Traveling in a Camper and Saving Money on Vacation

Our cute, adorable little camper!

We like to travel with our little camper, but our budget squeaks and makes us plan out our traveling so we can have maximum time and fun. That means the trip has to be economically solid. We have a few things we like to do that saves us lots of money when we hit the road. Here are some of the things we do that might work for you!

First, we do not overload our camper or our vehicle. In other words, travel light. The heavier your rig, the more gas you burn. Choose clothes, like jeans, that can be worn more than once before you have to wash them. Remember that, along the way, campgrounds have washing machines. Take less clothes.

Consider what your plans are, how much free time you will have and what you want to do during your free time. Take extra things in accordance with your answers. We use to pack tons of junk with us and it, for the most part, remained untouched. We are much wiser now. If you have a reader, like Nook or Kindle, take that and leave your heavy stack of books at home.

Another way that we save weight is through the food we pack. We pack easy meals to help us reach our destination. We do not, however, take along enough food for the entire trip. My husband likes to say, "There are grocery stores everywhere," meaning that we can buy food when we get there.

A second way we save money on food is just that, we shop at local grocery stores for our food way more often than we eat out. It can cost us an easy $20 to eat out. I can feed us four times using that same money. A fun element of this is that I have found new foods that we have never eaten before and, most of the time, they are a great new addition to our regular diet.

Save money by planning ahead. Buy tickets to places you want to go before you get there. They are often cheaper on the Internet, and, unless you travel with a printer or the tickets are phone or tablet friendly, it will be hard to order them once you leave home. It also guarantees that you will get the tickets to see the things you want to see. (We did this when we went to Anaheim and were able to leave the Titanic display and head straight over to the Medieval Times within moments of when we needed to be there because we did not have to wait in line to purchase our tickets.)

Another way to plan ahead is to make a trip map before you leave, with the understanding that it is not carved in stone (unless you have tickets.) Knowing where you are going allows you to check road conditions ahead of time and can also help you create a map to fall back on if your GPS malfunctions. (Or is mine the only one that does that in big cities?)

Fix your vehicle with a device that will charge your camper batteries while you ride down the road. This allows you to spend nights outside of a campground on some nights. I am sure you have already seen some Walmarts that allow overnight camping. (They even publish a map that has the Walmarts listed.) You can also check with churches-especially of your own donomination-to find out if you can sleep in the parking lot or if a member would allow you to spend the night in their driveway for a nominal fee. Farms are another possibility-but always ask first and be courteous. If your batteries are charged, you won't miss the plug-ins for the night.

The best book you can buy for traveling is The Next Exit we discovered this book several years ago and we tell everyone we can about it. It takes you from one side of the states to another on major highways and tells you exactly what is at each exit and if it is N, S, E or W.When you realize you need gas or food or a campground, pull out the book and find out when the next exit that you need is located. It is faster to use than our GPS!                                                                 *
             

When preparing to go on our latest jaunt, we decided that one way to save money and get great exercise would be to take our bikes along. (Don't you love our fancy rear bike rack?) Taking a bike along allows you to save on both gas and parking lot expenses. In a bigger city, that can be big money! Having your own bike allows you to save money on bike rentals, too! In some bigger cities, like San Antonio and Chicago, you can even take your bike on the city buses.

We have also found that bigger cities are more expensive, so we camp close enough to count but not to close to pay big money. For example, when we wanted to go to San Diego, we stayed in a little town about 15 minutes away. Our costs were almost half of what we would have paid in the city and we still had a great time at the beach.

Groupon actually has a travel site that lists campgrounds as well as other places you might like to visit when you are on vacation. It costs nothing to sign up and who knows how much you may be able to save.

*This is an affiliate link. If you click and buy it, I will make money. Even if you go to Amazon and buy it another way, I hope you will check it out. We are on our fourth copy and always give our old ones away. That is how much we love it-we just can't throw old copies away.

Gluten-free pizza on the cheap!

I have a small freezer that does not have a lot of space in the summer because ice is a necessity! Tonight, for dinner, I decided to do what I could to empty out the freezer-yes, that means I had no plans for supper. After eating, I am so glad that I didn't, because supper was wonderful-and so very inexpensive!

First, I took out a package of frozen gluten-free pizza crusts that I bought at the 99¢ store, bringing the cost of each crust to 50¢ each. Then, I dumped the left over brocolli in my steamer tray, I added a little frozen corn and frozen peas.

