During the summer, a drop in revenue (and income) happens to the best of us for a number of reasons: The spending budgets of your prospects are unavailable until the fall. Your most promising leads are on vacation. Your kids are home for summer break, and the precious time you’d otherwise spend generating business is eaten up by your role of the daytime family shuttle.
Countless articles have been written on how to proactively nip this seasonal financial dip in the bud before it takes hold. (Here is one of ours). However, despite your best efforts, money can still get tight during this time of year, and the order of the day is to cut unnecessary spending. Typically, this is how the painful culling process looks:
Feeling disempowered and defeated, you sit at the kitchen table, sighing deeply as you imagine your dreams of summer fun circling the drain, and wonder how you’re going to break the bad news to your family. We’ll have to forego the week-long vacation at the beach. Going out to dinner is totally out of the question. The CrossFit Boot Camp classes have to be ditched; and the new paddleboard will have to wait ‘til Christmas.
This is a depressing scenario, and it doesn’t have to be this way! My wife and I faced the joys of the disappearing summer income from time to time over our 17 years of marriage. Although it’s a shock at first—we always ended up having a fantastic time finding a plethora of penny-pinching alternatives to spending big, recreational cash during the summer income doldrums.
Here are ways to have fun without plowing through your savings:
- Day trips – Last year, rather than taking a long vacation with our fidgety 4 year old, we decided to keep it simple and hit a national, state, or local park every weekend. Many local resorts are open to the public and have some amazing natural attractions as well. (Wintergreen is our favorite for day hikes.) By the end of the summer, we’d visited 18 places we’d never seen before. It was amazing, educational, engaging, beautiful, and it was quality family time. And yes—it was cheap!
- Staycations – The act of deliberately staying home, enjoying your house, the yard, your kitchen, your family room, your garden, and your neighborhood. This approach to “vacationing” was particularly helpful to Amanda and me over the years when our businesses were first getting off the ground and we were short on cash. The biggest challenge was fighting the impulse to work while at home. To counter that urge, I suggest committing to at least 4 consecutive work-free days. (100% work-free! Don’t even talk about work.) Cook your meals at home and have fun with your menu. Explore new recipes. Cooking for four at home is WAY cheaper than dining out. If you have young children, you can pitch a tent and add backyard camping to the adventure.
- Potluck party at your house – Potlucks have been around forever, and the benefits speak for themselves. Invite a few folks over, and everyone brings their own homemade dish. You end up with a full-blown dinner party without the high cost, and the food is usually amazing!
- Picnic – I don’t need to explain how a picnic works. Pack up a cheap feast, grab a big blanket, find a beautiful, shady spot with an awesome view—and breathe it all in!
- Stargazing – This is, by far, one of the most overlooked, awe-inspiring activities that can be enjoyed year-round—and most of us don’t even remember to look up at the stars, much less explore constellations and planets. The web offers a treasure trove of information, and alerts you to upcoming meteor showers, eclipses and comets. You can also learn how to spot the International Space Station. (skyandtelescope.com) SkyView app for your SmartPhone shows you exactly where everything in the sky is located—in real time. This is a fantastic way to spend an evening, sitting on a blanket with a friend or your family, and enjoying some wine or a picnic. Even in areas with lots of ambient light, the view is still breathtaking.
- Free movie night – Watching a summer blockbuster on the big screen is exhilarating, but at 15+ dollars a ticket, it’s enough to make you want to stay home and watch enjoy your Netflix account for 8 dollars a month. Many parks and rec facilities (and even some theaters, too) offer free family friendly movies over the weekend, and you can find these options online.
- Take a dip – Relaxing by the pool on a hot day is on most people’s lists of favorite things to do. Local parks and rec pools are as inexpensive as $3-5/person a day, and even cheaper if you spring for a seasonal membership. Some are not as crowded as others so I suggest visiting a few different public pools in your region, and find one that fits your preferences.
- Visit friends and family – If you care about someone who lives fairly close by, and you haven’t seen them in a while, call them up and make arrangements for a visit. Pack up the car and head out to relax enjoy people you love and spend some quality time together.
- Don’t forget to take care of you – It’s easy to get in a funk during the summer when your income has taken a dip. Physical exercise can be the best medicine, and this is a great time to establish a regular routine if you’ve not already done so. If you’ve temporarily dropped your health club membership, you can still make a daily practice of walking or running. If you fancy something more elaborate and don’t own any equipment, YouTube offers workouts that can be done at home. If quieting your mind is what you need, there are plenty of meditative videos on YouTube as well. And most libraries nowadays are well-stocked with (free!) videos, and, of course—always books!
As I recall my early childhood summer vacations, expensive outings and activities were not required in order for us to enjoy ourselves, and we always had a blast! In this light, Amanda and I decided that even though our flow of income is more substantial now, we will continue exploring the activities I’ve shared in this article. Each one offers a way to slow down and appreciate ourselves and each other, and we are better spouses and parents as a result.
Let me know in the comments below what you are doing this summer… on the cheap side.
