What time is it? Summertime! It’s your vacation…but maybe not your finances! Summer is the second season, next to winter, wherein everyone is expected to spend more. Let’s find out in this episode as Jen and Jill share what to look out for and prepare for this summer in order to stay on budget and enjoy this season’s freedom!
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Episode four one one, What to budget for this summer.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
MM.
Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are giving you the four to one one on what you need to budget for this summer. Hopefully you've already been saving, but if you haven't, here's what to look out for.
Sometimes the most obvious needs to be restated because we may or may not be thinking about all the things extra expenses. Summer's apparently the second most spendy season, next two wintertime, and we get caught off every year by the holidays, and you probably get caught off every year by whatever comes up in the summer. So this is going to be your friendly reminder of things you can do to start preparing now if you haven't yet, and maybe even a few sprinkled then things of what to do if you didn't prepare and you won't have time to prepare, How can you still enjoy your summer?
Yes, but first, this episode is brought to you by four one one. The four one one the information you need to know, especially when you have a four to oh one K from a previous employer, you need the four one one on how to get control of that money. When you leave your employer, then you relinquish any control you have over that so it just sits there and you need to get it into a traditional IRA or a roth ira, depending on what your four O one K is. You need to get it somewhere where you control it, and that can be confusing, and that's why we love Capitalize. It is a free service that helps you find where your four ol one k is and roll it over into the IRA of your choice. So you can go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash capitalize, c ap it t a l ize to use that service for free and get the four one one on your money.
Good tie in, Jen. Yes, that's why you said four one one instead of four to eleven in this episode title. Yes, because we don't know numbers.
It is yep, that's exactly.
Right, because we know how to be relevant.
All right. It is summer, babies, It is summer.
Uh.
And if you love budgeting, then let me give you some real good episodes to q up. Episode three sixty seven Best budgeting Tips for twenty twenty four help you plan the rest of the year, and episode three eighteen Frugal living Tips for Summer. That episode specifically is all the ways summer can save you money. You can take advantage of this season because while this is the second spendiest season, there are also opportunities that allow you to save where other seasons don't.
Yeah, if you so choose.
So. In today, we're talking about the spending.
Parts, and before we get to that, we also want to look at your answers to our poll. In a recent friend letter email we sent out, we asked, what's your biggest expense in the summer besides your usual spending? Is it vacation? Is it just all the small activities throughout the summer? Air conditioning, food, or something else. A few of you said something else, but the majority of you said vacation, which makes sense. It is it does cost a lot of money, But right behind that is small activities throughout the summer and air conditioning. Certainly, are you utility bills can increase in the summer, But I think we're probably going to be focusing in a lot more on the vacations and the small activities throughout the summer, ways to plan and ways to save.
Yes, somebody who answered air conditioning. Their reasoning was just they just said Texas and as people who live in Florida, we get it Florida. So yes, this is the time that we just stay inside. And if you have kids summer camp, gosh, oh man, I am fancifully going to just opt for smaller activities instead of a full summer camp. But man, it is they are expensive. They are so expensive.
Yeah, it's ridiculous. So this episode is coming out the very last day of May, which for some people the summertime really has already begun. Your kids will be after school already. And when I say that, I mean for people with kids or those still in school.
When this airs, we will frugal friends will be on summer break. You're still going to get two episodes a week, but physically we will not be recording. We'll already have recorded it all.
