Gooooood morning my fine blog readers & twitterati! Did you get into anything fun over the weekend? We ended up hitting the beach for a mini-family reunion and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to return home to reality yet ;) That’s what vacation days are for, right?

While I sit here soaking up the sun and pegging my nephews with footballs (my favorite part), I thought it would be prudent to share a few saving ideas I came across while packing up…

On your next trip this Summer:

1. Drive the car w/ better gas mileage. As much as I wanted to pimp out my caddy for all my wife’s family to see, we couldn’t justify the 13.8 mpgs it brings to the table. Instead, we opted for the smarter choice: her Toyota Corolla (which gets 30+)
2. Stay with family or friends. This is my favorite option, and it usually works well when you miraculously plan your trip the exact same time they are ;) If that doesn’t work, call Uncle Ned or your long lost sister to see if you can crash for a night or two. Promise them breakfast or something.
3. Take advantage of your surroundings. Chilling at the beach, hiking up and down the mountains, or just plain walking around and soaking in life is free. You’ve got a lot more time to just “be” when you’re away, so relax and enjoy what’s around you for a change.
4. Read. Not a lot of people like this option (I was once one of them) but I’ll admit it feels great without the everyday noise around you. It’s like 100% YOU time. And you don’t have to feel bad for not reading finance books or magazines if you don’t want ;) Unless you’re me, cuz I like!
5. Do whatever you want. Eat your junk food, stay up late, be a sloth, whatever you want. I’m not sure if this really falls into a savings tip right here, but F it, you’re on vacation.

So there are your 5 Free tips for the day. They might not be the most exciting, but they save you money. Plus, it’s really the best I can do with all this sand blowing around my laptop right now ;) Yeah yeah, I suck. If you ever figure out a way to blog full-time though, please let me know. I’m afraid I won’t go back to work tomorrow…