you pay for day camps could be eligible for these deductions.

2. Become a volunteer. Parents with a little extra time or some particular skills can often volunteer for positions in day camps and get discounted or free attendance for children (some may even be able to wrangle a pay check out of the deal as well).

3. Partner with other parents. Share responsibilities for taking the kids and picking up the kids. You will save money on gas and you will have extra time to complete the tasks that you need to do during the day.

4. Find free camps. Almost every church in your area will offer a vacation bible school. Kids learn songs, do crafts and play games. It’s a great (and inexpensive way) to schedule fun for your kids during the summer.

5. Look for other free programs. Some movie theaters offer discounted movies (or free movies), libraries offer reading programs and some other public and private entities may have specials that your kids can enjoy.

There is no reason for summer time blues these days. There is always something that the kids can do and many of them can save you money in the long run.

Steps to Planning and Saving for a Party

1. Start cooking ahead of time. Having appetizers or parts of the meal prepared and frozen will take a great deal of stress off of your planning. You will also be able to save more money by making your own food.

2. Think outside the box – or maybe in a box. The last gathering we had we asked a local restaurant to make boxed lunches for the event. The food was made and placed in little to-go boxes and delivered right to the event for just $6 per person. It was easy to do (because we didn’t really have to do anything) and even easier to clean up.

3. Buy food that is on sale to use for your event. With a little online research you can make great dishes out of any ingredient. All that you need to do is type in the ingredient name along with “recipe” into your search engine and then start sorting through the options.

4. Use crock pots to cook your dishes. You know the food will stay warm as long as you like, cooking in crock pots takes no time at all and you can cook just about anything (including dessert) in a crock pot.

5. Limit the guest list. You may want to invite everyone you have ever known so that no one gets offended, but that is no way to save money. Cutting back on the guest list will help cut down on expenses AND it will give you and your guests time to visit. Too many guests can be overwhelming to everyone.

6. Skip the alcohol. Offer a mix of tea, water, sodas, lemonade or other punches but avoid anything alcoholic. You will save a lot of money but you will also avoid any liability if a party-goer runs into problems after they drive away from your home.

Be creative when planning your next party and you can save time, stress and money along the way.

We are all looking for ways to cut back or cut out spending. The economy is tight and consumers are becoming debt conscious. But there are a few items that you should consider spending money on today in order to save in the long run.

Tips for Spending Money to Save Money

1. Flood insurance – most home owner’s insurance will cover leaks that come from above (like rain through the roof) but none cover flooding. You need to invest in flood insurance if you live any where near a flood zone. We purchase flood insurance each year for just $120 per year! Talk to your existing insurance agency about how to add flood insurance to your policies.

2. Car maintenance – getting a check up (or doing one on your own) is important to the life of your vehicle. Running a car with dirty fluids or no fluids will cause catastrophic damage that will cost a fortune. Get the oil changed, get the transmission fluid changed. Get the filters and belts checked and changed. Your car will run better than ever and you may be able to catch problems before they become too big to handle.

3. Home repairs – fixing things around the home when the problem is first revealed is the best way to keep the problem from getting beyond help. We had one tile come up in the bathroom floor – if I had repaired it then we would not be facing the prospect of having to replace the bathroom floor because of all the other tiles that have now come up around it. Home repair is no place for procrastination.

4. Warranties – this is one of the times when you will need to way the cost. IF there is a good chance you will need the services provided by the warranty then take advantage of it. We paid for four years of full coverage (even if the dog knocks it on the floor) for the new computer that we purchased. We have three boys that run through the room and it would cost as much as the warranty for just one visit from the computer repairman. Read the fine print and be sure that the warranty covers exactly what you need. If it’s not in writing then don’t take the salesman’s word that it will be covered. Get it in writing.

5. Health insurance – the Health Savings Account gives you the convenience of having money for all health care costs but still provides the protection for major health expenses through High Deductible Health Insurance. You can also find reasonably priced full coverage insurance if you are willing to do some research. The average emergency room visit will cost around $1200 (and that’s just getting seen by the doctor without tests). Most doctor’s visits will cost around $150. Getting insurance will save you plenty through out the year AND it will give you peace of mind.

Spending money may not seem like the best way to save money, but it can be. There are certain places where you need to make the investment in order to save in substantial costs in the future.

Vacations can be expensive any time of the year but the peak travel season of the summer can be extraordinarily costly – especially to families. The good news is that there deals out there today that can help you and your family enjoys a great vacation for around $700 (that includes attractions, events, lodging and food).

I stumbled across one package recently that really got my attention. My family enjoys history and a trip back in time seems like the perfect getaway for the whole team. The best thing is that we can walk away from the experience without mom and dad feeling like we need to take a second mortgage to pay for the experience.