But if you are trying to make up for lost time, if this wasn't something you've been preparing for the holidays, which completely forgot to prepare for summer, then then start now. One of the things that we would can help have you consider doing is possibly a no spend challenge that doesn't have to be for an entire month. You could do that for a couple of weeks if you still have a little bit of time before the kids are out of school or before you want to start doing some of the more fun stuff that might be coming up in June, July, August. So a no spend challenge. We love them for how they can retrain our spending habits, but they do also have this decide and added benefit of helping us to get a little bit of extra money out of our paychecks month to month that you could put towards some of these activities or vacations that you might be wanting to do. So if that's something that you're like, I'm going to need a little bit of extra money, consider that. But we also want to talk about some of these tips ways to prepare alongside what do you need to start saving for for the summer? And this article comes from the Motley Fool. It's titled fourteen summer expenses to start saving for. We're not going to go through all of them. We're going to go through the ones that we think are most relevant for most people, which the first one that I'm going to highlight is vacations and vacation gear. We all probably know if we've got a vacation coming up, but I think one of the pieces we often forget is all of the peripheral expenses of a vacation. So is your luggage still usable and in good shape? Are you going to need to be bringing along travel sized toilet trees? Sunscreen? What might you need to be purchasing? And I'm not talking the new bathing suit, new outfit, like I do think those are the things that if you don't have the money for it, you've not planned it in your spending plan, then it can be good to find contentment in what you already have. But sunscreen, don't pass that up, like plan for those things, if you haven't totally thought about the fact that you're probably going to be eating more meals out when you're on vacation. It's great if you already have the hotel and the flight booked, but what additional expenses are you going to come across that you need to be setting a little bit more money aside for.
Yeah, those peripheral expenses are really what can get you. And I know there's been times where I've been so concerned with my outfits and what I need to buy new for a vacation that I forget some of the real basics and then end up having to buy them while on vacation, and they are more expensive. So you probably know you have a vacation scheduled for June or July, take some time a few weeks before to just quasi pack just do you know, a run through pack, Make sure you have everything so that you're not needing to buy anything while you're there, and then also think about maybe you're able to bring an air fryer or something to create meal more meals in your hotel room then you have to buy out other You can also if you are a Sam's Club or Costco member, see if there's one nearby they have like the pre made dinners that you can just like grab and take, and again that's something you can make in your airbnb or even like a grocery store, just like identify grocery stores that have the pre made meals that you can be buying there and just do some pre planning so that you can spend less on those peripherals.
I would also recommend gathering up any of your gift cards that maybe you haven't used yet. If you have anything left over from the holidays, bring those along. Allow that to be what informs you on where you might go out to eat or have a little bit of extra spending. I think too, if you're realizing you're going to need a little bit of extra cash, go through your house and see if there's things that you can sell, because this is like your expenses are raising, so are there ways without a lot of effort you can bring in a little bit of that extra cash so you have a little bit of cushion for the things that you want to do.
Absolutely, Facebook Marketplace is a great thing to utilize right now and for selling and for buying.
Also, i'd say look on groupon two for the activities that you want to do. If you're traveling within the States, and especially as a family, you want to maybe have an idea of I want to go bowling, or we want to take a boat tour, we want to do these things. Start planning now and get those things at a discount ahead of time.
So the next one I kind of already mentioned is summer camp. But I also want to talk about in addition to that, if you're not doing a summer camp. All the activities that will make up your summer. Like I'm already thinking about how we're going to structure summer, so creating a plan for Okay, these are the free things I have available to me. These are the free the vbs, these are the free museums, these are the free events for summer. There's so many free events for kids on the summer. So let's take an inventory, do some research, compile all of those things, put them on the calendar, and then we can start to put in things that cost money. But we want to prioritize the free activities. And this can be going to YouTube as well. What are free activities I can do with my kid outside? What are free activities I can do inside? And kind of getting the inventory of things activities you want to do over the summer so that you can start getting materials together at lower cost. Maybe it's on the buy and Nothing group. Maybe you have then time to look around your house for the things you know you have but you don't know where they are, or it's going to eBay, Poshmark, Facebook, marketplace to get these things. Because when we have time to plan, this is the same reason we do the run through of the packing. When we have time to plan, then we have time to get the things we need at a lower cost.
