Summertime feels like childhood! School is almost out and the kids will be off for the summer months and sometimes to parents chagrin. But it also means fun, sun, and lemonade stands. It also means barbecues and outdoor activities and after a year in which most of us didn't leave the house it means reconnecting with friends and family and travel. Summer doesn't mean you have to bust your budget however and the TWTM crew discusses all the fun summertime fun that can be done without adding to the credit card bills!
Summertime feels like childhood! School is almost out and the kids will be off for the summer months and sometimes to parents chagrin. But it also means fun, sun, and lemonade stands. It also means barbecues and outdoor activities and after a year in which most of us didn't leave the house it means reconnecting with friends and family and travel. Summer doesn't mean you have to bust your budget however and the TWTM crew discusses all the fun summertime fun that can be done without adding to the credit card bills!
[inaudible] Welcome to Talk Wealth To Me, a safe space podcast, where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance, the information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal tax or other professional advice.
Chase Peckham:Well Felipe. Summer is coming. I can feel it. San Diego, typically around these times of the year, we have may gray and June gloom, and we've had a bit of that, but the last couple of days has just been absolutely beautiful and outdoors that heat's coming. We can feel it. I know out east where you live, that heat is probably been a little bit more than you like, but.
Felipe Arevalo:It's been kicked up a notch.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. But it's, summer's coming, man. And, and, and it's going to be a summer that we didn't get to participate in last year.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:So much with COVID-19 and the pandemic, uh, which, you know, we've talked about in a couple of our presentations and with our last swim live, we discussed just all the things that we're going to be able to do this summer that we haven't been able to do. Uh, and yet we don't want to bust the budget. We, there are tons of things that we can do without pushing the bank account to overflow. So some of those things that we can do are not just fun, but they can be pretty healthy too.
Felipe Arevalo:Right. Yeah. It's definitely something where it is as much as San Diego seasons change, they're changing. Uh, it's definitely warmed up out of here and we don't get a real season change, like some other parts of the country in the world. But as much as we, we do get little mini heat waves and they have started up, uh, which the one positive side is it starts to take care of the allergies a little, uh, the spring allergies start to go away and transition to summer allergies, which aren't that bad for me anyways, you know, but there's definitely lots of free things that you could do or very budget friendly things that you can do where we can go out and have fun. Maybe play a little catch-up from, you know, the, the things we missed in 2020 and not give up on any financial progress that may have been made due to not going out and doing things last year.
Chase Peckham:Right and that's it. I mean, cause we're all a lot of us, you know, we talk to people and they are just itching to get out, right. And they want to go on vacations and they want to get out of their house and they want to go feel free again. And yet, you know, the cost of airline tickets are going up, quickly uh, gas, as we're seeing here in San Diego is, is going up, uh, pretty quickly. But at the same time, you know, we, we, as human beings need to get away, we need to go fill our time with things. And we as a society for the most part love summer, summer means no school,
Felipe Arevalo:Right. It's something where, um, you know, it is it's, it's gives you that old school's out for summer. And you know, it's, even though we don't go to school, but our kids go to school.
