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When it comes to enjoying a vacation on a limited budget, nothing beats a good old camping trip. After all, it costs next to nothing to pitch your tent in the back country wilderness of your favorite national park. Camping is one of the most popular family activities, and many families enjoy camping together, sharing stories around a roaring fire, roasting marshmallows, swimming, fishing and all the other great things that come with a camping trip.

There are many ways to camp, from rough camping in the back country to cabins at campgrounds to even RV camping. The level is entirely up to you, and that is one thing that makes camping so attractive to budget travelers and families alike.

You know that camping is one of the least expensive of all vacations, but here’s a quick look at the expenses associated with this type of budget travel. The centerpiece of the camping trip, of course, is the tent. Unless you plan to camp in an RV (the closest I’ll ever come to “roughing it”) or rent a cabin, you will need a sturdy, high quality tent. Most campers will also want high quality sleeping bags. It is a good idea to choose a sleeping bag that is insulated, and to pick one that will be good for several seasons. If you don’t want to sleep on the ground, pick up a couple of folding cots as well. It is also a good idea to buy a couple of camp lanterns. A cooler for drinks and food is a necessity, as is a portable charcoal grill or camp stove.

There is nothing quite like vacationing in the great outdoors to get back in touch with nature. From watching the wildlife to watching the stars, there is plenty to do on the average camping trip. Stargazing is particularly popular with city dwellers, who may never have seen the Milky Way in all its glory before. Get away from the glare of city lights and see nature as it truly is.

Tip of the Day: Check out your nearest lake or state park. These are generally cheaper to get into and you won’t spend as much for gas. Also, if you forget something, you are close enough to home to run back and get it!

Now that’s a silly question in this economy! If you don’t use coupons, it’s like throwing money away. I may not be the coupon queen (no, I can’t buy $300 worth of groceries and only pay $2 using coupons), but I can save $8 – $10 on most grocery trips using coupons. There are several ways to get coupons: the Sunday paper is one of our favorites, Coupons.com, Proctor & Gamble’s site, etc.

I recently found out that you can load coupons on your Tom Thumb Reward card. By doing this, you don’t have to keep up with all those paper coupons. All you need is a list of the coupons you have loaded and you can print that from the website!

Tip of the Day: Another really cool thing is MobiQpons. This is an iPhone app that allows you to find coupons at retailers near you using your GPS location. The coolest thing about this is that you can find coupons even when you are traveling.

Yesterday, we talked about solar power. Today, I want to highlight wind power. According to wikipedia, wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. If you want to know all the history and technical stuff about wind power, I will let you read the wikipedia article.

But if you just want to get to the meat of it, namely, how do you benefit from wind power, here it is: Build your own wind generator. Yep, it can be done and this will show you how.

Tip of the Day: If you are completely hopeless when it comes to do-it-yourself projects (as I am!), but you want to go green with energy anyway, check out this website.

When you talk about alternative energy and living off the grid, a lot of people feel instantly that they will have to give up most of their modern amenities to live in such a fashion. Many more think this is an endeavor solely for granola loving hippies, whose modest ways coincide with fewer technologies, TVs, ACs, etc. The truth is, living off the grid is a possibility open to anyone. Granted, you may have a larger investment if you are powering three chest freezers and all high-energy appliances, but this would simply mean you need a larger system.

The increased demand for renewable energy technology has led to the development of more efficient and easy to use components to make living off the grid a reasonable option for anyone willing to be mindful of their energy consumption.

Using renewable energy sources to produce electricity is a fairly simple process. You need a power source – sun, wind or water – from which you will harness a low voltage direct current that is then converted, using an inverter, into usable house current (AC). Excess current generated by your system is stored in battery banks where it can be retrieved during more high demand times or times when the direct energy source is unavailable.

Living off the grid with renewable power resources is almost completely automated as well. Except for the maintenance of your batteries, there is almost no special attention needed, other than monitoring your energy use to make sure you do not exceed your supply with your demand. The key to success in living off the grid is making sure you size your system to meet the demand of your energy needs.

Living off the grid can be an exhilarating experience. The feeling of energy freedom is like no other and you can be proud of your efforts to combat global warming and best of all, you may never have to worry about a power outage again. It is important to conduct your research and determine which alternative energy sources will work best for you in your geographical area, but it is definitely worthwhile to learn how to live off the grid and feel the rush of freedom being off the grid can give.

Tip of the Day: Did you know that in some states you can sell excess energy back to your electric company? If your solar powered generator is creating more energy than you use in your home, you may be able to make a little money. See this BusinessWeek article.

You want to update your kitchen. Or maybe there is a family reunion coming up. Perhaps your daughter is getting married. We all have big expenses in our lives. And sometimes they are so hard to save for. Here is a way to save and let others help pay as well. SmartyPig is an FDIC insured bank savings program that allows you to set up a scheduled transfer for savings. But that is not all. It allows you to tell your friends and family about your project and let them donate as well. You can add widgets to your Facebook, MySpace and website.

Tip of the Day: Another way to save is to dump all your change into a bucket every night. We did that for just a couple of months and when we cashed it in we had over $85 that we gave to our daughter to use as her spending money on a weekend trip to SeaWorld.