Summertime is EXPENSIVE. Between vacations, summer projects, things you want to buy, kids activities, and nights out, your estimated cost for the summer could run into the thousands.
But that’s not what you want to spend this summer. Instead, let’s look at ways that you can save money on all of that stuff. Because you might be trying to improve your finances, get rid of debt, save up an emergency fund, or just not spend as much.
Whatever your goal is, this list can help you trim those summer expenses and start living a better, more financially healthy lifestyle. It is possible. So let’s look at how you do this.
In this post, we’re going to talk about why saving money is important in the summer and 101 of the absolute best ways to save money in the summer. I won’t keep you any longer. So let’s go!
Why saving money is important in the summer
Summer expenses are growing
Like I said above, summer expenses can be ridiculously high. And with inflation consistently causing prices to go up, the cost of summer will inevitably go up, too.
Here’s a post on “17 Personal Finance Tips to Beat Inflation.”
You’re broke
If your finances are a wreck, you may need to start saving as much as possible. If you have debt, you need to cut your spending down to get that paid off. You also need to make sure you have an emergency fund. If that’s you, you’re broke. Stop spending money and fix your finances as soon as possible.
You have financial goals
One other reason for saving money in the summer is to make progress with your financial goals. Spending everything you make is a recipe for financial disaster and is a sure way to stay broke and in debt for the rest of your life. Don’t do that. Make sure you have financial goals and then try to spend less to hit those goals.
Alright, let’s see that list!
101 Simple Ways to Save Money This Summer
Budgeting and personal finance
1. Try a summer no-spend challenge: if you’ve never tried a no-spend challenge, I highly recommend it. These challenges are fun and can help you really save money. And that’s perfect for the summer, when most of our expenses are the highest.
However, be ready for a TOUGH challenge. Because the idea behind the no-spend challenge is simple – no spending on anything that isn’t required or mandatory for a certain period of time. But the challenge itself is not easy.
You can try a day, week, month, year, or any period of time that you want. But be ready for it if you try this during the summer!
Here are a couple good posts that can help you out with you no spend challenge:
“Quick Guide: What is a No-Spend Challenge and Why Should I Do it?“
“37 Insanely Easy Tips for Crushing a No-Spend Challenge”
2. Create a zero based budget: one of the absolute best ways to save money during any season is to first make sure you’re budgeting your money. But if you’re really looking to save a lot of money, you need to create a zero-based budget. I’ve been using this budget for almost a decade and it’s helped my wife and I completely turn our finances around. In my opinion, the zero-based budget is the best budget because it helps you track every single dollar, doesn’t allow for any waste, and it can help you reach your financial goals much faster (if used correctly).
For more info budgeting, check out this post: “7 Ways a Zero-Based Budget is the Best Budget for Your Money.”
3. Use cash, not credit: the next way to save money in the summer is to only use cash for everything you buy. One huge reason for this is that people spend more with credit cards than they do cash. According to this post here on shiftprocessing.com, people spend 83% percent more with a credit card than with cash! So if your goal is to save money this summer, cash is the way to go.
4. Cut up your credit cards: If you’re still using credit cards, it’s time to cut them up and stop using them completely. Between annual fees and ridiculous interest rates, credit cards are costing you a fortune. So get rid of those cards and use cash this summer!
Check out these posts on why credit cards are terrible for your finances:
5. Cut expenses: even if you’re not looking to try out the no-spend challenge, you can still find ways to cut expenses. My post, “101 Ways of Creatively Cutting Expenses to Save a Ton of Money,” can help you with that.
6. Get debt paid off: While you’re trying to find things to do this summer, why not actively work on improving your finances and getting your debt paid off. It might be hard work getting rid of debt, especially if you have a lot, but this can finally be the time when you turn everything around. You just need to work a plan.
The plan that I highly recommend is the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover Financial Plan. My wife and I have used this plan to get out of debt and build a $300,000 dollar plus net worth by 30 years old. And you can start it this summer!
If you’d like to read more about this plan, check out my post here: “I’m Debt Free! The 7 Dave Ramsey Baby Steps Explained”
Or you can try out the plan I put together to get rid of debt and bulletproof your finances. You can check that plan out here: “Living Paycheck to Paycheck? 10 Steps to Break the Cycle!“
Just remember, the more debt you pay off, the less money you’re paying in debt payments per month. So get your debt paid off and save some money this summer!