Chase Peckham:Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:So you still get that last day of school feeling, you know, this year with, with distance learning, coming to an end for my second grader, school's out is a big deal for me. I could send them over to my mom's with a little one and I don't have to listen to common core math anymore. And, and it's something where, you know, it still gives that nostalgic feeling. So what summer fun ideas are there? You know, the quickest, easiest one it's available to almost anyone. You know, we were, we came up with a list here is go to a park outside, get some fresh air, let the kids run around. You have some furry friends, let your dog find a dog park, let your dogs run around, stretch their legs out, have a picnic. You know, there's a lot you could do at a park.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely. You brought up picnic and automatically thought of Yogi bear and booboo. I don't know why, but I did, uh, at a boy booboo,
Felipe Arevalo:You know what? It's something it's easy. It doesn't cost you any more money because you were going to have to eat. Whether you were out in a picnic or you were sitting at home and it's something where anyone could do it, you know, make a sandwich, make a couple sandwiches, grab some snacks, put them in a bag of any kind and then go out, take a blanket, don't take a blanket, just sit somewhere and have a picnic. And it could be a lot of fun. It doesn't have to cost you an extra money. That was one of the activities that, you know, my kids learn to appreciate. I learned to appreciate more during, you know, uh, the last year, because it's something you could do socially distance. It's something you could do for cheap. You could just go out, find a nice big area by a park and just sit down and eat what you were going to eat at home. And it's, it's a change of pace. It's something different. The kids love it. They get to run around, uh, you know, maybe you invite some friends and you guys do a picnic together and, you know, make it a whole event
Chase Peckham:For sure. And you know, it's really interesting, you know, I haven't had a picnic personally in a long time, but I have vivid memories of picnics with my family and my kids. Uh, you know, they, they like that stuff. Uh, when we had first introduced it, it was like, what is this? Because they was like, we're not going to Chipotle or Chick-fil-A or in and out. I mean, come, what is this? Uh, but it was fun. Uh, when I was little, we used to, my parents had a boat and we would do picnics on the boat, in the middle of the lake. And that was that those were very fond memories and it was cheap. Um, you know, then the boat at the time, wasn't very expensive. I mean, it was, it was a, it was a lot of fun and, and local parks. A lot of these communities, parks are fun. I mean, they, they can be.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And it's something you mentioned In and Out, Chick-fil-A, Popeye's whatever.
Chase Peckham:it's expensive after a while.
Felipe Arevalo:If you're going to eat, it is expensive, but even if you're going to eat one of those, you know, you're going to eat some fast food or something. Maybe you don't bring the in and out home with you and you bring the in and out to a park and sit down and eat it there. Or you could enjoy it. And you know, maybe your animal style double-double gets all over the place, but it's better on the grass than your flour at home, you know? And, and, and even that can be a, you know, you can turn it and change it around instead of eating it at Chick-fil-A at, in and out at, you know, wherever it is, you're eating, you know, grab it to go find the park that's around the corner and eat
Chase Peckham:It there. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the thing, great thing about picnics and that kind of stuff is you can pretty much do a picnic anywhere. Uh, and, and one of the great things that I love, and we're so lucky here in San Diego that we have the beach, right. We have a coast, uh, where we have our Pacific Ocean, which gives us the most beautiful weather that we have. And it's just, it's gorgeous. But also during the summer, you know, the, it can be crowded, right? So you have to get there at time. It can be a little stressful sometimes depending on what beach you're going to, but any body of water, right.
Felipe Arevalo:Right!
Chase Peckham:We have lakes around here, two rivers, uh, if you, depending on where you live, but water just kind of gives you that kind of easy, just kind of a less stress feeling. Uh, and, and, and you can cool off.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And there's, you know, the beach is a, If the beach is available to you, you know, get there early, because parking can be a little tough, but you know, maybe you have a river, uh, you know, a big river you can go to or a lake. And that's, uh, you know, that's a ton of fun. Some of the, uh, Midwest people, I know they call their lake shore, the beach.
Chase Peckham:Oh yeah. The Great lakes. I mean, if you ever been there, you know, that they look like,
Felipe Arevalo:Chicago has a beach. Right, and you get waves and you get all that stuff. Uh, you know, so I'm reminded by my Chicago friends, uh, that and family, that, that, that is a beach. Uh, I will argue that point.
Chase Peckham:They are very big lakes.
Felipe Arevalo:But that is for different, a different episode, but you know, it could be fun. You can go walking. If you have kids, they can play in the water. They can do all that fun things. If you don't have kids check out the sunrise or sunset, depending on what side of the, uh, what side of the, uh, water you're on and, and, and make it a romantic evening or morning. Um, you know, I, when I used to jog more, I used to love going down to the beach early morning, before it gets crowded and just jogging on the sand. It's a different change of pace. You get the different noises, um, and to watch out for seagulls. But other than that, you know, it's, it's, it's a change of pace,
Chase Peckham:Seagulls are pigeons of the coast.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Oh, we were in San Francisco one time I saw a pigeon or a seagull just swoop in and steal some kids, corn dog. It was great. Uh, not for the kid, you know, I felt bad for the kid, but it was, I wish I had caught it on camera. Um, yeah, but there's other things you can do if you have a pool.