Planning is always going to be key. I think we're going to try and find ways to make planning as simplified and accessible as possible, but we will have the most money saved, the most peace of mind when we are able to carve out that time to plan. My good friend Jenna with every season will sit down her and her husband Dave, will sit down with their kids and plan out or just write a list of what do you want to do, what do you want to do this summer, what do you want to do this winter? And write it all down, and that kind of can help be the guide. Like you're describing look up free activities. You can also decide as a family what are the things that you want to do, or if you don't even have kids, like write it down what do you want to do and then plug it in so that week to week you've got things to look forward to. You can feel like you're checking things off the list as a family, making memories and not going bored, especially with the kids. I think that's a big one. When you're lacking the structure. Having these things to be able to fill in the gaps is really helpful, and even more helpful when they've been the ones to help you make the.
Plan absolutely and then you can get intentional, Like I think the biggest thing is that when we don't plan, then we just resort to the activities that are most frequently in front of us or easiest to identify, and those are typically going to be the ones that have marketing behind them, and they're going to cost money. Because of that, it is not as easy to find free events. You have to go looking for them. So being intentional can help you avoid the last minute planning that often costs us a lot of money.
Yeah. I will also add increased gas and electric bills, So gas for your car and electric bills. Like with the AC, a lot of times people are driving a whole lot more in the summer, and this isn't This is just something to be aware of and not shocked by that you're probably going to be refilling your car more often, You're probably going to see a little bit of spike in your electricity bill. Not that there's a ton that you can do to just fabricate more money, but there could be some things to think about knowing that I'm going to have to fill my gas more, are there other adjustments I can make in other areas so that it allows for this adjustment in my spending plan. I know, for me, my meals get a lot more simple in the summer because I am running around a lot more. So I'm doing a lot more kind of pot luck style dinners with friends, a lot more picnics, a lot more cold meals, and that does actually help me save on my grocery bill in the summer. It's salads and sandwiches and backyard barbecues where I just have to bring one side dish. So know that there could be room in the budget where the holidays. Is our okay plan for food right now? It's yes, food, but recognize that you can go a whole lot more simple. You probably don't want big heavy meals. You're probably not gonna want to be even using electricity to cook a lot. You're not gonna be using your oven or stovetop as much, So lean into that to make a room for some of these other things.
Yeah, air conditioning man, you all said it. Look at now the places you need to be like patching up or insulating the places where your AC is leaving your house. Do it in early June so that in mid July you're not seeing you're not shocked by any any air conditioning bills.
Yeah.
So Eric and I both in the summer like hot hot summer and in the wintertime have used the plastic over the windows and that helps significantly keep it the area cool. I'm thinking when we were in a previous log cabin and when we were in our RV. But to your point of checking out where air is leaving your house, it does actually make a difference to really be able to seal up as much as you can.
Yeah. So the next one for me, I will continue to talk about kids' activities, but I will include the things you do have to pay for now. So these are memberships and fees and childcare. So if you are putting your child in childcare, there is not a lot you can do there. Your childcare provider deserves all of your money for taking care of all of the children. I truly believe that. But if you are not well, If you are, and then that's where you're going to want to be intentional about reducing other things in your life otherwise, So memberships to the pool for the summer, or fees to like indoor playgrounds. I know we in Florida, we need the indoor playground. So I personally am going to get like a ten like punch card, you know ten visit punch card to an indoor playground and then I'm going to you know, do those out over the summer. So anything like swim lessons, anything that costs money to right now be comparing prices on pools and memberships and indoor playgrounds, like think about what you want to do and compare the prices and then put that down on your schedule. The worst thing is is that we buy these things, we get a really good deal on them, and we don't utilize them all.
Yeah, do you buy get many or you forget you had them?
So put it on the calendar so you make sure you use it.
Yeah, that's key. The next one on the list that I'll highlight is both graduation and wedding gifts. Start to think about who do you know that's graduating weddings have you been invited to and start to plan for how you're going to bring gifts And if you're feeling like you can't afford that, then you should probably not go to the wedding or to the graduation. You can send a nice card, but also there are ways that you can think about giving nice gifts in a affordable way. I don't like using that word, but it's for lack of a better one. I love group gifts for weddings. I think that you can make your money go further when you're able to do that. I think it can also be worthwhile to look at what are the things that are on sale during the time that you are going to the wedding, Like we know certain types of appliances or yeah, kitchen items can go on sale right around the summertime. You might be able to even give a really good gift at a reduced price then what it might typically go for throughout the year.
