9 Ways the Summer Season Leads To Savings
Written by
Andrea Norris
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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As temperatures heat up, you might worry about the increasing costs of cooling your home or watering your lawn. But summertime actually provides numerous cost-cutting opportunities.
Read on for nine ways you can save money during the summer.
Air-Dry Clothing
This summer, give your clothes dryer and electric bill a break by air-drying your clothing outdoors as much as possible. According to HomeGuide.com, the average household spends $6 to $11 per month drying clothes, depending on the number of loads and the efficiency of the dryer. Over the three months of summer, you could save $18 to $33.
Skipping the dryer can also help extend the life of your clothing.
Keep the Lights Off Longer
Longer summer days and more direct summer sunlight mean you don’t need to turn the lights on as early in the evening. The amount you can save on electricity will depend on the number and types of bulbs you have and how much you pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity.
Suppose you pay the U.S. average of $0.166 per kWh and keep eight 60-watt bulbs turned off for an extra two hours each day. You’ll save almost 16 cents daily over the summer, or about $4.80 monthly.
Pause Your Gym Membership
Warm weather offers plenty of outdoor exercise opportunities, from hiking to biking to swimming. If you can put your gym membership on hold over the summer, you could save an average of $41 per month, according to pricing reported by Sports Illustrated.
Walk Instead of Driving
As of May 9, 2023, the national average gas price was $3.53. With the average car getting 24.2 miles per gallon, you can save about $3.50 for every 24 miles you walk rather than drive if it’s practical to do so in your area. That’s about 15 cents a mile in savings.
Do Your Own Lawn Maintenance
Do you pay for a service to maintain your lawn? If you have the equipment to do the job, you could save an average of $124 per appointment. This extra work will also give you one more reason to pause your gym membership.
Grow Some Produce
You don’t need much space or a backyard to grow produce. You can plant a low-maintenance container garden in the spring and grow things like tomatoes, lettuce and herbs all summer. It just takes a small investment in a few packets of seeds, some potting soil, some secondhand pots from a thrift store and some time.
You could save an average of $1.80 for every pound of tomatoes and $2.80 for every pound of romaine lettuce that you grow. If you like to cook with fresh herbs, you can save considerably with a small herb garden. For instance, you can buy a basil plant for just a little more than the cost of one package of fresh basil from some grocers.
Enjoy Free Entertainment
Take advantage of your area’s free outdoor concerts and festivals rather than paying high ticket prices for concerts and theme parks.
Based on the average concert ticket price for the top 100 North American tours in 2022, you could save about $108.20. Expect to save an average of $74.51 by skipping the cost of an amusement park ticket.
Pause or Cancel Streaming Services
If you’ll be gone a lot this summer or simply plan to enjoy the outdoors more, consider putting a few streaming services on pause until the fall. You could save about $7 to $15 monthly — or even much more in some cases — per service.
Take Advantage of Cheap Shopping Opportunities
Summer offers some unique shopping savings you can’t find during the winter months, from garage sales to back-to-school sales. Seek out weekend yard sales for significant savings on secondhand items, sometimes as much as 90% off retail prices.
Don’t forget to restock your home office supplies when those back-to-school sales roll around, especially during tax-free days. You could find some items discounted by as much as 85%, even at stores that don’t typically sell school supplies, such as Home Depot.
Takeaway
Just because temperatures are rising doesn’t mean your budget has to increase. By taking advantage of the many savings summer offers, you can actually reduce some of your costs, which can help offset those unavoidable summertime expenses related to keeping your home cool and grass green. Or you can put your summer savings toward a vacation and more summer fun.
You can also consider putting some of that extra money into a savings account so you’re better prepared for any additional expenses the next winter might bring.
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