10 Week Challenge (Or How to Save Money for that Trip)

 I'm trying something new on this blog.  For the past couple of years, I've mostly focused on trip reviews, but the main idea was to help families figure out how to travel and what to see on their journeys.  So, I will be showing you some of the behind the scenes things we do in my family so we can afford our trips.  We're a solid middle class family and we don't travel out of the country, or really much out of the state of California, but we manage quite well within our borders.  I'm sort of excited for this new journey to see if we can save even more money than before.

Taking trips can be costly, especially when you have a larger family.  Even a trip to your local amusement park can seem daunting when the cost of tickets for 1 day exceeds $500.  I have never been particularly good at saving money, but I find that this year, my trips are a bit more expensive than normal.  For the 3 trips I will be taking, I will need to save about $6000 (parts have been paid for on credit card or with savings, but I need to replenish my emergency funds, too).  So, in the spirit of demonstrating how you (and I) can save money, I am attempting 10 free (or nearly free) weekends in a row.  I will still grocery shop every weekend as we don't typically have time during the week.  But otherwise, I am going to do my best to explore free, or nearly free (since there's always the cost of gas for the van) activities in the area.  The idea came to me after reading an article on The Simple Dollar about a family attempting to live more frugally through money-free weekends.  They have a whole list of ideas on how to do this.  Some will work for us and others I think we will probably pass on.

I unofficially started today by organizing my 7-year-old's dresser.  He and I cut pieces of cardboard to make dresser dividers so that he has sections for his socks, underwear, pajamas, swimwear, long sleeve shirts, solid shirts, shirts with pictures, jeans/cargo pants, sweatpants, and shorts.  We had a great time and I didn't spend money.  I am hoping the next 10 weekends go as well as today!