Yeah, but if you wait until the last minute, like I do, then you're paying full price for something that you really don't need to I love the group gift idea because it is most likely that you are going to that wedding with two or three other people that you know, and they are also stressed about the gift, So you can pull your money to get a really nice gift because we are frugal. We are not cheap. Yes, we are generous, And.
If you can't be generous, then don't go out to eat. If you can't dip, yeah, don't go to the wedding if you can't give a gift. Yes, yes, one of my favorite things to do is back to the selling things on face marketplace. But whenever I do get cash, because it's not much these days, I just stash it away, so that ends up being what I will spend on fun activities or gifts like wedding. So I typically am a person who shows up with a card with cash in it, So that's something to consider too. If you're not one to typically use cash, if you're not a cash envelope girly like me, then keep those things aside and just be able to pull from that for these fun things you want to do throughout the summer, or the gift that you forgot about.
And shout out to Brittany our frugal friends, like a long time listener member friend who should get here here tomorrow, literally the day after this episode comes out. So I don't know if you'll be listening, Brittany, but.
I'm very excited about the gift.
Hope you've got our gift.
Yes, we did send a gift to Brittany. I think she probably got it already. It's knives. I can't not talk about it. Oh my freaking love knives. A great knife set on her registry and I was like, boom, there it is. I knew it.
Frugal friends are definitely gonna get for me. If you send us an invitation to your wedding, will we might show up, but we'll definitely get knives. Definitely get you knives.
Oh now, we're gonna get a lot of people.
Well you got You have to be willing for us to show up. That's the thing. It's the risk you take. If you invite us to your wedding, you have to be willing for us to show. It has to be a real invite. I need to be able to r s VP. I need to verify with the location about the open bar. And but you will get knives. That's just I mean, you know that, all right. So I'm going to keep this theme going because apparently I have the children.
So they say.
So, they say school supplies and new clothes. This is for real. I realize this when Kai went to pre k that required uniforms, and I'm looking all over Facebook, Marketplace and Facebook. I was like, where are the uniform swaps? Where are the uniforms? And nine months into this year, I realized why there's no swaps or uniforms on marketplaces because they are destroyed. Like I sent Kai to school this morning with a shirt with a white polo covered in permanent marker drawings. He's there right.
Now with it, but I put it on it.
I put it on him. He's got like six weeks of school left and we're not buying more. But the kids do grow throughout the year. So the clothing I bought in the summer didn't buy Christmas. I had to get him a bigger size. So think about sizing, think about how close your kid is to the next size up, and potentially send them in bag year clothes the first half of the year. I don't know, but they have great sales on school clothes. At the end of summer, You've got your tax free days, so do some loading up, do as much secondhand as you can. And man, if you're going, they're still going uniforms.
I I still feel like there's going to be stuff at the thrift store or potentially if you do enjoy going the yard sales, because I do think people will buy ahead of time and then their kid just never ends up being the y size.
We did find a lot of his pants and shorts at the thrift store, a couple of shirts, so definitely pants and shorts. Shorts, especially pants. The knees tend to like rub out, but oh my gosh, ten times out of ten I can find shorts at least in uniforms. And then like, if it's just regular clothes that your kid is wearing, those you can find in abundance at the threst store, like literally new with tags. Also, check out Kid's consignment like Stelli Bellies. That's I think a national chain, but Kid's Consignment stores locally.
And Benny would should be a good extension for this.
Benny right yes, Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash b e n I you can go looks it's free. Yeah. Say you're looking at the Children's Place uniform tops. So you go on there and you're looking at the tops. The Benny browser extension will then show you on eBay, poshmark thread up all the secondhand online retailers. The closest thing to those shirts that are on all those sites, which like ten times out of ten will probably be identical because those are the most popular uniform shirts.
It's an awesome extension.