Chase Peckham:That's even better, but not many people have pools.
Felipe Arevalo:No, you don't. But if, even if you live in apartments, you might have an apartment pool.
Chase Peckham:That's true.
Felipe Arevalo:Um, if you live in a community with like an HOA type of thing, like a condo.
Chase Peckham:Yeah we do in my neighborhood.
Felipe Arevalo:You pay an HOA, comes with a pool Take advantage of it.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. We just have a community pool it's right. In the middle of our neighborhood. It's pretty Cool.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Or maybe you have a friend who has a pool or something like that. That, you know,
Chase Peckham:Absolutely take advantage of friends with pools. In fact, they will want you to, because they don't use it nearly as much as they'd like to,
Felipe Arevalo:That's what I've heard from people with pools in their houses. Like I thought it was going to be the best thing ever. And actually don't use it as much as I thought
Chase Peckham:That's very true, but you know, they love an excuse to use it. So just say, Hey, let's have a picnic at your place.
Felipe Arevalo:Exactly!
Chase Peckham:At the pool.
Felipe Arevalo:Plan, the picnic at their place,
Chase Peckham:Maybe a happy hour. And then you get to be with friends too, which we didn't get to do in COVID land. Right.
Felipe Arevalo:We didn't.
Chase Peckham:And that's cheaper. And it's always, if you want a beer or you want a glass of wine or something, that's always cheaper than going out.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. We didn't, and you're right. That brings us to our next one. It's something where we have some catch-up to do with some friends and, and we have some catching up to do. And, and it's something where it doesn't have to cost you a lot. You know, maybe you didn't see your friends. Maybe you saw some of your friends, but not all of them.
Chase Peckham:Potluck.
Felipe Arevalo:And have a potluck in someone's backyard, have a little get together.
Chase Peckham:Barbecue!
Felipe Arevalo:I had one with my friends that I hadn't seen in a while because they were in a different bubble. And, and we, we hung out a couple of weekends ago, you know, aside from a golf outing, we had a couple of months ago that that was it. We hadn't really seen each other. It was just fun to sit down, um, you know, chip, some, some wiffle balls into some buckets in my buddy's backyard and just hang out. And it wasn't expensive for anyone.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, what's better than for summer. And I mean, who doesn't think of summer thinking of hot dogs and hamburgers and barbecue, and then, you know, another really cheap kind of a snack is, I mean, summer wouldn't be summer without onion dip. Yes. You heard me, right. Onion dip for whatever reason.
Felipe Arevalo:Onion dip?
Chase Peckham:That just reminds me of summer. And I certainly love it.
Felipe Arevalo:That's the summer reminder? And it's really not you. And it's, you know, you get that Lipton onion soup mix, Little packet.
Chase Peckham:And it's perfect. Yeah,
Felipe Arevalo:Drop that in some sour cream and you're good to go.
Chase Peckham:Good stuff Oh, good to go so easy.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Travels well,
Felipe Arevalo:Dip your chip in it. Yeah, exactly. And, and it's something you, right. It's not that expensive, you know, I'll bring chip and dip and then you mix the packet in with the sour cream, buy. Bag of Ruffles or whatever, and you're good to go. And, and, and it's something that gives your age easy to travel. It's fun. Uh, you know, that's funny though, because my wife loves onion dip. That is like her thing. Uh,
Chase Peckham:Me too. I'm the salty guy I could do without desserts, but you, you put French fries or Doritos or potato chips with onion dip in front of me. And I will go to town.
Felipe Arevalo:It's funny for my buddy's potluck. He's like bring whatever. And my first thing was, I'm going to find something sweet. Uh, so I brought donuts.
Chase Peckham:Donuts?
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:That's so weird.
Felipe Arevalo:It is weird, but it actually was a hit because no one expected there to be droughts there
Chase Peckham:Was this in the morning and afternoon?
Felipe Arevalo:Afternoon, night time.