7. Make sure you have an emergency fund: one other simple thing you can do this summer is to build yourself a fully-funded emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses. This is important because it can help you avoid owing more on debt and paying extra on interest and debt payments. It’s going to rain so make sure you have your rainy day fund ready. The summer is a great time to do that.
Here are a couple of posts on how to build yours:
8. Stop keeping up with the Joneses: you know the Joneses. They’re the normal family that seems to have it all – nice cars, a big house, fancy tech gadgets, expensive clothes, and a HUGE TV. They look rich but they’re not. The Joneses are broke. They have a lot of debt and can barely afford it all.
Don’t strive to be like the Joneses. This summer, cut out all unnecessary spending and save some money. If you need some help with that, check out this post: “How to Stop Spending Money: 17 Tips for Financial Success!”
You can also read my post, “57 Things You’re Wasting Money On,” for more!
9. Financial goals: one way to save money this summer is to set yourself a few financial goals to start making progress toward. There’s nothing like a really important financial goal to make you want to spend less money. Creating goals is free to do and can be awesome for your finances.
For more on goals, check out my post, “How to Make More Realistic Financial Goals This Year!”
10. Cut your insurance costs: looking for an easy way to cut costs this summer? Yep, you could be heavily overpaying for all of your insurances! Check out Zander Insurance’s page to get quotes on life, auto, disability and other insurances that they provide services for. Zander is an insurance broker that shops around the top agencies to find you the best deal. So don’t wait on this. Get covered with cheaper rates and save some dough.
You can find cheaper insurance here on their site.
11. Budget limit: setting a budget limit for anything you do in the summer is an excellent way to keep costs down. Whatever activity you do, whether it be a vacation or a zoo trip, set a limit for how much money you’re allowed to spend and do everything you can to keep from going over that amount. This can be an incredibly creative way to save A LOT of money.
12. Downsize your home: if you really want to lower your costs this summer, look at downsizing your home. This can help you save quite a bit on your mortgage payment.
Activities (free or cheap)
13. Library: If you’re looking for a good way to save some money this summer, look no further than your local library. With free books, audiobooks, DVDs and other media, the library offers a ton of value for no cost. Just make sure you return everything on time or it won’t be free anymore.
14. Read all the books on your bookshelf: now I know you’ve got a few books on your bookshelf that you haven’t read yet. Yep, I think that’s all of us. The next thing you can do to save some money is read through them all. Free books like the library and you don’t even have to leave the house.
15. Start a journal: journaling is an excellent way to get things off your chest, reduce stress, chronicle your life, and save money this summer. Just buy yourself a 2 to 3-subject notebook and get to writing. I keep a journal and occasionally write things in it that I want to remember down the road. It’s fun and free.
16. Find time to spend with friends and family: one of the best ways to spend the summer can be with friends and family. Try to find something free or inexpensive to do while you’re with friends or family. This can be another creative way to save money while bonding with people you love.
17. Go hiking: hiking is something that my wife and I love to do. It’s great exercise, completely free, and a fun way to explore local trails and parks. And there are thousands of places to hike all over North America and Europe. Just search for “hiking trails near me” to find the best places in your area.
18. Exercise outdoors: if you don’t use your gym membership that much, why not pause it or cancel it and workout for free outside. You can run, do cardio, or follow a free workout video on YouTube. If you have just a few dumbbells, you can do a bunch of different workouts as well.
Also, if you really don’t use your gym membership, I highly recommend that you cancel it. It’s costing you money every month you don’t go. Now I love the gym, but don’t spend money on a membership if you’re not going to go. That’s just dumb.
19. Try out disc golf!: I love disc golf. It’s an insanely fun sport and can be a great way to save money in the summer. It’s similar to ball golf, just played with plastic frisbee-like discs and a metal basket instead of a hole in the ground. After you purchase a couple of discs and a bag, which will run you about $60 dollars, you can play for free for years without having to buy more stuff. Even the disc golf courses are free!
I liked the sport so much that I created an online website about disc golf. Now years later and it’s one of the top disc golf websites on the internet. So if you’re interested in trying out disc golf, you can check out my site below. I’ve also got a link to my Disc Golf 101 post where you can learn about the sport and see if it interests you.
Check these pages out below:
20. Start a garden: if you’ve got a green thumb or an interest in growing things, starting a garden can be a reasonably priced hobby to work on in the summer. Although, you do have to have at least a small piece of ground to use. If you’ve got that covered, think about what you want to grow and go buy some seeds and gardening tools. Shouldn’t cost you much, and with a little bit of patience, you’ll have a decent garden growing in just a few short weeks.
