The Big Camping Checklist

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

If you’ve done all of your preparation and have packed nearly everything you thought you needed for your first big camping trip, it’s time to go through your checklist. But there’s just one problem: what if your initial checklist wasn’t comprehensive to begin with? If you start out with a bad checklist, you won’t necessarily bring all of the materials and supplies you’ll need to have a comfortable, fun camping experience. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most important camping materials you’ll need to bring on your big trip.

For the Tent

Inside the tent, you’ll want the following things: sleeping blankets, an air mattress or at least sleeping pads, a flashlight or a lantern, reading material, and enough pillows to rest comfortably. You can also bring some optional material like camping cots, which keep you above the ground.

Why bring reading material? In case there’s a particularly rainy day, you’ll find that your tent is one of the most welcoming places you have. Bringing a favorite book or some humorous material to read can really boost your mood on those ugly-weather days. It should go without saying that you’ll need to bring a tent along with all of these items: do not forget the tent!

After your sleep is taken care of, another high priority will be your stomach. There’s no point in going camping if the entire time you’re racked with hunger because the campfire won’t start, or you didn’t bring enough supplies to create effective meals.

Make sure you bring a cooler full of food that needs to be cooled: efficient foods include hot dogs, pretzels, energy bars, nuts, trail mix, and buns, breads, and bagels. You’ll also want to make sure that you bring along a camping stove to put over a fire.

When it comes to the fire, try to bring at least some matches or a lighter. It won’t hurt to bring a flint just in case you run out of either of those. If you plan on getting a lot of firewood together, bring a water-resistant tarp that you can store the wood in.

Medical, Communications, and Other Items

The most important thing on your big camping checklist? Safety. Communication with other people can help you stay safe, but you’ll also want to make sure you bring some medical supplies of your own.

In order to stay fully prepared, bring a Swiss army knife, a first aid kit, batteries for the gadgets you’re using, a compass, maps of your area, as well as phones and GPS devices if you can afford them.

Photo Credits: HGruber

How to Save Money on Camping

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

In these difficult economic conditions across the world, it’s not always easy to consider luxuries like camping trips and vacations as “essentials.” However, if we’re going to maintain our sanity during these times, we’ll have to keep living our lives and find ways to scrimp, save, and still pull off an adventurous, fun lifestyle.

That’s why this article will explain how to save money on camping, allowing you to take a quick, easy, fun camping trip for less money then you’ve been spending in the past. Let’s take a look at how this is done.

To save money on your camping trip, start in your house.

Your house? Absolutely – before you even start spending money for equipment and camping gear, you need to look in your garage, basement, and attic to see what you’ve already got. No sense in buying a new tent if you already have a perfect one downstairs, waiting to be used.

Second, don’t go to the store to buy camping gear without a search online.

Online stores like Amazon and eBay might have what you need at lower prices, especially if you’re buying used equipment. If you don’t have an Amazon or eBay account, don’t worry – it won’t take long to set up and you can be saving in no time! Use the internet to find cheap items you can buy that you didn’t find around your house.

Third, bring your own food and be ready to cook it.

Buying bulk items like hot dogs and buns will be much cheaper than taking your family out to eat, and roasting wieners over the fire makes the process fun. Just make sure that you’re ready for your food: pack up a cooler with ice to keep your meats cold and fresh and you’ll be set for the weekend. You can even cook popcorn over your fire, which makes a great snack and is incredibly easy to carry.

Looking at these tips, you have a great starting point for saving money during your next camping trip. There are dozens of other ways to save money, so the rest will depend on you: if you adequately plan and prepare for your camping trip, you’ll find that saving money is easy, as long as you hold a watchful eye on every purchase and ask yourself “can I save money doing this a different way?”

Photo Credits: mckaysavage