Late Summer Frugal Fun 8.22.12

August is winding down, but with Labor Day Weekend coming up, we still have at least three good weeks/weekends to savor before all the outdoor coolness goes away (unless you live in a year-round warm climate). Most cities have fun things to do every weekend of the Summer, like free or cheap concerts, parties in the park and more.

This past weekend we took advantage of the good weather and attended Ecopalooza in a lovely Portland Park near the waterfront. There were food trucks, vendors and a line-up of bands leading up to the main event: Everclear – One of my favorite bands that also happens to be from the area! Ecopalooza is a yearly festival that celebrates green living and is totally solar powered. Better yet, it was only $12.50 to get in and lasted a good 9-10 hours.

Events like these are great, because they’re affordable, fun and you can bring a blanket and let your kids run around while you enjoy whatever’s happening – music, fashion shows, poetry slam – and munch on foods you brought from home or check out some of the latest food trucks or restaurants that are sponsoring the event and have food on-site.

Portland has a variety of free things going on each weekend between mid-June and Labor Day. You should check your city’s travel site to see what is happening around your local area. Here are just some of the things that you can do for free or cheap at home or on vacation:

• Concerts in the park or town square – sometimes they will be free, sometimes they will be cheap, but usually they always feature local bands/musicians. 
• Free movies in your neighborhood park or city center – bring a blanket and some snacks to watch a flick with hundreds of your closest friends.
• Neighborhood parties – this weekend we’ll be attending a party in our nearby park that has free food, drinks and games. Your neighborhood might have vendors, parades and other awesome stuff.
• Seaside celebrations – Near a port? Many times they offer days that are open to the public with games, prizes, face painting and other cool stuff. Terminal 4 at Port of Portland has a day each year that they bring in local musicians, offer giveaways and jetboat rides for super cheap. 
• Air shows – Enjoy amazing plane acrobatics. 
• Fairs! – County and State Fairs are all over this time of year. Churros, rides and 4-H animals. Oh yeah! 
• Farmers’ markets – If you love fresh foods, then you will want to get up early on a Saturday morning (or some other day of the week if that’s when your local one is), bring some cash and a sturdy reusable bag.
• Fountains! – If it’s hot and you have little ones and no pool, then your local park probably has a fountain for jumping in. It’s like sprinkler jumping times ten! 
• Shakespeare in the Park – I did a post on my viewing of a performance nearby. 
• Flea markets – Like farmers’ markets, but with old…I mean, VINTAGE goodies.

Obviously, this is not a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. Your paper likely has listings for cool stuff happening near you on the weekends. Don’t forget that parks are great places to bring your kids, because there are playgrounds and plenty of space for them to burn off energy and enjoy the Summer.

What’s your favorite frugal way to spend Summer days at home or on vacation?

Review: Pocket Rocket Bag from Scout by Bungalow

Do you ever wish you had a multipurpose bag for beach trips, road trips, to bring your farmers’ market goodies home in, lugging around baby toys and necessities and maybe even use as a carry-on bag? One that has tons of useful pockets that keeps all your important stuff safe and readily available? A bag that is both stylish and easy to clean? If that’s what you’re looking for, you will love the Pocket Rocket Bag from Scout by Bungalow.

With six outside pockets, you can carry a bunch of beverages if you want. I tested it with a regular size bottle of water (24 oz) and a larger one (34 oz) and they both fit perfectly. Get really thirsty? You can carry half a dozen giant bottles of water, beer, sodas or bottles of booze for that impromptu beach party. I stuffed it with everything I would take with me to the seashore, but you could easily fill it with fancy cheeses and snacks and fill those outer pockets with a variety of wines or throw some ice in it and carry picnic goodies to the park.

As you can see from the photos, the bag is large enough to carry all your essentials and then some. I stuffed this bag with a beach towel, sunscreen, flip flops, my camera, phone, a beach cover-up, my bathing suit and reading material – my Kindle and a good magazine. The bag can be left open for easy access to things inside or you can zip it closed, so nothing falls out.

It has two sets of handles – short and long – so you can hand-carry or sling over your shoulder. They are sturdy and reinforced for even your heaviest loads. Which also brings to mind another use for the Pocket Rocket: use it on vacation to carry your laundry and detergent to the Laundromat. The bottom is also reinforced, which gives you peace of mind when packing the bag as full as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten a bag and when carrying a big load, the bottom has not held up or the handles have just snapped. I either had to make it work or buy a new bag that I didn’t want to spend money on.

The inside and outside are easy to wipe down, in case of spillage. This makes it perfect for carrying wet clothes, like bathing suits or even baby items. I immediately thought that the Pocket Rocket was not only great for the woman on the go, but awesome for the busy mom. Carry this bag on road trips and load it full of travel games and toys. All their goodies will be in one place and easily identifiable, because the bag comes in so many fun patterns. The Pocket Rocket I received was the Coral Barbara Stripesand pattern and is on-trend with this season’s nautical styles. You won’t want to leave home without it. If you love this bag, check out some of their other cool bags and coolers.

