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We have three years of personal finance chaos behind us so far, so it might seem like a daunting task to come up with affordable and enjoyable summer plans for the next four weeks or so.

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Whether you have an upcoming staycation or you’re working and keeping your kids busy, avoid throwing caution to the wind with your spending. The second half of the year is often more expensive than the first, but there are some ways to minimize the wallop to your wallet.

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With high living costs looming for the foreseeable future, resist the temptation to focus on what you can’t do. Instead, work on plans that are possible. If you’re dreading a forced staycation because travel expenses aren’t in your budget, start planning your staycation as if you were going away.

Stash the mail, set an absence alert on your email and ease up on the chore list; grab your calendar and start researching low- and no-cost options for what you want to do; check offerings at local beaches or lakes; find out if cultural or historic attractions have discounted days; and contact visitor centres or tourism offices to see if any passes are available. Sometimes, festivals offer work-trade options so that you can attend without paying a fee.

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Also, join social media groups to find out about lesser-known walking trails along creeks or accessible forests; hit up friends who would host you for a night or two and choose affordable entertainment or recreation options in their area; and reciprocate if you can and enjoy a leisurely visit with loved ones.

If you’ve got kids to keep busy, involve them in the research. Depending on how old they are, let them come up with ideas for what they want to do and then help them execute their plan. Create a budget if they’re choosing pricy activities and help them decide which ones they can afford to do versus what’s not possible this year. If you’ve got teens, there could even be ways for them to earn a little spending money towards their summer expenses.

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Let go of any guilt you may feel about a low-key summer with easy outings and lazy days. It can be a mental reset for everyone and a refreshing break from the busyness of the school year.

You may have heard that a change can be as good as a break. If you’ve never experienced it — for instance, with a project at work that temporarily takes you away from your normal tasks — consider applying the concept to your summer plans.

Look around your home to see what project you’ve left half done. Maybe you started painting during the pandemic lockdown days, only to stop when work reopened. Landscaping and gardening projects, crafts not quite completed, the desire but never the time to stock your pantry with freshly canned berries and vegetables, and reorganizing cupboards or the garage are all projects that we may not think of tackling during our holidays. However, despite the effort they all take, the satisfaction we feel once they’re done is priceless.

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Determine your budget before you tackle an abandoned home improvement project, resurrect a hobby or overhaul your home organization. Consider what you need to get it done and what you can afford to spend.

If you still have one or two paycheques before you need to come up with the cash, think about how to spend less on extras right now: postpone a haircut, bring your coffee and lunch to work, walk or take transit if you can, visit the library in person or virtually to save on download costs for your summer reading list. Live as frugally as you can for a few weeks because if you can save even $20 each workday for as little as two weeks, that’s a cool $200 you didn’t have before.

If your vacation is toward the end of summer or into the fall, you have more opportunity to save up for what you want to do. Challenge yourself with a one-month savings goal. Set the money you don’t spend on discretionary expenses aside where you can watch it grow. You might be surprised how quickly it adds up (and how little you miss what you didn’t buy).

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There’s also time to submit volunteer applications, if possible, for activities you may not traditionally include in your vacation plans — for example, cleaning up a kids’ summer camp facility while enjoying a weekend outdoors with like-minded folks.

If an attraction accepts passes, redeem relevant credit-card loyalty points if you can, or redeem the points for items you routinely spend on so that you can save that money instead. Be creative as you look for ways to afford a vacation. Meaningful time relaxing, playing games, preparing meals, pampering yourselves or even binge watching a favourite show with family and friends are priceless.

There is ultimately no magic for affording leisure time when money is tight. But with a shift in how you think about your holidays and free time, it’s easier to enjoy the little things in life that, truth be told, really do amount to big things.

Sandra Fry is a Winnipeg-based credit counsellor at Credit Counselling Society, a non-profit organization that has helped Canadians manage debt for more than 26 years.

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