Tents Camping seems to be the flavour of the year. With the recession hitting us more than we thought, luxuries such as new cars, eating out and foreign holidays are being ditched in favour of holding on to the old car, cooking at home and going camping. So does camping represent value for money?
For many years camping has been overlooked in favour of the more expensive foreign holiday but due to the impact of the credit crunch the savings cannot be overlooked. All in, the average family holiday costs around £4,000 for 2 weeks in some Mediterranean resort. Now compare this with the cost of a top of the range family tent £1,000. Add to this the cost of sleeping bags and other pieces of camping equipment, eg cooker, fridge, table, chairs and perhaps a trailer to carry it all in, the total amount would be around the £2,000 mark. Use £1,000 to drive to a destination of your choice in the UK or even in Europe and before you know it you have saved £1,000 from your original foreign holiday. However, this is not the only saving you’ll make. Next year you have all the equipment you need for the camping holiday so you’ll save even more!
Camping is not all about saving money; it is also about getting to know your family better. There always seems to be a special bond created when a family make camp: the pulling together to create your own shelter seems to stimulate our primeval instincts. It is not always a pleasurable experience making camping but if done properly a family will understand, eventually, that through team work camp can be made quickly.
It may be trite to say that camping makes you feel at one with nature but it certainly is a step in the right direction to re-evaluating what’s important in life, and it’s not money. We don’t have to spend to feel happy! No matter how much you spend on your children the memories they’ll treasure for life are the laughs they had around the camp fire and the shared experiences of living under canvas which are free!. So go camping this year, you’ll be saving a lot more than money!