Yes, it's fantastic, so you'll be able to save some money and usually you'll probably find them honestly new with tags, even on the second hand sites. So definitely use Benny when you're looking for your kids clothing. I love telling the story about how I was working at a foster group home and I was in charge of going with the kids, going with the teens for them to pick out their school clothes, and they got a three hundred dollars allowance, and I was like, oh, we going a Plato's closet. You will And they got so much. They could not spend three hundred dollars each at Plato's closet, and they all got so many things they loved. They were just delighted. It was half off what we would have spent new. It was just a fantastic experience. And I got so many punches on my punch card. I got so many twenty percent off discounts because of that experience.
Wow, it was taking advantage of the system win when.
It was just like blessings, be blessed, you know, that's what it was.
The last thing on this list that all mention is lawn care. I mean, some of you don't have lawns, and that's great, but if you do have a lawn, don't forget that it's going to go nuts in the summer.
We forget about that every year. Uh huh, how nuts? So, and this is a time thing. If you need to hire somebody to do your lawn over the summer, you better do it yesterday, right because they will be booked.
Yeah, but I also think to pace yourself with this. Some of us who do have your yards and lawns want to do all of the things and make it look as beautiful as possible. And I also want to give permission to say, sure, mow the lawn, water the plants you care about. But also it doesn't have to look perfect, and you don't have to do all the things you ever wanted to do to it. This exact summer. You can get even if you want to mulch, you can get free mulch. Most cities and townships have free mulch available because it's all the debris that they've collected throughout the city that they've ground down intumulch. So look up free mulch in your area, be able to pick that up or figure out how to reuse things on your property. I will often just pile up my leaves in a corner and mow over it and then use that as mulch, and I just propagate the stuff that I already have on my property and plant that. So also know that, Yeah, you have to take care and maintain things, but don't go nut.
So yeah, I think don't look at lawns on social media or in lawn care advertisements. I think we really have to be happy with the patches of grass that are in our front and backyards. Like, embrace the patch. It's fine, it doesn't have to be perfect, and there is some research you can do for like what are the best grasses for my area. We don't want to be uneducated or uninformed, but embrace your season. If you are a parent of young children and do not have the time to invest in your lawn or the money, then embrace having an unesthetic lawn. If you don't have the time to mow every single day, yeah, then embrace the weeds. Embrace the six inch grass.
I will also say sorry back to like some tips for saving if you do want to plant some things, it's also really possible that your city has plants that they would give you for free to plant on your property. Like Penelis County where we live, there's all sorts of environmental plans to kind of reduce flooding and wanting to plant native plants, which that's definitely something to look up in your area because it's going to be more advantageous to the environment and the ecosystem if you plant what is native to that area. But a lot of times cities will get these grants to do some of these environmental efforts and they just start looking for places to put all of these plants. So look into that in your area too. You might be able to get some of the stuff that you've wanted for free if you're willing to say, yeah, put it on my property and I'll help out our community in that way. Yeah.
Absolutely. And again, if you want to hire a kid to mow your lawn, ask them yesterday, yeah, because they if you don't somebody else.
That's my favorite hack. I just call up the kids next door and I tell them to come over and help me, and they we get so much done. They can weed, pick sticks, water the plants. I'm teaching the oldest how to mow. I'm out there with them, but I'm able to get so much more done on the lawn for five bucks I pay them each. Yeah, by the end of the day, I've spent not a lot of money, and I got a lot done.
And how old are those kids they are?
Wait, am I gonna get no?
No, no, no, I just like you can start kids helping in the yard like younger than you think.
They are four, seven, nine and twelve.
And what does the four year old do?
I give them a little water and candy waters the plants on my porch, and he can pick up sticks and put them in a bucket.
Yep. Yeah, So if you have a four year old, then they can start helping you in the yard, in your garden, and that just builds good habits too, honestly, Like, yeah, even if it takes you a little longer to do something, it's it's going to be a lot better in the long run. It's going to be time well invested.
