Summer is here and it’s time to go out into the great outdoors and do some camping with your family. It sounds picturesque doesn’t it? Communing with nature and hiking around enjoying some family time. You wouldn’t think it would cost very much to go camping, but depending on how you do it it’s almost cheaper to stay in a hotel and not worry about the bugs. Check out 10 Ways to Save Money on Camping Trips.- Borrow a tent: Tents are not very expensive, but for your first trip it’s best to borrow a tent from a friend to make sure that you are going to like it and it will let you get the feel of what size and type of tent you might want when you do go make the investment in your own tent.
- Bring your own food: There are a lot of places to camp that are close to restaurants, but that gets expensive. Try to pack meals that are easy and similar to those you would eat at home. On your first few trips you might want to go really easy and bring items to make sandwiches, cold cereal, pop tarts that can be eaten cold, powdered donuts in a bag or box and hotdogs or something to cook over the open fire. Buying a lot of cooking equipment can get expensive and if you aren’t going to keep going then it’s a waste of money.
- Camp in privately owned campgrounds: Many of the campgrounds are part of the state so they are subject to State Park fees, which can add up in a hurry. It’s like an admission fee to the park and it’s charged per person per day during your stay and then you pay to camp on top of that.
- Bring your own firewood: Once you get to the campground you are a captive audience and they charge a premium price for firewood at the campground and it doesn’t last very long. The wood is typically very dry and quick burning so you will use more. Remember to bring kindling and newspaper too so you can get the fire started.
- Use a checklist: Go online and find a checklist for camping and use that to make sure you have packed everything. It is very expensive to buy forgotten items at the camp shop. They mark everything up to almost double what you would normally pay for a can opener or marshmallows.
- Freeze your own ice: When you use bagged ice it is pretty expensive and it doesn’t last all that long. The better way to do it is to freeze water bottles and use them to keep your food cold. If you are going for several days take frozen food that can defrost before you need to eat it. Freeze blocks of ice in quart or half gallon milk cartons. The blocks of ice will last longer and save you a lot of money in ice.
- Camp day to day: By this I mean that you should try to find a campground that will allow you to pay for a day at a time so if the weather turns off bad or you don’t like where you are camping you can just leave and not have paid for the whole time up front. There aren’t a lot of campgrounds that do this, but it’s worth asking about.
- Camp in a group: If you go camping with friends you can share the price of the camping fees because a lot of campgrounds will allow at least 2 tents per site. Also, you can share meals and trade off cooking duties. If you go camping with friends they may have a cook stove or bring their grill. One bag of marshmallows is enough to feed at least 10 people so you can save money by not duplicating efforts or wasting food. We all know s’mores are a must for every camping trip.
- Camp in the off-season: Sometimes you can find deals during the slower periods for camping. Check out camping websites and see what you can find.
- Do your research: There are tons of online camping sites and they list hundreds of different campgrounds around your area. Keep in mind what you want to do for recreation. Many campgrounds have swimming pools and game rooms for the campers to enjoy. The prices vary greatly depending on amenities so compare everything and get the best deal. Plan to book early so you can get the time you want. Happy camping!
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