barrons

camping---blecch. I'd prefer spending the time in jail or stay home. I always wonder what people are saving up for--you only live once and as you get older it gets harder to get out there and run around the country/world. If you do things when you are younger you get to enjoy the memories the rest of your life. Even camping is almost fun when young.

emeraldkity4

I love camping- the outdoors can be more beautiful and relaxing than any $350.anight hotel room.
You just ahven't been to the right places Barrons

jym626

tien-
Browse the thread in post # 66. It lists a million good deals on the web. My favorite is www.edealinfo.com

TienIsCoolX

Thank you jym626, this is going to make me rich someday

TooRichForAid

Agree with the above quote. I think the conventional wisdom is to save money and travel when you're older but I think it's the opposite for my family. We used to travel 4/5 trips a year, now it down to once a year and maybe none and I'm not even old yet.

CountingDown

Barrons --

Be smart with the pennies and you'll have lots of $$$ when you want them!

We like to camp at places where we can set up for a few days and relax -- preferably with a nearby lake and beach. The place we go sells ice cream bars for a quarter, too -- so it works for us! DS2 makes beef bourgoinoine (SP?) in a dutch oven, we make s'mores every night, and our dog basks in the sun. Camping stinks when it's raining, I'll concede that. We woke up to snow in August in Lake Louise one year, and it was 29.6 degrees at Yellowstone another August morning (we broke out the meat thermometer to check).

On the other hand, waking up to a gorgeous sunrise on the beach in Oregon or CA, or watching a sunset over the Rockies has its own attraction, too.

Camping overseas is just too difficult these days -- too many limits on size and weight of gear, and too many things we couldn't take on a plane and would have to procure once there. When we lived in Europe when I was a kid (Army brat), camping was the ONLY way to haul a family of seven around to see the world.

jym626

Tien-
When you are rich, will you take care of me in my old age??

ScottZ1980

I should be more frugal but sadly I seem to spend money like it grows on trees. lol

I have three weaknesses- Good clothes, good food, and good wine. And like most guys, I'm a big sucker for anything electronic.

I do clip coupons for some food and household items, but I buy a lot of organic foods, so they tend to cost more.

paying3tuitions

We're frugal these ways:

We bought our car on ebay auction.

For 25 years, our only 'vacations' have been to visit my mom or my H's mom (8 hours drive away) and stay in the beds we grew up in. The big relief was to get help with the kids for a few days, well worth it.

More recently, we began house-swapping on Craigslist, so we were able to spend a week in a Manhattan apartment for $0. Living upstate, and near Niagara Falls, a suburban house has appeal to a young family. We had our frugality in common, and everybody asks this so I'll tell you: they left the house even cleaner than we left it.

We adopt our pets from the SPCA. I know that's not unusual, but still it's a good way to go.

We never bought our kids any game-boys or video game thingies, although they did so when they left home, but on their nickel. We bought computers early on.

quopoe

I agree, I love you people!!! I was just thinking on yesterday how I missed having AOL because they have a tightwads message board, here I am today, Tightwadding with the CC crew!

When my son was younger, I used a tip from AOL Tightwad message board to use cloth napkins instead of throwaways. I found some very inexpensive ones marked down and loaded up on them. Friends thought I was crazy and said that they could never do that, but I marched on. It worked for me!

barrons

I have camped at the Maroon Bells in Colorado, Yosemite, and on the beach in Mexico. Sorry but I like a warm comfy bed, hot shower in my room and room service when I want it. I don't want to cook, worry about wild animals, or not have a Starbucks within one block.

bethievt

I'm with barrons on camping--except for trekking in Nepal with a great trekking company. The Sherpas who took care of us were wonderful!

m&sdad

I love to camp, as long as I can sleep in the queen bed in the back of our RV.

Guess that fails the frugal test...

Some things I am frugal about, somethings not.

We have lived in the same house for almost 20 years and pretty much have no mortgage. No credit card debt. Cars paid for. Kids will graduate with no college debt.

But I do spend on what I like, especially computers and home electronics. I use bargain sites, rebates and generally buy a step or two down from the flagship models.

Not a coupon clipper or plastic bag washer, but I do reuse plastic silverware and don't buy high end fashion clothing...

barrons

I have been lusting over a nice RV for a couple of years but the nice ones are easily over $100k and that buys a boatload of nice hotel nights. Then there is the cost of fuel etc. Unless there are some other benefits I don't know about I am going to keep it in the dreams file. The only justification I can think of is living in it for a few months a year like a second home--that depreciates--but you can have it in Arizona one year and Key West the next.

m&sdad

Barrons,

We got ten years of fun from an RV that cost less than half the numbers you are talking. Stayed at Yosemite, Yellowstone, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, all from an East Coast base. Kept the kids seperate and happy while they were young, with a table for art and games and a TV with videos.

Also relocated to WA state for six months on business in it.

All in all, we got our money's worth from it.