For a great post on gardening, check out this Ultimate Guide to Gardening here on goodhousekeeping.com.
21. Go garage sale-ing: garage sale-ing is a great way to save money on stuff you need and spend time with friends or family. I do recommend putting a limit on spending if you do this, though. Because you can spend a ton of money at a simple garage sale if you’re not careful.
22. Try a new sport or hobby: if you didn’t want to give hiking, disc golf, or gardening a shot, try finding another awesome summer sport or hobby like:
- Biking
- Fishing
- Learning how to cook
- Swimming or…
- Running!
23. Train for a 5k: training for a 5k can be a fantastic free thing to do in the summer. Running, in general, can be an awesome and relatively cheap hobby. But training for races can take this up a notch. You can find free 5k guides online and you can start running races in just a couple of weeks if you want to. Just make sure to hydrate in the summer!
Here’s a great post on marathonhandbook.com called The Couch to 5K Training Plan.
24. Volunteer: if you’re the giving type, a few hours of volunteer work can really help the community and give you a huge sense of pride for doing some good. It’s a free activity and can seriously benefit the community depending on how often you do the volunteer work.
Check out this great post here on dosomething.org to find a couple of great volunteer ideas.
25. Stargazing: stargazing can be an intriguing thing to try during the summer. But you need to find a relatively dark place to actually be able to see the stars. Otherwise, the city lights will light up the sky.
This post here on skyandtelescope.org, called Astronomy for Beginners, can get you started!
26. DIY home project: this might take a few bucks, but could save you hundreds if you simply tackle a DIY home project yourself. My wife and I recently did a patio paver extension that cost us a little bit over $300 dollars. It turned out really awesome and ended up being a great weekend family project for my wife, my son, and I. Plus, we probably saved over $400-500 dollars on it by doing it ourselves!
Even if you’re not that skilled with your hands, you can still tackle smaller home projects and get just as much satisfaction.
27. Declutter and organize your home: I’ve got to say, since my wife has started finding ways of organizing our home, I’ve felt less stressed, more productive, and more motivated to keep our home cleaner. I owe a lot of that to my wife and the shows she watches on Netflix – “Get Organized with The Home Edit” and “Tidying Up with Marie kondo.” While I don’t watch the entire show, the concepts are interesting and the final results at each house are pretty amazing.
If you’re looking at organizing your home this summer, you can do a room at a time and it’s all relatively inexpensive (just give yourself a budget!).
28. Beautify your home: just like with the organization tip above, beautifying your home can be something fun to do over the summer. But I really want you to be careful on this one. Because you can really break the budget spending money on stuff for your home. So again, do this one room at a time and set a budget limit!
Here are 45 ideas on how to decorate on a budget, according to countryliving.com.
29. Geocaching: geocaching is something that my wife and I have tried, but never really got into all that much. The premise is that you’re searching for “treasure” that someone else has hidden for you to find. According to National Geographic’s article, “Geocaching is a type of global treasure hunt of people looking for caches, or hidden stashes of objects.” It’s a free thing to do and can be a great way to pass the time this summer.
Again, check this post out here on Nat Geo’s website to read all about Geocaching.
30. Free local concert and movies: in our city, there are hundreds of free events per year. Some of those events are local concerts and movies. Take advantage of what you can. Just Google “free concerts in (your city)” or “free movies in (your city).” Simple and easy.
31. Free festivals: more of those free events include local festivals. There are a bunch around where I live including the July 4th festival, Fall festival, and a huge music festival that are all put on every year. Those are free and fun to go to. Remember, set a budget limit if you plan to spend any money at these events.
32. Free museum admission: there are some local museums that off either completely free admission, a free admission day of the week, or a discount on certain days. Check with your local museums to see what kind of deals they offer.
33. Free community events: you can also search for any other local community events that will be fun and cheap. Just Google “free community events in (your city)” or “community events in (your city)” to find these.
34. Local ghost tours: these are really cool and normally don’t cost very much. My favorite local ghost tour was in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was a fairly lengthy tour and didn’t cost us any more than a $10 dollar ticket and a small tip at the end. The tour was absolutely terrifying and worth every penny!
