Coupon Queen: Budgeting for family fun activities

Doing fun activities with your family can be a challenge with a smaller budget. While the cost upfront can be a bit more, I've found that a season pass or membership can often be a better choice for a family. Here are a few reasons why. Built-in fun Looking for something fun to do? Reach for your membership card. When you have a season pass or membership, you already have a place to visit that won't cost you any more money. This can cut the cost in the entertainment section of your budget significantly. Bonus perks Many memberships come with perks such as 10 percent off food, early hours for members only, deals on bringing a guest, and more. These benefits should be considered when looking over the cost of a membership. Savings over day pass If you do the math, you'll often find that buying a family pass/membership somewhere doesn't cost much more than paying for a one-day pass for each person. The savings stack up when you factor in using that pass for up to a year, Great for travel Bring your membership or season pass if your family likes to travel. A Cedar Point Platinum pass gives you access to Cedar Point and all Cedar Fair parks. Best of all, six parks are within an eight-hour drive of northeast Ohio. A Cleveland Zoo membership also offers up to a fifty percent reciprocity with other zoos nationwide. You can visit zoos such as the Detroit Zoo in Michigan and the Miami Zoo in Florida with your membership. When you use these passes while on vacation can save you a significant amount of money. Shorter but more frequent When my boys were younger, they could rarely last a whole day at a place of fun. Honestly, neither could I. When we visited the zoo, a museum, or an amusement park, they usually didn't last for more than three hours. A season pass allows you the flexibility to go somewhere for just a few hours without feeling guilty that you've spent too much money. Discoveries When you have a membership to a museum, for instance, you can spend your time visiting every nook and cranny of the building. Attend all of the demonstrations, and spend extra time in the limited-time exhibits. With your membership, you can come again and again, so you'll be able to explore the exhibits in a much deeper and more impactful way than only visiting once. This week's deal Here's a deal to grab this week at CVS. Select Colgate toothpaste 2/$7.98 Buy 2 = $7.98 Use the $7/2 Colgate Products digital manufacturer's coupon (can be found on the CVS app or online. = 98¢ total – just 49¢ each! Rachel Krych is passionate about helping others spend less and save more. In addition to her weekly column, she has a blog, Couponing With Rachel, which earns her compensation from Google for ads it places there, and from entertainment marketers whose promotional codes she touts. She doesn't write about entertainment in her column. Email her at couponingwithrachel@hotmail.com.