June 8, 2019

Tips for Saving Money This Summer With The Kids Home

Thank you Brawny® Tear-A-Square® for sponsoring this post. Think of all the ways you can Put a Square There!

Summertime, the kids are home, we sleep in until any time we want, we go to bed at whatever time, and the kids spend hours upon hours outside playing. I honestly love summertime. I don’t have to wake any kiddos up at the crack of dawn, our mornings are slower, we kind of just go with the flow all day, and my boys get to spend countless hours with each other bonding.

But the only thing I don’t love about summer are the expenses. Sure, we don’t have to pay school tuition over the summer, or spend as much money on gas driving from one school to another, and to after school sports. But things you don’t even think about become an expense over the summer. The kids are home all day long, so that means AC is pumping (we live in Florida, so opening up windows for a breeze is not an option). The kids are constantly in the pantry looking for snacks, so we spend almost triple on food. The kids are home all day long, so I’m constantly cleaning up messes, so we blow through paper towels. The list goes on and on. So, in this post, I’m going to share with you some tips for saving money this summer, while the kids are home.

Tips for saving money this summer:

Using Brawny® Tear-A-Square® paper towels: Don’t underestimate paper towels and how much is wasted, which is wasted money. Having the kids home all summer long means you will be cleaning up a lot more. You may be cleaning up crumbs off the counter, or a full on cereal bowl spill. Why use the same size paper towel for a cereal bowl spill and a crumb clean up? You’re wasting so much! Also, a lot of times we use paper towels to put the kids snacks on, and all they need is a half piece, not a full size paper towel. Well, Brawny® Tear-A-Square® paper towels allow you to tear off 3 different size sheets (the full size, a half size, and a quarter size). The quarter size is my absolute favorite because we have 4 little ones who need nothing more than a quarter size for wiping their little fingers and cheeks. Funny and relevant story: My husband is super frugal. Prior to Brawny® coming out with these paper towels, my husband would cut paper towels into 4 for our kids because they’d waste so much and we were going through so many rolls in a week. And when these Brawny® Tear-A-Square® paper towels came out, my husband was so excited!
Cut back in electricity: My electric company does “budget billing” where you pay a set rate for your electrical bill. They basically pull up an average of how much energy you use in a month, for the last 6-12 months, and that’s the set price you pay. So, if you’re not already enrolled in that, I recommend doing that now so they can pull up your average before the summer heat sets it. Also, I recommend spending more time outdoors, playing outside, and going for bike rides. All those things keep you outside and not running the AC. Something we personally do is, during the day, we keep our thermostat at 75. If the house starts to feel too stuffy, we use the ceiling fans. And come bedtime, we lower it to 67. We only keep these 2 temps because if we were to constantly change the temp from cold to hot, back to cold, and so on and so forth, our AC would be turning on and off continuously, which runs the electricity.
Buy in bulk, but hide the food: This is something my mom did with me growing up; she bought in bulk, but would put the snacks out in increments and store the rest in her closet somewhere, that way we wouldn’t eat all the snacks in 2 days. What you see is what you get, and she made that known. So, buy in bulk from a wholesale club (to save money), but hide the items (so they don’t eat it all at once).
Opt out of summer camp (all summer): I’m a stay at home (well work at home) mom, so there is no need to enroll all the kiddos in summer camp. We will be putting RJ in baseball camp 2 days a week, just to keep his baseball skills sharp, and to keep him busy. But aside from that, the kiddos are not doing any camps or daycare. By doing that, with the two older ones alone, we will be saving over $1,500 a month. However, to keep us busy, we will be utilizing free attractions throughout our community (splash pads, parks, fast food playgrounds, mall playgrounds, museums, beaches, etc.).
Get the kids involved in chores you would’ve otherwise paid for help: We pay for a car wash membership, and we also have a yard guy come and cut our grass and pull weeds, but now that the kiddos are home, we have them help out with those chores. They love washing the car, and “pulling plants out with daddy,” so for 2 months in the summer we will be able to save $260 (by not paying for car wash membership and for a yard guy).

Those are my 5 tips for saving money this summer with kids. I hope I was able to help you all out, and hopefully when back to school shopping creeps back up on us, you’ll have some extra change in your pocket!