How to save money in Myrtle Beach, Part II
So, this post was mostly written and ready to go when I published the first post about how to save money in Myrtle Beach, but I just completely forgot to publish this second part. Whoops.
Better late than never, though, right?
In the last post I mostly talked about saving money on accommodations, and today I have some frugal activity ideas to share.
Do free/cheap things
The Myrtle Beach area is filled with attractions that can suck your wallet dry, but you don't have to go that route in order to have an enjoyable time. Here are some free things we do to entertain ourselves:
1. Play on the beach/in the pool
That's the main reason you came to the beach, right? So go enjoy it! Unless you're in an area that charges for parking (Surfside Beach does but North Myrtle Beach doesn't, and I think Myrtle Beach doesn't either), you can access the beach for free. And if you stay beachside like we do, accessing the beach is a (free) piece of cake.
Play in the water,
sit and read,
make sandcastles,
boogie board,
look for shells,
and sea creatures,
or go for a walk.
We always rent a condo that has a pool (and sometimes a lazy river), so when we need a change of page, we go play in the pool or sit in the hot tub.
Though the beach and pool are most often used during the day, sometimes we go for walks on the beach or swim in the pool at night. The kids especially enjoy the unexpected thrill of getting to put their bathing suits on after dinner.
Obviously, we pay for the privilege of staying by the beach and the pool, so it's not technically free. But using the pool and the beach doesn't cost us a penny extra, so I consider it to be a frugal vacation activity. 😉
2. Have a picnic/grill out.
In my last post, I talked about how we don't eat out a lot on vacation. We eat a lot of our meals in the condo, but to make things more interesting, we sometimes bring a meal out to the beach for a picnic, or we grill our meal on the beachfront grills.
Grilling by the beach in the evening is really quite lovely...I highly recommend it!
3. Go to Broadway at the Beach
Broadway at the Beach is a shopping center build around a lake, which means that it can definitely be an expensive stop. But sprinkled in among the stores, there are some great free/cheap things to do with kids.
Water Fountains
Near the Imax theater, there are some very fun fountains built into the concrete, and our kids always enjoy playing in the water on a hot day. Pack some swimsuits if your kids don't like having wet clothes (some of mine prefer to get their clothes soaking wet).
Dinosaurs
Not far from the fountains, two large dinosaurs stand in the middle of the walkway. These are most popular with the small crowd, of course (my two year old nephew didn't want to get off).
Duck/Fish feeding
This isn't free, but it's not crazy expensive either. The pond/lake that the shops surround is filled with really large fish, and they love to be fed. There are little coin dispensers that sell fish food, and sometimes a shop or two sells bags of fish food for a couple of dollars.
Playground
For some reason, I have no pictures of this, but there's a playground at Broadway at the Beach. It's geared toward littler kids, so if your children are Joshua and Lisey's age, I'd skip it. 😉
Window Shopping
If your children can handle it without getting a terrible case of the gimme's, window shopping can be fun. Our kids love to look around at the Toys and Co. shop even if we don't end up buying anything.
Also, Broadway at the Beach has a Del Sol shop, so if you've got your coupon, you can buy something small and get your free canvas bag.
So, those are my cheap activity ideas, but before I wrap this up, I have one last bit of advice:
Save so you can spend.
Not everything we do in Myrtle Beach is frugal.
We go on some amusement park rides.
We go out for ice cream.
We go out to eat.
And we manage this by saving up all year. We have a savings account> dedicated to vacation savings, and we start saving for next year's vacation as soon as we get home from the beach.
I wrote a whole post about how we use ING accounts to manage our individual savings goals, and really, I can't recommend this practice enough. It's useful for spendthrifts, because saved money means credit doesn't have to be used, and it's just as good for frugal people like me, who resist spending money unless it's set aside and earmarked for spending.
Even if you put just $50/month into your savings account (have it automatically drafted so you don't forget!), you'll at least have something set aside when vacation time rolls around.
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So, what would you add? Do you seasoned Myrtle Beach vacationers have some other ideas?
Yay! Thank you for putting the rest of this up! After reading your first post and tossing the idea around with both sets of grandparents, we've decoded that all of us want to rent a beach front house probably in Myrtle. It's bot the closest to us, but we much prefer the Atlantic over the Gulf (we live in Arkansas). Thanks again for your tips, I can't wait to start planning!!
Excellent! Staying right on the beach is so super handy when you have kids and it keeps a lot of sand out of your car, too.
So smart and look at the memories that your kiddoes have!
Oh yes, I don't think they feel deprived at all on vacation. 🙂
When we went to Williamsburg, VA we stayed at the Governors Inn, which is the value resort of Williamsburg. It was just $63 a night which included breakfast and free tickets to Williamsburg, plus it has a pool and you can use the free amenities at the Woodlands Resort including miniature golf, ping pong tables, and free poolside activities for children. A great deal!