While the vegetables were steaming, I put my first pizza crust in a convection oven for 5 minutes. Once it was done, I put it on a plate and put the second crust in the oven.

I added an alfredo sauce-the only gluten-free one I can find. I only used a portion of the jar, so there is some left for other veggie dishes tomorrow. I placed half of the steamed veggies on the pizza and then added half a jar of artichoke hearts-another purchase from the 99¢ store. I finished off the top with left over mild cheddar cheese from a cheese package that I had used for several other dishes.

The second crust was finished cooking. I removed it and replaced the crust with toppings back in the oven for another 3 minutes and repeated the above steps with the second crust.

Here's the bottom line, I made two vegetable pizzas from left-overs and 99¢ store products. The actual cost was less than $4.00 for both of them. The real bottom line, however, came when my husband said, "Make sure you write this recipe down."

Our mothers and grandmothers use to make wonderful meals out of leftovers. It seems like that became out of style with fast food and convenience food. My meal was a combination of convenience food and other foods that I had on hand because I had used part of a package and we both loved it. The more you cook at home, the easier it is to live daily on less.

Messy Scissors Can Be Saved!

Have you ever used your scissors for something that left such a horrible residue you couldn't get it off? Me, too!

I used my scissors to cut duct tape for a project I was working on. I wanted a smoother finish than I was getting tearing the tape. It left a terrible residue. I scraped it off with a knife; I used a scubber with soap and water. I even tried my fingernail. When I was done, I thought I was going to have to throw them out. They were sticky and would not open and close with ease. I was ready to give up. Then I remembered my husband's trick for taking off sticky tags from books and other things. I decided to try it!


I took out the lighter fluid and squirted a little bit on a paper towel. One swipe over the scissor blades and POOF! The residue was gone, gone, gone! I wiped the blade with soap and water just in case trace amounts of the lighter fluid remained. My scissors work perfectly again.

5 Ways to Celebrate Father's Day for Less

I really miss my daddy. He has been gone for years and years now but I still think about him alot, but especially every Father's Day. It just isn't the same! He always appreciated whatever card I gave him or whatever gift he received,  but  but there were some things that would have really meant the world to him- things that would not have cost me much at all in terms of money. There was something special about my dad. He knew how to live life enjoying the simple things.

Sure, you can take your father out to a fancy restaurant and a movie and he will smile and go along, but try these ideas on for size:

1)  Pack a picnic lunch with some of his favorite foods and pack the family up for a trip to the river or lake. Spend the day in nature, fishing with your dad. Leave the cell phones and other electronic devices in the car (or at home) and just spend the day fishing. If you don't fish, take a book along to read as you sit beside your fishing father. A better idea, however, would be to ask your dad to teach you how to fish. You might begin to understand just why he enjoys it so much!



2) Throw a sport's party. I know that the Super Bowl is in February, but, if your dad is a sport's nut, don't forget about all the other sports that are available. Find out what he wants to watch and have a theme party complete with snacks and drinks. Then, sit down and watch the game with him.

3) Give him the week off from his "honey-do list" your mom has for him. Take over all of his chores, doing them with the same finese he would have used. Take out the trash, mow the lawn, sweep the sidewalk-let him make up a list of things for you to do. Then, bring him a great iced drink and let him relax while you take care of everything.

4) Make him a stay-at-home meal with all of his favorite foods. Talk to your mom and surprise him or ask him and let your father direct the menu. Make all of it that you can and buy the rest. Seriously, if he loves cherry pie and you can't roll out pie dough to save your life, let Mrs. Smith make the pie and you can just bake it.

5) Spend the day with him. This is an especially good one if you are too busy to spend much time with him throughout the year. Just take the day out of your busy schedule and talk to him. Ask him about his life before you existed. Get to know your dad better.





If your dad doesn't like fishing or sports, find out what he does like and arrange to do that with him. Take the time to let him know that he is more to you than a hastily purchased card or gift. This is more about letting your dad know he is loved than it is about living daily on less-it's just that, sometimes, the best things in life are free!

If you have an inexpensive day planned with your dad, share it here so others can benefit from your ideas.