Chase Peckham:Oh my goodness. All right. Well, that's new. That's like a dessert, I guess.
Felipe Arevalo:Exactly. And people were like,"oh, what's in that box?""Donuts." Oh, I didn't. Oh, that does sound good.
Chase Peckham:That didn't even come to their minds. Did it
Felipe Arevalo:Exactly until my best friend showed up. We didn't coordinate properly. And he showed up with donuts.
Chase Peckham:You gotta be kidding me. Two of you!
Felipe Arevalo:Both two of us.
Chase Peckham:Wow. That's crazy.
Felipe Arevalo:That's what I, you gotta plan it better sometimes.,
Chase Peckham:Were they were both from Krispy Cream?
Felipe Arevalo:No they were both from, like little local doughnut shops. At least you are supporting your local. That's good. Little donut shops that are popular in the area, but you know what, with a, with a local small business, it's funny, we both did. Uh, but you know, it's little things like that and really
Chase Peckham:And it doesn't cost much at all. And it's still so fun.
Felipe Arevalo:Right? And it's something where maybe, maybe you have the ability and you're looking to do some traveling and, you know, mentioning small businesses and supporting local take advantage of things in your area and do a little staycation, a little support, your local businesses, your bed and breakfast is your local hotels. And restaurants.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely.
Felipe Arevalo:That are trying to get back on their feet. And if you're going to spend the money, maybe you spend it local and you help your neighbors out and, and you save yourself some money.
Chase Peckham:And you still feel Like you're getting away. Right. I mean, if you can, again, lay by the pool at a hotel and even the, you know, it's local, you, you get that feeling of being away, not being at the house, not having to do dishes, all that stuff that will make you kind of refuel the, the, um, the tanks, you know, and that's, that's a, that's a good way to go about it and not break the bank.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Or maybe, you know, I like driving. Maybe you get in your car and you go for a little day trip somewhere and, and you can do, you can actually get away, but without having to, you know, break the, or even have to pay for a stay. For example, a couple of weeks ago, a couple of weekends ago, uh, we took the kids out to Borrego Springs, which is a small little desert community, about hour and a half, two hours out of San Diego. And we drove there and then we left early morning and went, and they have like little desert sculptures out in the desert. And at first I wasn't sure what to expect as far as, you know, I thought maybe my kids would like it, but it might be boring. And it was actually super fun. You know, it was about an hour and a half. And, you know, we packed a cooler full of sandwiches and snacks and, and, you know, invited my, my buddy and, and, and his kid. And they drove out also. And it was just fun to go out and see the little desert sculptures, my kids still talking about it. And it cost me less than less than a tank of gas. And, and it was something that we did in it on a Sunday, and it was fun. They enjoyed it. And it didn't really cost that much. Extra
Chase Peckham:Kind of leads me to something that, that most cities have and, or counties and, and surrounding towns, but like a farmer's market or even a festival. Right. Maybe there's, you know, there's a lot of times, and especially in, in larger cities and areas, uh, in the surrounding towns or the cities that are a part of the, the surrounding suburban areas, will have festivals, you know, they'll have concerts, the, you know, for free that you can go to that, you know, maybe they're local artists.
Felipe Arevalo:Park concerts.
Chase Peckham:Yeah, exactly. Music, or maybe it's an art gallery or an outside art show. I mean, there's all kinds of things that, that these communities and chamber of commerce has put on that are free to the communities and they can be a blast. Now, do you have to be careful of the, pop-up a$9 lemonade that you might get, or the$6 hot dog on a stick. Yeah. Maybe, but you don't have to partake in all that.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. You can have dinner or an early a dinner or a late lunch, and then show up to the thing already having eaten and not very hungry. And you can walk around and, uh, you know, maybe you're not as likely to eat as much, or maybe you share something with your, with your group there and buy a funnel cake or something, uh, bring your water with you. But yeah, they have those, the pop-up you mentioned farmer's market, you know, he may have multiple farmer's markets in your area. Yeah. You know, I know here in San Diego, we have, uh, it seems like There's one every day.