35. Chronicle your family tree: this is something that my mom loves to do because it is uniquely interesting and pretty cheap. The DNA version is a little bit more expensive but just having a membership on a site like ancestry.com doesn’t cost but around $50 dollars a month (which is a lot of time to chronicle your family tree). They even offer extended length plans to give you more time over the summer.
36. Music jam session: if you’re musically talented and have an instrument, try putting on a jam session this summer. If you already have the equipment, these can be fun and free.
Travel
37. Skip the vacation this year: if you’re really looking to save money this year, skip your summer vacation completely. Normal vacations these days are costing over $1,000 dollars for single people and over $2,000 dollars total for a family of four. I know this will suck, but if you’re broke and in debt, you can’t really afford a vacation anyway. Instead use that money to improve your financial picture. And use that time to work and make more money.
38. Find vacation discounts: if canceling your vacation is out of the question, then do everything you can to find ways to make it cheaper. Whether it be a cheaper AirBnB, cheaper flight, or going on vacation in a different season (not during summer), there are ways to go on vacation for very cheap.
39. Save up monthly for your vacation: another great way to save money in the summer on your vacation is to save up monthly during the year for that vacation. Instead of dropping $500-1000 dollars all at once, try saving $100 dollars per month for the 5-10 months before you go. That way, your cost for the month you go will only be $100 bucks (you’ve already saved up $900 from the previous 9 months). We always try to do this and it is much less stressful come vacation time.
40. Cook while on vacation: once you’ve gotten to your destination, if possible, use the kitchen to cook some of your meals. I know that not all places have kitchens. But we always try to book hotel rooms or AirBnB houses with kitchens partially for this purpose. We buy some groceries, cook a few meals, and eat out once per day on vacation. That way, we still get to enjoy the local dining and we save money on our trip.
41. Staycation: if you’ve decided to skip the vacation this year to save money, good on you for that. I’d still encourage you to take some time off from work to enjoy a few days. Have yourself a staycation, or a vacation where you stay home or stay local. This can be free and can help you rest and recharge for a couple of days.
42. State parks, military monuments, and other memorial sites: one really great thing you can do for free this summer is to go and visit local state parks, military monuments, and other free memorials. Between those 3 categories, there are thousands of places to go all across America (as well as thousands in other countries). These places can be great summer activities if you’re looking for free things to do and can be fun for the whole family.
43. Camping trip: camping trips are cheap and awesome. Find a place to go, grab your camping equipment, and head out for the weekend. These trips are much cheaper than normal vacations but offer just as much fun.
44. Save money on gas: if you’re looking to save money on gas this summer while you’re traveling around, check out this epic money-saving list I made called, “27 Awesome Ways to Save Money at the Gas Pump.”
45. Public transportation: if you’re staying local, try to use the local public transportation to ferry you around town. It might take more time to do this, but at least it’s either really cheap or free!
Food
46. Stop eating out as much: as I write this tip about not eating out as much, I’m currently stuffing my face with Chik Fil-A. Oh, the irony, right? But on a more serious note, if you need to cut expenses this summer, you might want to look at how much you’re spending going out to eat. Most people are spending outrageous amounts per month, and with increased costs due to inflation, your food bill is going to go up even more. So look at how much you’re spending and cut back.
47. Pack your lunch: instead of eating out every day, just pack your lunch. This can potentially save you a couple hundred dollars a month if you stay consistent with this every day.
48. Meal prep: one way to easily save money during the summer is to meal prep your food for the week. Meal prepping is when you prepare a bunch of food and make it into meals that can be eaten for a few days to a week.
Meal prepping is great for saving money because making food is generally cheaper and you’ll have meals ready to eat. So you won’t be as tempted to go buy fast food. Instead, you’ll have meals ready to go. Yep, save that money.
49. Meal plan: sticking to a meal plan can be a great way to help you avoid eating out because you’ve already planned out what meals you’re going to make that day. Simply print out a free calendar template online and write in what you’re going to be making every day for the entire month. With this monthly meal plan made, check out the next tip.
50. Make a list and stick to it: once you have your meals planned, make your grocery shopping list and stick to it. Only buy what you need for those meals and for packing your lunch and that’s it. This way, you’ll save a lot at that grocery store.
51. Stop shopping at fancy grocery stores: and make sure you’re not shopping at those high-dollar grocery stores. They’re nice, but you’re wasting money. Food Lion, Walmart, Aldi, Lidl, and other local stores offer the same food for a fraction of the price.
