Getting the family out of the home and entertained becomes a growing challenge for the wallet.  Often, most events and venues have a hefty entrance fee.  Entertainment venues provide great prices for children, but often the adult rate is blown out of proportion making a family day feel like a mortgage payment.  Here are some fun ideas for entertaining your family without breaking the bank.

Look for free tours in your area.  Often, many manufacturers and production businesses offer free guided tours of their facilities.  These tours can be great for children as they offer great educational experiences as well as appreciation for how products are made.  Some examples:

*large bakeries, candy and food manufacturing plants (be ready for free samples)

*wineries, breweries, and vineyards

*local food producers like dairies, cheese makers, maple syrup producers, and organic hobby farms

*research facilities like marine biology centers (skip the zoo!)

Go to your local tourism websites.  By googling your local tourism site and other keywords like “things to do in …”, you will find a wealth of budget friendly activities.  Research in advance to find special early bird deals.  Have a calendar ready to write down all the upcoming events and festivals.  Besides the free entertainment, local festivals often generate free samples and participation prizes.

Get involved in charity events.  Consider having your family take part in a charity event like a walk/run fundraiser.  Your whole family will benefit in doing something together while supporting a great cause.  Participation is often free or low-cost. 

Sitting at home on the weekend is a waste.  Bring your family together and enjoy the great variety of affordable activities your area has to offer.  Seek out activities that bring educational qualities and stimulate your children’s perspective of the world.  With a little creative research, you can keep your whole family busy and fulfilled with low-cost entertainment.

Saving money can come easy with smart thinking and creative measures. Having small saving strategies in several places adds up quick to large sums of retained cash. One tip for adding another small saving tip to your wealth management plan is stretching out your liquid hand soap.

First tip for saving money on soap is to always look for coupons online and offline. Second tip is to buy in bulk (preferably a wholesale bulk discount centers like Costco). Aim to purchase bulk refill packages as these offer extra savings.

Final tip is to stretch out the savings and quantity of your liquid soap by adding a portion of water to the dispenser each time you refill. Experiment with the proportions of water and avoid over diluting the hand soap. Try about 10-20% water to volume of the dispenser. Eventually, you will find the right consistency that offers sufficient washing effect. When mixing the water and hand soap, avoid vigorous stirring or shaking to prevent the formation of suds.

Often, the concentration of hand soap is far more than actually needed for ample cleaning. By wetting hands first and then dispensing diluted hand soap onto your hands, you will have plenty of soap and suds to wash your hands.

By diluting your hand soap, you save on the number times you need to purchase liquid soap, and you also reduce the consumption of plastic and fossil fuels used to produce and transport this product to the store. Reducing your consumption of liquid soap also reduces the total amount of chemicals going down the drain each time you wash your hands. For those wishing to go that extra ‘green-mile’, consider buying the new range of biodegradable and non-antibacterial liquid soaps. We do not need all the colorings, perfumes, and other fancy agents to get our hands clean.

Saving money on simple things like hand soap offers the opportunity to save money for more meaningful and rewarding ventures in life. Remember, life is no fun when money is hoarded, but life is way more fun when we can get more out of our savings.

One of the worst ways to lose money is to have your financial institution purposelessly drain money from your accounts every month. It is quite amazing how many banks charge you to put your money into their financial services. Without your money, banks would not exist, yet we still let banks zap our accounts with transaction and monthly service fees.

These institutions take your savings and use these funds to issue credit as mortgages, lines of credit and loans. Again, they need you more than you need them. So why are so many people passively paying these monthly fees?

Start shopping around for the best financial institution that can offer little to no fee savings and checking accounts. Find programs that do not lock you into contracts and terms. Banks and institutions now need to become more competitive. It is more common to find high interest savings accounts that do not penalize you for with drawing money.

Research credit unions as they can often offer accounts with little to no fees. Just keep in mind that having all of your funds in credit unions could pose challenges for acquiring mortgages down the road, especially if you are an investor (discuss this with your mortgage broker).

Choose banks that can provide online banking services with no extra fees including online bill payments and transfers. When moving to a new bank, barter with them. Make them work for your money. Ask them what they can offer on top of the account profile presented. Go for the absolute basic account plan as often as possible and avoid being influenced to using an account with unnecessary features (and an unnecessary fee)-these extra features are set up for those who often have undisciplined money management skills.

Be smart and avoid the monthly drain from banks. Shop around for banks as you would for any other bargain.

Each year, online purchases become more popular as shopping through the internet provides convenience and more accessibility to products. Shopping online can be tricky, but with some simple strategies, you can save a bundle of money on your purchases.

Here are some simple tips and guidelines for shopping online:

*Go through to the ‘checkout’ before purchasing and see if the vendor has a ‘coupon code’ option. If so, then enter keywords for this product or vendor (like “online coupons fancypants.com”) in search engines. If no online coupons can be found, contact the vendor and ask for a promotional code.

*If you are purchasing a service or subscription, ask for a free trial before buying. Avoid free trials that require credit card submissions. If you do submit your credit card, confirm with the vendor when the first payment will be applied. Enter this date on your calendar to remind you to cancel. Most vendors with subscription models make large portion of their money from people who do not use the service and who forget to cancel the payments.

*Watch out for the shipping fees. Make sure the savings you get online are not eaten up by the shipping fees. If you are purchasing products from another country, also be careful about calculating possible duty fees. Also avoid being up-sold with the idea of buying more to save on shipping costs. Don’t buy something you don’t need. If the vendor offers free shipping when a certain amount is purchased, see if friends are interested in buying products to help you reach this free shipping threshold.

*Take a little time for research. Spend time finding comparable products on other sites and see what vendors can offer to gain your purchase. Also do research on reviews of this product before buying to avoid “duds and lemons”.

*Read the ‘terms of use’ and all other policies to insure you can cancel/return the purchase and get a refund, if needed. The ‘terms of use’ can be a long-winded page, but take the time to read what contract you are agreeing to.

Become a savvy online shopper and use your savings strategies to the fullest. Enjoy getting the most out of your money.