Chase Peckham:Quite a few neighborhoods have them yeah. Fresh produce,
Felipe Arevalo:Depending on what neighbor local.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Fantastic.
Felipe Arevalo:You can find Things that you might not be able to find that you're at your local store. I love going to the farmer's market and they have the one La Mesa anyways has a little honey stand. Oh, wow. And, and the, the, the guy or the girl who's running the stand, unless you try it and you can taste the difference in like the orange flower honey or the avocado flower honey, or the different.
Chase Peckham:Speaking of Yogi and Booboo.
Felipe Arevalo:Right. I love that stuff. And then little bottles are like little so I can get the one that I like,
Chase Peckham:Whine the Pooh likes honey too.
Felipe Arevalo:Sarah the one that she likes. Yeah, that's right. And, and it's, it's, it's fun. You can't get that at your local grocery, at your regular grocery store.
Chase Peckham:You can find little gems right there. You might have like local, uh, little trinkets and little artists that make jewelry, uh, that are pretty cool. I mean, I mean bitchn' sauce, which is a local thing here in San Diego, which is so yummy that started at farmer's markets. I mean, that's where you can buy them.
Felipe Arevalo:It was the only place you could get it.
Chase Peckham:Not anymore
Felipe Arevalo:Right now you can get, get them everywhere. You can get it Costco,
Chase Peckham:Well, the Chipotle they have at Costco. And that thing is delicious.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And, but you're right though, for years it was, you can only really find it at the farmers markets.
Chase Peckham:Right for a long time.
Felipe Arevalo:And, and you know, it's, it's grown and it's something where, you know, maybe you're the first to figure out that new, special thing. And you'd be like, wow, I've been eating that since, before you can get it at the store.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. It's pretty fun.
Felipe Arevalo:It's pretty fun. You know, other things you can try, you know, as we mentioned, the heat is starting back up check. If your local libraries have programs, summer programs, obviously they have free things. You can go to the library and you can borrow books, DVDs, and music. Don't forget that. It's something,
Chase Peckham:We're in a world were we download everything. We forget, we have libraries,
Felipe Arevalo:Right? You forget, you have,
Chase Peckham:kids are like, what's a library?
Felipe Arevalo:Exactly. But you know what you want to take advantage of that library, check to see if they have an app, because you might be able to download things and borrow them digitally without actually having to go to the library.
Chase Peckham:That would make sense.
Felipe Arevalo:You can go to the library. You might have to go sign up at the library. If you'd already don't have your library card or you lost it like I did.
Chase Peckham:I'll be honest with you. I don't think I have a library card anymore.
Felipe Arevalo:I think I lost mine. And, um, it came with a key chain one, but then when I switched cars, it got lost in the transition. I lost the key chain version,
Chase Peckham:But between all the different kinds of cards that you get from all the stores that are like, you know, your, your membership cards and discount cards. I mean, there's, there's not enough room in wallets and purses and stuff like that. So I would lose it anyway. So I hope all of that is digital. Now. I'm sure it is.
Felipe Arevalo:They Do. You could type in like your phone number, I think. And I know what the app, once you sign up, I mean, you might have to go into to start it up, but once you have it, you can digitally borrow books or check out books from your local library. Um, you know, and you know, you mentioned streaming. Do you pay for streaming services? You don't use first. If you never use them, you should cancel them.
Chase Peckham:For sure.
Felipe Arevalo:And save yourself some money. But if you have them, why not take advantage of it, maybe do a movie night, uh, on once it cools down and you want to, you know, have, or put a TV in the backyard. If, if you, if you can do that.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. That'd be cool.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And make it different for your kids. Pop some popcorn, buying some licorice or whatever it is that they, uh, buy. At the movie theater.