Well, these are my kids, so they probably do listen to me better than they listen to their own parents. But it works for me find other people's kids so much true.
There you go, there you go, kids for your yard work. I love that. So the last thing I want to talk about is just a little encouragement, like how to have a fun summer when your finances fall short. That's what the title of the article is, and it not even falls short, but just maybe you are in a season where you are really focusing on debt payoff, or you're really focusing on saving for college or something, and so you can still have a really excellent summer. I personally am doing a low spend summer. So like I did no spend January, where spent no money on certain things for thirty days, so I'm gonna do the same thing over the summer. But instead of those thirty days being consecutive, They're going to be spread out throughout the summer. And so obviously I will spend on you know, some days, but I will do I'm going to try my hardest to plan in advance to really have a low spend summer. So even those things like I'm buying that ten card punch card, if I go there and don't spend any money, I'll still consider that a no spend day because I took the time to plan and I am rewarding myself for planning. So but this is when you are trying to pay off debt, really focusing in on the free activities. So museums passes from the library, go into your library and ask them what else they have, because it's most likely not just library passes, it's all. So the other time, like the other day, I was in the library and I saw a ukulele kit, like learn the Ukulele, a kit with a ukulele and a book, and I think it might have been a CD. I'm not sure, but it was just up there. So go in and talk to the librarians and see what's available, and just make it a point to take advantage of all that this summer, and then see what your health insurance gets you, like what activities you can get discounted or some you know are included in stuff like that. We often forget about our employee benefits in the summer when things start to maybe slow down. If that's if it's a slower season for you, then take advantage of all of the employee benefits or if you're a member of something like triple A or whatever. If there are benefits to a membership, look those up and try to take advantage of them over the summer. It's such a shame, I'll say it again. We get great deals on something, they sell us on all the benefits in the features, and then we never use them. And so this is a really good time to be intentional about the things you have already paid for and utilizing those the gift cards, all of those benefits. So be flexible, plan in advance, and you can have a really great summer without spending a lot.
Do you know what else is super flexible and gives me a great podcast episode experience, I think I do without spending any money. The Bill of the week.
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Buck bills, Buffalo bills, bill claim. This is the bill of the week.
Hello frugal friends. My name is Mary. I am an elementary music teacher and I like to read a lot in my free time. So my bill of the week is the bill that I have not paid because I got all of my books from the local library. This year. I have read twelve books so far. So I added up to the cost of what all of these books would have been had I gone to Barnes and Noble and bought them. And by getting my books from the library, I did not pay two hundred and ninety dollars for them. It's a lot of money that I get to use for things like gas to get to work, like purchasing tea for my throat, and other wonderful things. Hip hip, hooray, hip hip hooray.
Yes, just another vote for the library. It's so good. I have audio books on my phone right now. I've got a library book at my house. It's just a gift.
Yeah, the library is a gift. They know that they're a gift, and they're just over there given. Yes, And this is this is great.
Mary.
You are speaking directly to me and tallying up what you would have spent. I love doing stuff like that, and what is my cost savings? What might I have spent two hundred and ninety dollars. That's significant, Not to mention not having your shelves cluttered with a ton of books that most likely, at least for me, I don't read books twice, so then it's just sitting there like this badge of honor, which is cool. But better yet, just call into the Frugal Friends podcast and tell us how many books you read this year? A man? Yeah, stack them up on your shelf. Twelve books already, that's amazing. Yeah, girls done. If you all listening, want to submit your bill of the week if it has to do with money you could have spent but you didn't. Now you're finding better ways to spend it, or you're just out there being a bill and join your summer Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash bill, leave us your bill, and now it's time for the Lightning Around show.
All right, Jill, what are your summer plans? What are you budgeting for this summer?
Similar to you, I am in a low spend season. It's a low spend year. We're gonna call it for what it is, twenty twenty four.
You know.
It's this book, man, because it ain't sell until Juary, so we ain't seeing any money. It's a sacrifice that we're willing to make.