52. Save money on groceries: if you take just those couple of tips above in tips 46-51 and start using them, you will already save quite a bit in your food budget. If you want to save even more, check out this post: “47 Tips and Tricks for Saving Money at the Grocery Store”
53. Save money on coffee: here’s a really good way to save money this summer – cut out all the Starbucks and fancy specialty coffee drinks. That, in itself, can save people upwards of a thousand of more dollars per year! So this summer, cut it out completely. If you’re not going to do that, at least check out this post – “27 Insanely Simple Ways to Save Money on Coffee” – for how to reduce your coffee budget.
54. Grow your own food: you could also grow your own food this summer. Organically grown produce is amazing.
55. Visit a farmer’s market: farmer’s markets offer the best locally grown produce around.
56. Have a potluck with family/friends: want to have a nice dinner, but don’t want to prepare a bunch of dishes? Organize a potluck dinner with friends and family and have everyone bring a dish. That’s cheap, fun, and delicious!
57. Family dinner night: most families don’t eat dinner together anymore! Host a family dinner night and have everybody come over, extended family, too! Even if you have to make everything yourself, it’s still fairly inexpensive.
Kids
58. Playground or sprayground: if you have kids, one of the best ways to save money this summer can be to take them to a free playground or sprayground. A playground may not seem that exciting, but I promise you, your kids will enjoy it. And if you have a local sprayground, or kids waterpark, that’s even better!
59. Local science center/zoo/kids museum membership: my wife and I love to take our son to the local science center. In fact, we bought a membership to it. It might cost just a bit once a year, but it always pays for itself. We also love going to the zoo and the local kids museums. All of those are fairly inexpensive and can be great summer adventures for your family.
60. The local pool: if you have a pool in your neighborhood, utilize it! You pay rent or HOA fees, so take advantage of any perks that you get out of it! You can also check to see if friends have a local pool that you can take your kids to.
61. Make DIY popsicles: if you’re looking for a really awesome and fairly cheap summer idea, you can try making homemade popsicles! Instead of spending a ton of money on sugary popsicles with mystery flavorings, colorings, and ingredients, you can buy everything you need to do it all yourself!
Check out this awesome guide here on livesimply.me!
62. Make smoothies: if you don’t want to freeze your smoothies into healthy popsicles, just drink them. The summer is a great time to not only make smoothies, but teach your kids how to make these healthy frozen drinks.
63. Make no-bake cookies: no-bake cookies aren’t quite as healthy as smoothies, but they’re really cheap and insanely good if you know how to make them. And they’re a great way to save money this summer on a sweet treat!
64. Bonfire and s’mores (with parents): if you have a fire pit in your backyard, light that bad boy up and start cooking up some s’mores. We often invite friends over for this and normally have a blast. If you don’t have a firepit, they can be something awesome to invest in (they run about $100-150 dollars at the local hardware store) or you can build a DIY one with pavers!
65. Backyard camping: if you don’t want to take the family to a campground, you can pitch a tent in the backyard and have just as much fun.
66. Family movie night at home: a family movie night can be another free way to enjoy a summer night. If you have a projector, that’s even better.
67. Board games: board games are super underrated. I don’t think they get played as much as they should these days. Today, everybody is on their phone, playing videogames, or on the computer. Have everybody put down their tech gadgets and spend some quality time with a night of board game fun.
68. Dollar store crafts: the crafts they sell for kids at the dollar store aren’t the greatest, but they’re super cheap and can give you and your kid something to do over the summer. Hit your local dollar store and check the crafts section to see what they offer.
69. Sidewalk chalk: sidewalk chalk can be used for so many things – simple chalk drawings, drawing games on concrete, and drawing bike tracks on the driveway. Plus, kids just love chalk.
70. Have a picnic: nobody really goes on picnics anymore and that’s sad. Because these can be fun. Make a few things to eat and pack up a bag for your next picnic. Then, hit your local park and chow down. Fun and free.
71. Go mini golfing: you can also try mini golfing. This might cost you a few bucks, but mini golfing is usually fun and worth the small admission cost.
72. Go to a local produce farm: this is one of my family’s favorite things to do. We live in an area with A LOT of nearby farms within about 30 -60 minutes of our house. So we just find the farm we’d like to go to, whether it’s the local blueberry farm, strawberry farm, or blackberry farm, or vegetable farm. You can get delicious fruits and vegetables straight from the source for a price comparable to the grocery store. On top of that, our son gets the experience of seeing everything on the farm and the occasional tractor ride.