Photograph credits:  Fishing by  Steve Hillebrand 
                              Baseball by daytraitors  
                              Yard work by Elizabeth                                                                                                                                     Chinese Food by Kunal Palkar                                                                                                                             Daughter talking to dad by Rhoda Baer

Elizabeth/Table4FiveElizabeth/Table4Five

Making Money with a Credit Card

Credit card companies love to have people use their cards with the best of intentions-paying it off until the end of the month-mostly because the pay-off seldom happens. They will lure you in with the offer of points back for gift cards, payments on the account or cash. If you can be wise and in control-you can win the game.

This is what I do-each quarter, my card offers a 5% rebate on anything I buy at certain stores. One quarter, it was my grocery store. During that quarter, I paid for all of my groceries with my card, but, I only spent what I had budgeted for groceries each time.  As soon as it registered on my card, I paid for it. I use the card for anything that the rebate is for IF that item was already in my budget. I refuse to buy things just to get the rebate; there is no winning when you do that!

I also use my card for anything that is expensive. For example, travel expenses for a trip can reach a couple thousand dollars. I save the money before the trip and then pay off the card from time to time, even while we are traveling. When I need to buy something big for work that I will be reimbursed for, I pay for it with my credit card and turn in the receipt right away. I only do this because I know how fast I will be reimbursed.

To make it easy, think of it this way-the key way to make money with your credit card is to have a budget-a budget you follow. Already having the money makes it easy to pay it off. Don't wait for the end of the month statement. Pay it off as you go. I did that this last year and made an extra $100 for our vacation savings.

Using my credit card wisely is just another way to live daily on less!


Photo credits: Three Credit Cards by Petr Kratochvil  
                             Money by stephenbayer

Saving Money with Groceries

Eating healthy is hard enough when you can eat anything you want to eat. It gets harder when you have or want to avoid certain things in your diet. For me, I try to eat organic veggies and gluten-free food is a must. I am trying to keep myself on a restrained, don't eat the whole paycheck diet and have been excited with a couple of things I have discovered.

First, the 99 cent store has organic lettuce, just like the local grocery store, only it is about 1/4 the price. Everyone probably already knows that...but, if you check the freezer section, many times you will find Udi's bread-which is definitely gluten-free and, last week, I found Quorn chili-not all of their stuff is gluten-free, but the chili was...and it is delicious! Again, both of these products are 4 to 5 times more expensive in the mainstream stores.

                   (The one in the middle was $1-the one of the left was $5)

We also have what I call a scratch and dent grocery store. The real name is Green Tree, but I keep forgetting that. Anyway, I stopped by, just to see what they had. I came away with Lucy's gluten-free cookies, gluten-free blueberry muffin mix and several cans of organic soups and vegetables. I spent $36 and change and came out with nine bags of groceries.

Finally, our local mainstream grocery store, Fry's (Kroger in the middle of the country) has a markdown section that I check when I am shopping. I have found many gluten-free items there, as well as a few organic items. The deals are great.

Now, this is the best part, if you can eat anything, these stores will stretch your dollar farther than you thought it could be stretched. Many of the items at the Green Tree are priced at $0.50 each. Imagine Wolfgang Puck soup for half a dollar-been there and bought it at that price. Don't be afraid to check out the less than prime time stores for deals on your groceries. You may be amazed at the amount of food you can provide your family on a small grocery budget.

When Life Gives You a Bag of Lemons...

We visited family over the holidays. Among the things we brought home was a bag of lemons. I love to use lemons. I start the day out with a warm eight ounce glass of water with the juice of one-half of lemon. I use it when I am cooking. Lemons are great for fresh lemonade, lemon meringue pie, etc... Needless to say, I love my bag of lemons!

A bag of lemons presents one problem for me. Faster than I can use them, they get hard and lose their ability to provide much (or any) juice! Since I hate to waste anything-wasted goods and foods are money lost to me-I take care of my lemons right away!

First, I get out my citrus juicer and juice all the lemons that I will not use in a couple of days. I am always careful to remove the seeds, Then I pour the juice into ice cube trays, place them in the freezer and let them freeze. When they are done, I put all the frozen lemon juice into a plastic bag. Using a black marker, I date the bag and place it in the freezer.

When I need lemon juice, I remove the amount I need from the bag. Each cube is close to one tablespoon. I usually let it melt. When I am making my morning drink, I just put the lemony ice cube into the cube and let it melt.

If you bake or cook with recipes that require lemon zest, make some before you juice the well-washed lemons. Dry it or freeze it!