Colonial Williamsburg Resort Summer package offers a family vacation of five days and four nights in the historic community. Included in the package are: a free movie for the family, an extended continental breakfast, passes to the historic attractions, discounts to other events and for shopping, free parking and $200 voucher that can be used for the spa, golf or resort restaurants. Most families could easily walk away from this vacations which costs just over $600 for under $700 included the cost to drive to the resort.

The key to finding the great deals is to look around. Find hotels that offer free meals and free accommodations to children or discount packages to area attractions. There are some amazing deals for flying right now but even when the tickets are just around $100 the costs add up for a family. Look for vacations that you can drive to and experience more of the sites along the way.

1. Kick up the temperature on your thermostat. The goal is to have your air conditioning set at around 78 degrees Fahrenheit. For each degree lower that you turn down your air it will cost you approximately 5% more each month.

2. Pay for the upgrade. Installing a programmable thermostat can help you save even more money during the year. Program the temperature to be hotter during the day when you are in the home and cooler at night when you are sleeping (cooler temperatures help you get a better night’s sleep). You will need to get a programmable thermostat specific for your type of unit so talk with your installer.

3. Turn out the lights when you are cooling the home. One light bulb may not give off a whole lot of heat, but a dozen will definitely push the temperature up a little. If you don’t need the lights then turn them off when you are cooling the home.

4. Weather proof your home. Install or replace worn weather strip around doors and windows. Look for places that heat and cool can escape like holes for pipes and other places.

5. Install the right unit for your location. Heat pumps are great money savers – for moderate temperatures. When temperatures get extreme then the heat pump can actually eat more energy and more of your money than other units. Discuss the specifics of the heating and cooling capabilities of the different units and choose one that will work best for your typical weather conditions.

6. Be aware of the outside temperature when you are doing inside chores. You don’t want to be running the dishwasher, the dryer or the washing machine (on hot cycle) during the heat of the day when your air conditioning system is already struggling to cool things off.

Saving money is important for most people these days. Finding ways to cut your household energy budget can provide savings from around $50 per month and on up depending on your current expenses.

1. Make a list of all the cloths you currently have in your closet. Put every single item into a category so that you can get a visual of what you have and how much is there.

2. Thin out your closet. If you don’t wear it (or can’t wear it), don’t love it or it’s damaged then let it go. You will find that as you thin out your closet you are able to enjoy the items that you do have even more than before.

3. Hit the thrift stores and consignment shops. Go to the second hand stores to get any items that you do need to replace or that you might need more of. You can often find brand new items for a fraction of the cost. A friend told me that she recently found out the local thrift store gets a delivery from a department store every Tuesday. Items she had purchased new for Christmas were in the thrift store for just a couple of dollars.

4. Wait for the sale. If you can’t find the items that you must have in a second hand store then wait for the season to change or a holiday to come around and purchase the item on sale at that time.

5. Share with your friends and family. Pass on items that you can’t (or don’t) wear to others and accept their hand me downs as well. Not using hand me downs is like saying “I can’t use that car because someone else drove it first.” If having someone else just wear the item is because enough to reject it then NEVER ask the sales associate how many people have tried on that suit you are eyeing.

Clothing may be a necessity, but there a plenty of ways to cut the expense so that you can get the things that you enjoy but also so that you can enjoy all the things that you have gotten as well.

It seems that ever day in our home there is always something that is needed, wanted or just desired by someone in the family. Just yesterday I was telling my husband about a great deal that I found on a laptop. His only response was to ask if I NEEDED another laptop.

We have a perfectly good laptop right now. It’s not the fastest in the world and it doesn’t really have the greatest keyboard for my personal taste, but it works fine and is fast enough to watch things online (which helps with my husband’s work). It was the first one that I ever bought and I now know so much more than I did when I bought it. But I don’t NEED a new laptop. I do want one – one with more power to make it easier for me to work when I’m on the road. And since my working on the road is essential for the family being able to travel I guess I sort of do NEED a new laptop.

He had a great compromise and as soon as the words were out of his mouth I knew it was the key to saving thousands of dollars in our home each year.

1. Set aside the money (even if that means doing it a payment at a time) that you will need to purchase item that is needed, wanted or desired.

2. Wait a full month from the day your first set aside all of the money. During this time you can be reviewing the item and its place in your home or life, researching where to buy and what to buy and just thinking in general about the purchase.

3. One month later revisit the idea of the purchase. If you still must have it then you have the money to get it.

4. IF you choose not to make the purchase then take that money and roll it into a savings account (instead of using it for other purchases). After all, you wouldn’t have had the money if you had spent it so you shouldn’t miss it now.

The key to saving money is to find a way to sort through the needs, wants and desires in order to uncover the things that are a necessity for the betterment of your family and your life. Saving the money that you don’t spend along the way will make it easier for you to do even more in the long run.

Wait and then save. A two step process that will get you to that place of financial freedom that you have been dreaming about all this time.