73. Scavenger hunt: buy a few small toys, design a “treasure” map, and have your kids hunt for their treasure on your (of course, very well thought out) scavenger hunt.
Here are 30 scavenger hunt ideas for kids on goodhousekeeping.com.
74. Tour the local fire station: sometimes the local fire station puts on a kids tour for anybody who wants to bring their kids. My wife and son just recently went to check out a local fire department and my son loved it. Plus, it was completely free.
75. Cheap local movie theater: most of our local theaters offer multiple options for kids over the summer. If not just a cheaper matinee ticket, they sometimes have kids movie programs with dollar tickets or general kids prices on movies and snacks. Simply call your local theater and ask what kinds of kids programs they have.
76. Read books at the local bookstore: if you have a big chain bookstore near you, you can do what my wife and I do sometimes – we take our son there and just read books for free. We’ll stay for an hour or so and our son loves it.
77. Discount books for kids: local used bookstores can be great places to hang out in the summer and find cheap kids books as well.
78. Check out this awesome list: this list here has some more awesome ideas for your kids in the summer including a free printable version of the list!
Utilities
79. Energy audit: most energy companies offer a service for free called an “energy audit.” The energy company will send out a service worker to assess your home and give you tips on how to improve your home/reduce your utility costs. Just contact your local power company and ask if they offer free energy audits. If they don’t, contact a local electrician or handyman and ask them the same thing. They may charge you, but it’s a small cost if it helps you save thousands in the future!
80. Turn off the A/C: if you luck out with a cool summer day, try cutting the air conditioning off and opening some windows. Easy way to save money.
81. Adjust the A/C a few degrees higher: you can also turn your air up a couple of degrees. It might be a little warmer, but at least you can shave off a few dollars from your power bill.
82. Get a programmable thermostat: up front, you might be dropping $150-200 dollars. But over time, your thermostat learns your behaviors at home and adjusts automatically at certain times. If programmed correctly, you can save a decent chunk of money this summer on your power bill.
83. Caulk your windows and doors: caulking windows and doors can help keep your house cooler and your power bill down.
84. Keep your blinds and windows closed: another easy way to keep the house cooler is to keep your blinds and windows closed. It might be a little darker in the house, but it won’t feel as hot. This can also keep the power bill down.
85. Keep your doors closed, too!: just like the last two tips, this tip can help keep your house cooler and your power bill down. Doing all three together, as well as the next tip, can save you a bunch of money over time.
86. Cook on the grill: instead of running electricity or expensive gas to cook on the stove, get outside and cook on the grill! This will help save you power and will help your house stay cooler (because you’re not cooking on your hot stove in the cool house). Besides, outdoor barbecues are awesome and the food is always delicious.
87. Run appliances at night: running appliances at night during “off-peak hours” is normally cheaper on your power bill. Call your local power company and ask them when the “peak hours” or “off-peak hours” are. Then just adjust your appliance schedule around the cheapest hours!
88. Turn off the water: if you’re not using the water, turn it off! I’ve caught myself lately running water while brushing teeth, shaving, and washing dishes. If you can, use what you need and turn it right back off.
89. Quick showers: I often time my showers to try and save a little bit of money on my water bill. You can either count yourself or get a waterproof timer. I just count to 60 a couple of times, often limiting my showers to 2 or 3 minutes. I promise you, it’s not that bad. Give it a try and save some money on your water bill this summer.
90. Save money on utilities: if you’re looking for even more ways to save money on utilities, check out this post here – “The Complete Guide to Saving Money on Your Utility Bills: 57 Easy Tips.”
General
91. Work more: one truly easy way to save more money during the summer is to work more. Now I know you might not want to “waste” your summer by working. But let’s be honest. Unless you’re a kid in school, summer is just another season. And if your finances are a wreck, you need to do anything and everything you can to improve your finances. That means working more. But working helps you save money in two ways:
- First, when you’re working, you usually aren’t spending money. So the more you work, the less you spend.
- Second, the more you work, the more you make. So work your butt off to save even more money at the end of the month.
Pair your tremendous work ethic with a no-spend challenge to save A LOT of money by the end of the month!
92. Start a side hustle: one of the best ways to make more money this summer is to start a side hustle. These are tough at first to start, because you’re responsible for getting customers, but can net you $30-40 dollars an hour or more. Here are a couple of common side hustles:
- Lawn care
- Dog walking
- House cleaning
- Power/pressure washing
- Handyman work
All of those require some skill but are fantastic for making you money and helping you save money this summer.
