I was a single mom on a budget. I couldn’t afford summer camp for my son, but I still made sure he enjoyed his time off school.

• I was on summer break at the same time as my son, and I loved spending time with him.
• But I was also a single mom on a budget, and had to get creative about what we did.
• I couldn't afford summer camp or fancy vacations, but we spent plenty of time outside.

As a single mom, a big reason I became a teacher was so that I would be on the same schedule as my son. He would be at school while I would be at work, and I would be on break when he was.

I wanted to spend as much time with my son as possible, but I was also on a budget. The cost of childcare or summer camps would have been an additional expense I wanted to avoid. After the monthly bills, I didn't have a lot of money left over for extracurriculars or expensive trips during our summer breaks.

I had always worked hard to find a way for my son not to miss out on what I thought he deserved, like healthy meals or quality clothing and shoes. I got good at making my budget work for us and learned how to get the best deals on the things we needed, even if that required me to get creative.

As my son was getting older, I decided to extend these financial principles to our summers and figure out how I could provide him with camp-like experiences and summer vacations without really having the money to do so.

I looked at what we could do with the things we had

First, I figured out what we could do with what we already had, like inviting friends over for playdates or going to their houses for the same. I began to find that simply changing our scenery was enough to make ordinary everyday activities feel new and exciting. So, I expanded on this idea and started packing our dinners for evening picnics in the park.

To this day, my son looks back fondly on spreading the blanket out over the grass and unpacking the basket with delight. The dinner we would have had anyway was elevated into an event that cost no money at all.

I looked for free activities around town

After making our home life more eventful, I started thinking of what we could do around town for free. I already used the library as a resource during holidays, such as taking advantage of their trick-or-treating on Halloween.

A youth librarian once told me that when the school doors close for summer, the library doors open, which is why they offer extensive summer programming. Through our local libraries, my son attended bicycle rodeos, cooking classes, and even a dog circus, all for free. Going home with a new stack of books on whatever subject he was interested in at the time was a nice bonus, too.

We spent a lot of time outside

We spent mornings at the beach together, found hiking trails in our own backyard, and spent a lot of time outside together. Spending a lot of time in nature provided us with numerous benefits: an appreciation for where we lived, an education on the importance of protecting wildlife and our environment, and a sense of having been on a real adventure. It was also lovely to come home and take a nap or cuddle up on the couch to watch a movie after we had spent the first half of the day outdoors.

For experiences like fishing, going out on a boat, or sitting around a campfire, I looked to our friends and family. I never had to look far to find someone who was willing to provide a fishing lesson, take us out on their boat, or invite us over to sit around the fire pit and discover the thrilling combination of a roasted marshmallow, melted chocolate, and crunchy graham crackers.

I took friends up on generous offers to give my son summer vacations

In order to travel a little farther, I looked again to our loved ones. My grandmother, who was a snowbird and spent her summers up north, often invited me to spend a night or two at her beachside apartment a short drive away from us, so I accepted her offer. Packing our bags, sleeping somewhere else, and waking up to just be lazy really felt like being on vacation.

I also had an aunt who often invited us to stay with her at her lakeside cabin in Vermont. That ended up being our first big trip, and the only expense I had was purchasing the plane tickets. My son got to fly on a plane, go canoeing on the lake, and camp out in a tent. Our family's invitations removed the expense of lodging, so all I had to do was accept and cover the cost of getting us there.

While I could have remained fixated on saving money or feeling left out of expensive vacations that I saw others enjoying, I focused instead on what I could give my son with what we had available. And instead of sending him off to camp and hearing about his summer when he returned, I got to experience all of it by his side, and that is what I feel most grateful for.