More information

Where you can buy it: On Bungalow Co.’s website

How much it costs: $34.50-43.00

Colors it comes in: Coral striped (Barabara Stripesand) | Pink and orange stripe (Meryl Stripe) | Blue animal print (Boca) | Pink animal print (Flamingo) | Bright Paisley (Flashback Paisley) | Black paisley (Racy Lacy) | Blue paisley (Rad Paisley)

Size: 15″ x 14.5″ x 5″

Other specs: Zip-top tote, leatherette reinforced bottom, durable polywoven water resistant fabric.

Disclosure: I was provided with a bag from Scout by Bungalow for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are-my own.

Fall Getaway Tips 8.18.12

So, it appears as if Fall may be right around the corner, at least for the travel industry. Airfare is on its way down to more reasonable rates come Monday and that means there will be deals galore for September/October/early November travel. If you want some of the best discounts, then make sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter. Today, we’re going to talk about what you can do to make your fall travel less stressful and more affordable.

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Pack less, even when your clothes are bigger. Yes, this is totally possible. I will always tell you to plan to do laundry whenever you travel, but it’s even more necessary when you are taking things bigger than tank tops and shorts, because more items mean less valuable space for things that aren’t clothes. Look for lightweight and warm layers, like a fleece pullover or waffle-knit hoodie. I take one or two of these that will match with all my travel clothing and am set to layer them over my t-shirts if they weather becomes chilly.

Women's Savvy Zippy from ExOfficio.com

You will also want to look for a good packable jacket. I have several and prefer to bring one with a hood when traveling, as weather can be uncertain and nothing sucks worse than getting rained on when it’s already cold. You could also bring a hat, but I don’t like to bring more things than I have to. This is also why I choose a hood over an umbrella, aside from the obvious reason that umbrellas are cumbersome and only really good for one thing. Everyone in your travel party is likely to bring a jacket, so everyone is covered. (Pun intended.)

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Late September and Early October are the cheapest times to fly during the year. Kids are back in school and it’s not Labor Day or Halloween, so there are no notable parties or holidays. This makes it the ideal time to travel, if you can, and can save you huge dollars. Airfare can be as much as 50% less than the rest of the year and hotels slash prices in order to get their rooms filled. Can’t beat that with a stick!

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Pay for your rental car up front. This is actually a trick that works throughout the year, but when trying to cut costs somewhere while planning the basics, this is a brilliant way to do it. I’ll use myself as an example. I’m traveling next month and was looking for a car for 11 days. If I booked through the regular sites for car rentals that let me pay when I picked up my car, then my rate was going to be somewhere in the range of $432. That includes taxes, but come on! That’s over $40 per day.

I’ve been holding out for something cheaper and caught a great email in my inbox saying I could find rates as low as $9.95 per day. While I never find that rate when I see that email (like once every two weeks), I did click through and find one for $16.95 and was able to book my rental car with Hertz through Hotwire for a total with taxes of $247. That’s almost $200 less! I paid up front and it is non-refundable, but I’m fairly sure that is the best deal I’m going to find and also will be making that trip. If my flight gets delayed or cancelled, it says I’m covered, so I will revel in my rental car hunting skillz. It pays to do your homework and compare multiple times before booking. A week ago that rate was up to $303.

Head to the beach when the weather cools down. Fall and winter are not the times that people flock to places like Myrtle Beach or Santa Monica, so it’s the perfect time to go and beat the crowds and the soaring temps if you can go right before the weather turns. Next month is going to give you great weather and cheap hotel and condo rates. If you have a big travel party now is the time to book for a budget vacation for everyone.

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Plan a trip to Disney and other theme parks. Once school is back in session, the crowds drop dramatically around the big theme parks, so you can find huge deals on vacation packages to Anaheim and Orlando. You’ll face way shorter lines and be able to do more, even when the parks are open shorter hours. A lot of them have special events this time of year, too. Eric and I will be taking part in our 3rd Disney Halloween party. If you have little ones, this is like magic times two: Their favorite characters who are dressed up in (different) costumes, they get to stay up late, see special shows and fireworks and they get to dress up and go trick-or-treating in the parks. What?! Uh, yes! Even big kids like us have a blast on the trick-or-treat trail.

If you are into bigger thrills than Tigger dressed as a pirate and meeting Maleficent for the first time ever, then you might be more inclined to do Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. It’s truly terrifying, for those that like pee-in-your-pants-scary fun. These parties cost their own admission fee, so you can skip the park during the day to avoid paying double and then ride what’s open and see all the cool stuff that’s not available to the regular public before the sun starts to go down.

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These are just some of the ways to save and create a unique vacation experience outside of Summer. I’ll be using many of these tips myself and you’ll be bombarded with I-told-you-so posts in the coming months, along with a review of GoCards from SmartDestinations.com. They will save you a ton and should be super-easy to use. I guess we’ll all find out!

Do you have some useful Fall Travel Tips that have saved you big? Let us know what they are!