We are making the sacrifice here's the thing. I'm actually really grateful for this. I did write about this a bit in the book, maybe not necessarily my story, but the idea of contentment. Knowing that twenty twenty four was going to be just a little bit tighter, but I was making that choice has caused me to shift my mindset to say, how can I lean into contentment this year and in every season? What's around me that I can really enjoy? You've heard me talk about this if you've been listening to us in twenty twenty four, but the same thing for the summer. But I'm not bummed about it, which feels really cool. We've had far fewer guests. I have not traveled nearly as much as I have in any other previous year. And the slowness and the simplicity and the really challenging myself to find contentment and be grateful has produced that like gratitude has produced contentment. Not just sitting here saying be content has made me that way, but the mindset of what can I find around me that brings joy and is fulfilling? And so anyways that said, I am going to be teaching a course actually online this summer for those of you who don't know. I am an adjunct professor at a previous university that I used to go to, and that's that's fun for me because it's a way that I can make money, it's a way that I can kind of stay connected to social work and forces me to read some books that maybe I wouldn't have chosen at this stage anymore, and I'm looking forward to that. I will also, though, be going to a wedding, so we already did book the flights for that, and we'll be staying with friends. But that is what always gets me. A are going to be eating out more and I am beginning to set some money aside for that.
Are these friends that you have housed?
No, actually I've housed her brother, but not her, so she'll probably she'll probably be next on them.
There you go.
Yeah, how about you, Jen?
So I have Kai with me all summer. The baby will still be in daycare.
I mean, you have your children with you twenty four can but Kai will be out of school. In my heart, You're like, I'll have Kai for the summer, Like, well, yeah, he belongs to me.
I house and feed him, but he will be in my presence.
Yeah.
More so we're not doing any summer camps. They just again, it's a low spend summer. I couldn't justify the cost, and so I'm just like working less, which means less money too. But yeah we are.
Oh man, this is If you feel sad for us, be sure to write it on your calendar that you plan to buy our book.
Right, please buy our book. Do not get it from the library, please or tell the library to get like twenty copies.
That'll be fine.
To tell them to do that and buy it.
Yeah.
Please.
If you set just ten cents aside every day from now until September, you will be able to go for the book.
Sarah McLaughlin's over here. I'm gonna be going to the indoor playground, like I said, and I I, okay, this is a stretch goal. I want to go to Disney World with Kai. They've got a really good Florida resident deal, so I am hoping that I can stretch enough dollars to get that.
When. Well, you'll have to decide soon because I think that pass is only good through September.
Yeah, I know, well we would only we would go in the summer, so yeah, okay, yet, Okay, We're gonna do this thing. We are gonna do it.
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Yeah, see you next time.
Gorugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani, So by the time this comes out, it will be summer. This will be the first episode of our official summer whose Summer Kai and I Yeah and Kai are summer.
Oh you should, God, you should well.
I already log it in like my five year journal, but I am going to print out a June and July calendar and I'm I'm going to write the things we're going to do and when so he can see it, and I'm going to make sure that it's as structured as possible, so in hopes of not ruining him when he goes back to school in the fall, ruining all the progress that he's made with having structure.
Yeah. Yeah, well the teachers are ready for it. They know, they know the kids haven't been structured.
Yeah. Yeah, but I got great news. So we actually paid for a three day camp at Kai's new school that they do for incoming kindergarteners just to familiarize them with the teachers and the kids and the campus and the district did the camp for the kids. So I don't have to pay. I had already paid for it, but I get to get my money back. So and as far as camps.
Are, right, when you've already paid.
Yeah, that's it. I didn't get my money back, but like, as far as camps went, that was the most affordable one, you know. So and I get the money back.
That's so great. What are you going to do with that money that's like your bill of the week? Oh wow, I don't know.
Maybe put it towards our Disney Fund. I have a friend and former editor who just started working for the Disney Parks Blog. Wow, so maybe I'll try and get some freelance writing gigs there.
We're all getting summer jobs, working us someone job.
It's great, It's gonna be great, So looking forward to that.