Chase Peckham:And that goes back to community too. There's a lot of people, maybe in your neighborhood, we had friends that had a, uh, a projector and they projected it off their garage and they had a bunch of the families in the neighborhood over and, you know, the parents had cocktails or, or, or, you know, a couple of, uh, you know, grown-up drinks or kid drinks and also some food. And they got to watch kid movies and they had a great time. Right? Yeah. You can turn sense of community too, the
Felipe Arevalo:Right. Which is something that we, we, uh, may not have gotten. We didn't get enough of in 2020.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely that's something that's why that keeps coming to my mind. I
Felipe Arevalo:Think. So I think, you know, it's something where you look back and you're like, man, I, I missed my cousins a lot. I didn't get to see them a lot in 2020. So it's like as much as, you know, we might've known each other, uh, it's something that's fun. It's something that you can do now. I'm enjoying helping my brother redo his backyard because I get to see people, uh, that I hadn't seen for the whole year. So, and I get to work.
Chase Peckham:And you're accomplishing something for him.
Felipe Arevalo:And I get, yeah. And I get it. I am not used to the physical labor aspect of breaking concrete and digging holes. That's that skill is long gone for me. Uh, so it's fun. It's something you can do, you know, take up your own, do it yourself project, which will be an episode in, on itself and coming up here soon. Uh, but any, any, uh, any others you got Chase
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't be a podcast on Talk Wealth To Me, if we didn't bring up hiking Phil, cause that's pretty much your thing, driving and hiking. Those, those typically are things.
Felipe Arevalo:It is.
Chase Peckham:And typically they are free. There are some national parks, maybe some state parks that might charge you a couple dollars just because they keep the parks nice. But for the most part, you can find places that you can go on hikes that are free and it's great, great exercise. It's healthy. It's outside. Just make sure you put on your sunscreen, uh, and also make sure that you're honest with the people that are going to go on the hike with you. That you're not, you know, oh, it's just, you know, a half an hour round trip and it ends up being two hours.
Felipe Arevalo:You been talking to my wife?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Cause I know that you have a reputation,
Felipe Arevalo:Everyone in the office knows.
Chase Peckham:It's a short one.
Felipe Arevalo:It's right up. It's right around.
Chase Peckham:There's no snakes
Felipe Arevalo:Right around the corner. I've, I've been, there have been times where maybe I over embellished how easy the hike was. Um,
Chase Peckham:Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:But I haven't yet.
Chase Peckham:You can get yourself in the doghouse pretty quick that way.
Felipe Arevalo:Knock on wood. Haven't yet had someone not finish a hike.
Chase Peckham:Well that's good well they don't really have a choice. If you're in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home, somehow I've
Felipe Arevalo:I've had some people turn around, um, like threatened turning around, but you know, you finish it. And afterwards, even the people that struggle through it, uh, even the people who are like really messed me up on this one Phil, this was way more than I expected afterwards. You know, they're like, you know, I'm glad I did it. And they feel good about it. Like, look, you climbed up that giant mountain. Isn't that an accomplishment? And like, yeah, you're right. It was cool. Um, so be prepared, uh, make sure you bring lots of water, but even the, the national parks and the state parks, the day use passes are usually pretty affordable. Uh, and you can do some hikes that depending on what part of the country you're in right. Are awesome.
Chase Peckham:And some of them call they're called adventure passes. Uh, so it just depends on what part of the, if it's a national park state park would have you. Yeah. But yeah, I totally agree with that.
Felipe Arevalo:We'd love to hear any other, uh, suggestions on summer fun activities,
Chase Peckham:There are quite a few summer activities, no matter where you are. I mean, believe it or not, you know what people love tailgating, right? Uh, a lot of people will have TVs. Why not set up your own tailgate before a big game or something and just locally and have people over the.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah neighborhood tailgate.
Chase Peckham:So it's just a blast, right? We love doing it. When you save your money from having to pay for the parking and going to the actual game itself, you can just watch it on somebody's TV nowadays with apps, just plug it in with a generator and you could do a little, a little, uh, tailgate. It's a lot of fun. Save a ton of money. Absolutely. Yeah. So, Yeah. And if, if you like what you hear, if, if you like the Talk Wealth To Me, and this is a podcast, please download us like us, follow us on Instagram and Facebook and, um, You know, stay with us.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. If all hope fails, you can always binge listen to our podcast.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely. And you know what? Happy Memorial Day weekend,[inaudible].