Weekend Roundup and Link Love - Going Camping Edition
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Ah, rest and relaxation. There’s nothing like spending some time in a pop up camper with my beautiful wife and kids, eating our traditional camping meals, staring hypnotically at the campfire, going to bed right after dark, and being out of cell phone range from the office. I LOVE IT!
It really helps to get out of the office and break up the routine. Some would call it a “rut.” Jeff at My Supercharged Life reminded me this week that even my best excuses for remaining in a rut are nothing but, well …. excuses. Get out there and enjoy life!
Ciaran with Chance Favors writes a very interesting piece on Chinese attitudes toward money and frugality. I wonder if they go camping in China?
The great thing about going camping at this time of year is the weather. It’s not too cold and not too warm. If you want to keep your home from getting too warm, check out the Frugal Dad’s recommendations to prepare your home for summer energy savings.
The quiet, unhurried pace of camping will be a fantastic time to talk with my wife and kids about our financial goals. Setting good financial goals is one of My Dollar Plan’s five fundamentals of financial success. Check out the other four.
At least while I’m slacking around at the campsite, I won’t have to mow the yard. David at The Good Human has an article on human powered lawn mowers. I’d love to use one of these just for the peace and quiet.
Camping is a pretty cheap way to vacation. It will cost us around $15 per night to go in our little pop up camper. Patrick at Cash Money Life shows us what three new five dollar bills will look like. Seems the Feds are worried someone might be counterfeiting some Abe Lincolns!
Appears that I’m not the only one taking a few days off. Mrs. Micah has been running on fumes and is taking a few days for herself. In the meantime, she has some guest posts that are really good reads.
Buying our camper was a big purchase and we paid cash for it about 7 years ago. We’ve used it extensively and have enjoyed many family vacations in it. But buying a camper isn’t always the best use of resources. Glblguy at Gather Little By Little decided that buying a camper was his dumbest purchase ever. After reading his article, I understand where he’s coming from. We aren’t getting rid of ours anytime soon though! 
Having a frugal attitude goes along with camping in my book. Over at Frugal for Life you can read about some lessons learned from the depression.
Considering how cheap my camper was when I bought it, and its current value today, my return on that investment is pretty good! But for appreciating assets (like real estate), you might consider a different approach to ROI.
Hope everyone enjoys these links and has a great weekend. See you on Monday Morning Quarterback! If you liked this post, would you consider buying me a cup of coffee? Sphere: Related Content
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Thanks for the mention!
Will do. Thanks David.
Not sure if you have same model you have pictured, but we had a Jayco too. Hope you have a great time, and eat a roasted marshmallow for me!
Hey, yeah we have the exact same model pictured. We did have a great time, but it was a good bit colder than we anticipated. We went to Petit Jean State Park, just west of Little Rock. It’s a great state park if you ever get the chance to go.
Longer term, we would like to buy a class C and tow a small car with it, but that is years down the road, somewhere after “number 3″ graduates college and is off and married - probably 16 more years!
Enjoy your camping trip..
Mike
Thanks Mike, we did enjoy it!
Thanks for the linking to my article!
Jeff
Hey Blair,
Tent camping is great. We camped in tents for several years before deciding to go the pop-up route. It has the best of both worlds, tents, open screens, smelling the campfire at 3AM and worrying that a spark will burn something, and hearing the sounds of the forest. It also offered us the ability to keep it packed and be able to go at a moments notice, NOT sleeping on the ground (these old bones just can’t handle it as well), and when the weather is 90 at night with 100 percent humidity, and air conditioner.
No it isn’t exactly the same as tent camping and I do miss some of a tent’s fun, but it meets our needs to get outside and still maintain some sanity for my wife!
I don’t think the Feds are too concerned about people making counterfeit $5 dollar bills as much as they are people changing the $5 bills to look like $50’s or $100’s. There are some acid washing techniques that counterfeiters use to do wash old bills and print over them.
The next bill to get a makeover is the $100 bill, so this is also good practice for that!
Have a great camping trip with your family.
Thanks Jason, I’m arranging some of the pics now. We went to Petit Jean State Park just west of Little Rock. Great place. Ranks right up there with Cloudland Canyon in NW Georgia.:)
Thanks Mrs M, I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better. I should be, but I’m a little stiff and sore from hiking!
[...] but not least, it looks like another member of the Life Skills Network is heading off for vacation. Ron’s going camping, but I think he deserves a break after sharing two brilliant articles with us this [...]
We forgot the graham crackers!
BUT - we used big chocolate chip cookies instead and they were divine!
It was good to break up the schedule a bit, but I have a lot of catch up to do!