Summer Has a Funny Way of Emptying Your Wallet—These Hacks Help

Summer has a funny way of turning every outing into a budget meeting. Summer camp costs more than your first apartment, parking at the theme park is practically another admission ticket—and don’t even get parents started on grocery prices.

On Good Enough, hosts Natasha Leggero and Sabrina Jalees fight back with an entire episode devoted to spending less. Not every tip will save you hundreds, but together they make a pretty convincing case that summer fun doesn’t have to drain your bank account. 

Natasha Leggero and Sabrina Jalees Share Summer Money-Saving Tips for Families

Check the pass page before you buy a one-day ticket 

“If you live in LA, this is a great one for you,” Jalees says. “There is a California locals deal. You get for like less than $200 an annual pass to Universal Studios.”

In other words, before you buy a one-day ticket, check the pass page. At Universal Studios Hollywood, the California Neighbor Pass is the bargain queen of the bunch: it’s valid for nine months, comes with more than 150 revisit days and can cost less than two single-day tickets. Just read the blackout dates before you start treating Hogsmeade like your neighborhood coffee shop.

Skip the $60 theme park parking

Theme park tickets are already enough of a financial jump scare, so Jalees says the parking lot is where parents can claw a little money back. “There is a metro station that you can park at,” she says. “They will never tow you. It’s $3 for the entire day instead of $60 to park up top.”

If that’s not your style, she has another trick. At Universal CityWalk, a same-day movie ticket can unlock discounted parking. Plus, it doubles as a built-in break. As Jalees puts it, “Your kid is watching ‘Hoppers,’ and you are absolutely sleeping.” 

Price-check before you give up on the deal

Leggero spent days negotiating with a Facebook Marketplace seller over a new-in-box Casper mattress listed for $450—or a “Pokémon trade.” She thought she’d talked him down to $300 before he pulled an uno reverse and went right back to $450. Then, after she agreed to the price and hired movers, the seller suddenly texted that he had to help his mom, throwing her carefully planned pickup into chaos. 

Right in the middle of telling the story, someone off camera chimes in that a comparable king-size Casper costs about $850 at Costco. That’s when the math starts mathing. “Yeah, it’s $450 in the box or a Pokemon trade,” Leggero says. “I’m still winning.” Sometimes the best deals take a little patience, a price check, and more follow-up texts than you bargained for.

Look for ‘Made in Italy’ at HomeGoods

“HomeGoods, three words for you: made in Italy,” Leggero says. “Anything that says ‘Made in Italy,’ grab that sh*t…it’s better.” 

Italy has a long-standing reputation for craftsmanship in categories like ceramics, glassware, leather and textiles—the kinds of products you regularly find on HomeGoods shelves. And because the chain buys closeouts and overstock, every now and then you’ll stumble onto something that has no business costing what it does. So next time you’re in there, skip the vibes-based shopping and just flip everything over. The label is doing free quality control for you. 

Stop camp-hopping and commit to one thing

Every camp sounds like the one your kid has to do until you’re staring at the registration total. Jalees says her son’s favorite, horseback riding and archery, runs about “$2,400 for two weeks,” so this summer she decided it would simply be the summer of tennis. “This is going to be the summer that you hit tennis balls all summer,” she recalls telling him.

The hack is less variety, more value. One activity means fewer drop-off routines, fewer first-day nerves and a better shot at your kid actually learning something before August. If they come out with a forehand, a backhand and a friend they’re still asking to see once summer’s over, that’s a win.

Want to hear the rest of the summer hacks? Listen to the full episode on Good Enough, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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