How To Enjoy Your Summer On A Budget

You can still enjoy your summer despite being on a budget, it just means you’ll have to get creative here and there. A good idea is to set time aside to spend quality hours with your friends and get involved with outdoor activities such as trekking, outdoor climbing, swimming, and water sports, as these are all relatively cheap to take part in (even free). Instead of going out to restaurants to eat, get social and consider inviting a group of friends to yours, and cooking a large meal for yourselves, and hopefully your pals will return the favour over the course of the holidays.

Set Money Aside

For peace of mind and security, save a small sum of money aside that you’ll only touch if it’s an emergency. Plan your days for over the summer carefully, and only take a limited amount of cash if you’re going out with friends and having a drink or two. Look at tangible ways you can save money, even when you do have to spend by signing up to websites like UK Deals and Giveaways, where you can find all the best UK deals which can give you money off discounts, multi buy offers, free P&P etc. This is the place to find hot deals in pretty much every area you spend, and so you really need to look here before you buy anything, especially online. The site also has a range of competitions that you can have fun entering, and as competitions are also ‘free stuff’, they are definitely worth entering.

Create A Maximum Budget

Create a maximum budget for the summer, and do everything you can not to exceed this limit. Draw up a plan to save money wherever you can, and keep an eye on what you’re spending by reviewing receipts, and checking your online bank balance a couple of times a day. Factor in the cost of bills, gym membership, phone contract, and so on, and then see how much money you’re left to play with.

Save Money On Food

Save money on your food bill by going out to eat less frequently, and choose the less pricey alternatives when you go to do your weekly grocery shop. Create a tangible budget that you can stick up on your wall to see – it will remind you that you need to savvy about spending each time you pass it. Review it in time, and make sure that you’re doing well. Resist the temptation to spend money to reward yourself – this would be counterproductive and you’ll undo your hard work.

Get Fit

Physical activity is a great way to spend your time – full stop. You’re able to reap a multitude of benefits by getting out and about, and one such is the cardiovascular advantage. Keeping fit is an extremely conducive investment of your time, and you’re supporting both your mental and physical health in the process. By keeping active for just 30 minutes a day, you’re able to put yourself in a better position to regulate a healthy weight, and balance your self-esteem and self-image. As well as the benefits above, you’ll also be diminishing the likelihood of developing illnesses and diseases at a later stage in your life.

Look For Discounts When Shopping

Whether it be money off voucher codes, shopping in the sales, or making sure you can get free postage and packaging, shopping doesn’t always have to mean spending a fortune. Book your discount voucher sites and make sure you check for codes and offers before you buy.

Play Sports

If you’re unsure how best to go about getting involved in sports, then take the plunge, quite literally, and join up at your local swimming pool and sports teams. Be sure to send an introductory email to the captain or treasurer of the team, and explain why you’d like to sign up and become a member.

Get Paperwork Sorted

Hear this one out before deciding it’s a terrible way to have fun. You’d be forgiven for believing there are better ways to spend your time, as sitting down to work while the sun is shining outside is hugely unlikely to top many people’s list of ways to have fun too. Having said this, getting your paperwork done as early as possible will let you relax for the remaining time of your vacation. You can relax in the knowledge that you’ve taken care of the important documents, and you’re now free to enjoy your summer without stress and niggling worry of work to complete.

Learn A Craft

If you’ve got plenty of time to kill over your summer vacation, why not try to do something creative and productive, such as learning a new skill, musical instrument, even beginning to form an understanding of a new language. Again, draw up a plan of how you’re going to go about learning and keep track of your progress using a diary and a calendar. Look around in your local area to try and find artists running workshops that you could attend, or musicians willing to give up their time in order to help students get to grips with playing instruments. Set yourself a target, and be thorough in your efforts to achieve what you set out to.

Camping

Getting outside in the great outdoors with a tent is an inexpensive way to spend the summer. You can source camping equipment second hand if you’re prepared to look around in charity shops, jumble sales, and yard sales too. You could contact friends and family to see whether you can borrow the essentials, as these items, by design, are durable and long-lasting so they shouldn’t mind you taking them for a weekend. Once you’ve found the tent, then you’ll need a sleeping bag and food supplies. Make sure to pack snacks that are high in calories. If you’re walking for long periods of time, you’ll quickly tire without proper nutrition and energy.

Hit That List Of Books

If you’re anything like, well, most people, then you’ll have a reading list as long as your arm to get through before the summer has ended. If you have an actual pile of literature waiting to be finished, then sort the books and place them into the order in which you want to read then – put the most interesting read at the top of the pile, and begin reading through it as soon as you can. You need to stop making excuses for why you’re not reading, and read the first five pages to assimilate yourself back into the habit of sitting quietly, relaxing, and reading. If you know that you run into some issues trying to allow time to read, then say that you’ll read for one hour a day between 9pm and 10pm, for example. After all, reading before bed is a great means of reading your brain for sleep, a much better replacement for the phone.

 

Sharing is caring!