93. Write a book: have you ever wanted to write a book? Well, now’s your time. This summer can be the time that you write that novel that you’ve been thinking about for all these years. Writing a book is free and can actually make you some money if you know how to market it. The book I wrote on my disc golf site has made me over $6,000 dollars in the last couple of years.
Spend this summer writing your novel and save some money while you’re at it!
94. Build a blog: coming from the guy who has built two blog websites, I can tell you that this is a very lucrative venture. And it really doesn’t cost you much either. But this is NOT easy by any means. Building a blog site can take you hundreds of hours, but it could be time well spent if you’re saving money while you work on it and you get some income back out of it.
I highly encourage you to try this if you’re a decently motivated person and you’re looking for a new challenge this summer. However, be ready to put the work in! Find a topic that you would like to build a blog around and check out Income School here on YouTube. They helped me out A LOT and now I’m making a full time income from my blogs!
95. Sell stuff online: the next option can be fun to do and can help make you a few hundred dollars this summer. All you have to do is set up a Mercari account, EBay account, and have a Facebook profile (just for selling if you don’t have Facebook anymore).
So go set up those 3 accounts now.
Next, I want you to go through your home and purge anything and everything that you can find to sell. Anything you don’t want or need gets added in to the pile. Now take that stuff and start selling it online.
Mercari is the best option. My wife has made well over $1,000 dollars selling on there. EBay is another great selling platform. I’ve been selling on EBay, on and off, for almost 20 years. And that’s netted me thousands of dollars.
Lastly, if you have bigger items like furniture, appliances, or anything too expensive to ship, try selling on Facebook Marketplace. This is local and people can drive up to get the items they’re buying from you. Now you do have to give people your address. But I assure you that this is fairly safe. You can have people pay you through Venmo or Cashapp and do porch pickup (grab it from your front porch with no contact).
96. Have a garage sale: if you still have stuff that hasn’t sold online, try putting on a garage sale to make a little bit more money. This can be a really fun, almost free activity to do with friends and family, while also passing the time in the summer. Just make sure you check neighborhood or city rules on garage sales. We normally have about one yard sale per year and make about $100 bucks from it. Not much for half a day’s work, but still a little bit of extra cash and fun on a weekend.
97. Start garage sale flipping: this is one of my wife and I’s favorite activities to do on a Saturday morning. We head to local garage sales and find good stuff that’s selling for really cheap. We buy a few items, then take those items and sell them on either Mercari or EBay. This is a super fun activity to do that is inexpensive, fun, and can make you some money, too. But make sure you set a budget limit for how much you’re going to spend. Then use profits and money made online to help pay for more garage sale stuff!
If you’d like to see a really good mini series on yard sale flipping, I HIGHLY recommend Gary Varnerchuck’s YouTube series called “Trash Talk” that you can check out here. I love this series. And Gary V is pretty motivational on top of that if you need some inspiration and motivation in your life.
98. Wash your own car: washing your car yourself instead of paying for a car wash can potentially save you hundreds of dollars per year. This is one job I ALWAYS do myself because I can clean my cars much better than a simple touchless car wash. And the places that hand wash? Yeah, they do a good job, but they can cost anywhere from $20 dollars for a quick hand wash to over $100 dollars for a full detail wash!
99. Do your own car maintenance: doing your own car maintenance is another way to save some cash when having to take care of your vehicle. Cars are very expensive as it is, so if you have the time, doing routine maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations can save you a few hundred dollars per year.
100. Learn a new skill: I know we’ve talked about a lot of different things to do on this list. If you’re in need of a way to save money, look at learning a new skill. Check out this great post on frugalandthriving.au here for 10 Frugal Skills You Need to Save Money!
101. Summer activity list: Last but not least on this list is to build your list – your personalized summer activity list! This activity is free to do and pretty simple. Google “free things to do this summer” or “cheap things to do this summer” and start writing down a list of things that you want to do. Also, find a few things from this list to add onto your list. That way when you need to find something to do this summer, just go down the list you made and pick…then go do it!
The final say
So there it is. The ultimate list of the 101 ways to save money in the summer. If you’ve stuck with me for this long, hopefully you’ve found a few things to help you out. If you have, I’m glad. I want you to have fun this summer, but you don’t have to break the bank doing it!
Before you go, though, check out some of my related content below for more tips! These posts can really help!
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