Frugal Summer Bucket List

Summer is nearly here! Growing up in the Midwest with harsh winters, I’m definitely more appreciative of the warm weather months because summer always seems to fly by so fast.

I know that I want to make the most of this time and not look back and wonder where the time went. But summer can be one of the most expensive seasons of the year for people (minus Christmas) due to costs associated with vacations, festivals, parties and wedding, and other fun events and activities.

What helps me each year is coming up with a frugal summer bucket list. Some of the items on the list are not cheap, but I find ways to save money and plan my budget ahead of time. If you’re interested in making a frugal summer bucket list, here are some ideas to help you get started.

Go Kayaking

Being on the water is a lot of fun and kayaking is a great way to enjoy the summer. It’s easy to make a fun day out of this too by having a picnic near the water afterwards.

We have a lake near our home and there’s a place where we can rent kayaks from since I still haven’t bought one yet (they can be really pricey). The local parks and recreation center also hosts kayak lessons and family float events for as low as $10 on select days during the summer.

Ride My Bike Regularly

Since we moved to Tennessee, I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t taken my bike out at least once. This year, I want to improve my endurance and go longer distances. If I go for a ride at least twice a week, I can meet that goal.

My husband and our son both have bikes too so I’m looking forward to some evening bike rides as well.

Re-learn How to Skate

There’s a skating rink near our house and another one that offers evening events for adults. I’m not sure if I want to take classes officially or just attend one of the adult skate nights and brush up on my skills so I’m more comfortable.

Free Museum Days

Checking out the different museums on their free days is both fun and frugal. This summer, I’m going to mark some other free or affordable events on my calendar too so that we have several options to choose from.

Watch Movies At the Park

Watching movies in the park is one of my favorite things to do on a relaxing summer evening. Plus, it’s free and a good opportunity to get out of the house. My town has lots of free movie showings as well as neighboring towns so I’m sure I’ll do this more than once.

Visit 2-3 Waterfalls in Tennessee

This is just a starting number, but I hope I seem more. Tennessee have several beautiful waterfalls with swimming areas and within national parks. So far, the days I planned to visit some waterfall sites so far have been rescheduled due to rainy weather. But I plan to start checking things off my list very soon.

Go Camping

We already did this in April but I’d love to go camping somewhere again maybe the weekend before school starts up again in the fall. We already have a tent and a lot of camping gear

Read a Fiction Book

I’ve been reading more in recent years but I still don’t read enough fiction even though I watch a ton of fiction TV and movies. Last year I read a few fiction books and some memoirs. Right now, I’m reading this book and I hope to finish it before the summer is over.

Learn New Gardening Skills

My vertical garden is all set up and I’m excited. So far I have a few vegetables, some strawberries, a blueberry tree, and some herbs. Gardening is a lot of work and there’s always so much to learn. Last year I didn’t end up growing any zucchini and found out it was probably due to the fact that all my plants were ‘male’.

I had no idea that the flowers on the plant had a gender and needed to be pollinated. My plan is to start listening to a short gardening podcast a few times during the week to stay motivated and tending to my garden more closely.

Go on Vacation With My Family

This is probably the most expensive item on my list but, we’re going to check out a theme park to celebrate my son graduating 8th grade and do some other family activities this June. I actually booked our stay a year ago and we’re driving so all we need to do is pay for gas, food, and activities.

Related: Best Tips and Tricks to Plan a Frugal Last-Minute Vacation

10 Ways to Afford a $1,000 Vacation

Attend a Concert

I usually don’t go to a lot of concerts, but an artist that my husband and I love is performing at a two-day music festival and I couldn’t resist. Tickets are $100 each but will be well worth it.

Eat Good Food 🙂

Yes, last but not least, this really made it onto my summer bucket list. I got my husband a new grill and smoker for his birthday so we will be experiencing with that at home since we love to grill out.

But I also usually loosen my restaurant budget during summer because I like to check out new places for brunch, happy hour, etc. and may check out a few festivals. To keep things more affordable, I always price shop restaurant menus before going anywhere and look for deals on special days.

This year, I already know I plan to go to the Music City Hot Chicken Festival in Nashville on July 4th. Last summer, I went to a Jamaican food festival which was great.

How to Keep Your Bucket List Frugal

Everything on my bucket list wasn’t super cheap, but it is frugal thanks to a few of my favorite tools and resources. Here are a few things you can use to keep your summer bucket list frugal as well.

Discount and Experience Sites Like

• LivingSocial
• TripAdvisor
• CityPass

Rakuten

You may or may not have heard of Rakuten, but it’s how I earn cash back on regular everyday purchases. It’s also how I’m setting some money aside for Christmas this year.

Rakuten partners with tons of popular retailers to show you coupons and offer cash back when you make online purchases. Check out my full review of Rakuten here.

Rakuten partners with Groupon so whenever I purchase a Groupon, I make sure my Rakuten account is connected so I can receive coupons and earn cash back on the purchase. Rakuten pays users what they call a ‘big fat check’ each quarter based on your cash back earnings. Click here to sign up and get an extra 10% cash back.

Airbnb

When I travel, I always look for Airbnb options over pricey hotels. On a recent trip to celebrate our honeymoon, my husband and I stayed in an Airbnb in Long Beach and it was amazing.

Airbnb is pretty affordable, and I already had a credit so we only spent around $20/night to stay in a spacious clean room and use all the amenities in the house.

We were able to use the kitchen to prepare coffee and breakfast for ourselves so we didn’t have to spend money dining out for that meal. If you’re going to be doing any traveling this year, I highly recommend checking out Airbnb.

Fetch Rewards

During the summer we spend a lot of time outdoors and with that comes all the awesome summer time food! Fetch Rewards is an app that I use all to help me save money on food for our summer bonfires and BBQs.

I enjoy using this app because it really makes it easy to earn points on items I buy regularly. Fetch Rewards offers free gift cards for those points which I use to pay for my groceries.

With all the places you can earn points from it’s definitely worth downloading and using the Fetch Rewards app for summer fun and food.

Now, I want to hear from you. What’s on your summer bucket list? Do you have any frugal activities planned?