That is a really good deal, especially because of the breakfast and tickets. I always choose a hotel with breakfast over one without...so handy to not have to go out.
Free tickets with a 5 night stay, I believe. We stayed 6 nights.
These are wonderful tips -- thank you! I love the idea of starting a dedicated vacation fund. Our family hasn't vacationed in Myrtle Beach, but your gorgeous photos make me want to go soon.
We have been vacationing in North Myrtle Beach for the last four years and love it! We are lucky enough to have my in-laws living there, so it's a really frugal trip for us! We almost never spend money on amusements unless the weather is bad while we are there.
We love to go to McLean Park in just off Main St in North Myrtle beach. There are two playgrounds for different age groups (both shaded by lots of trees) and a pond with ducks, fish and turtles. I save our bread scraps in the freezer all year and take them with us when we go on vacation to feed the animals at the pond.
Here's another great free activity if you want a break from the beach: http://indigofarmsmarket.com/ In addition to a great farm market, they have a petting zoo. It's a quick trip from North Myrtle beach.
what a great time you had,, wonderful photos, and that beach and place where you stayed was beautiful!
When we went our first time to Myrtle Beach we booked a room with 6 adults and 3 kiddos. We couples had our own room (one young couple in the living room (soaf that opens into a bed), we had the larger two bed-bedroom so the kids can have a bed, lol. Then the other room was for the other couple and we asked for a crib (no extra cost) for the baby niece. Well, to get to the point, we split he bill three ways so it was really affordable! We had a wonderful Condo by the beach with a spectacular pool area with lazy river and hot tub, pool. We didn't do any carnival rides but we did have fun eating ice cream practicaly everyday! We didn't save money ahead of time for this vacation but we didn't go into credit for it. We just do with what we can. Another thing is, this year we went to Siesta Beach down in FL. I realy like that beach more! It has cool white sandy beaches, no jelly fish, no fear of sharks (knock on wood) pretty waves, lifeguards, and it was a very clean atmosphere. I don't think it is any more frugal though but the more you are prepared the better!
We also like to ride the shuttle boat around the lake at Broadway at the Beach. Free boat ride! The kids love it.
We have a family house at Surfside (just south of Myrtle Beach). Sometimes rentals at Surfside are available at better rates and it's the same beach/water as MB or North MB but a bit more family oriented. Sometimes an older beach house will save you money and you don't spend that much time there anyway. One block away from the beach is still REALLY cool! Also, when we go to the beach house we go on 'beach schedule' for eating. Have a bowl of cereal or oatmeal when we first wake up then we can hit the beach or do some things and have a big brunch at the house mid-morning (10-11). Then we hit the early bird specials (usually 4-6 PM) at A LOT of places around the beach. A little before bedtime we have a sweet treat dessert that we made at the house. It's a 'base' of brownies one night, ice cream one night, cookies one night, fruit bowls one night and then a 'bar' of toppings so we can make our own creations. Most of my favorite memories are making crazy desserts and then making silly names to go with them!
That is so fun. We love to do that too.
I love your shot of your daughter leaping in the water! Cool reflections!
We, too, just spent a week in Myrtle Beach on a shoestring budget. It's very possible! We ate only 1 meal out the entire week, and then again at McDonald's on our way out of town. (Oh, and a Krispie Kreme run one morning 🙂 We camped, which made it possible to do much of our own cooking. (Our splurge was stopping at Dollywood on our way back north, but we planned for it 🙂 Here's the link to my Myrtle Beach post if you're interested.....
http://wishingforpineneedles.typepad.com/wishing_for_pine_needles/2011/07/camping-in-the-southa-photo-journal.html
I realize this is a year old blog post, but for those of you who are "regulars" to Myrtle....anybody ever head down on Labor Day, or the next day. Years ago, I did this several times, and they had ridiculously low cut-rate prices at some of the nicest hotels (like $35 for an OF efficiency) for that ghost town week when there was practically no one around. I would love to do this again, but to know if the really good deals are still there, and if so, what they are these days (these are NOT published rates), because we reserved ahead and regretted it, finding much better deals when we got there. Thanks!
Hi-
After reading all you wrote- I can tell we would be great friends! I thought I read somewhere in the ad for your blog that you can buy a coupon book for myrtle beach. Is it something like an entertainment book? do you know where I can get one? I would rather spend the money before we go as it would make the vacation seem cheaper! Let me know if you have any info on this. Thanks SO much!
Coupon books are available for free all over Myrtle Beach. Look for newspaper-style dispensers in front of stores, and also check at condo rental agencies.
Great Ideas,
We also use Elliott & watch for additional 30% off rates beach side second week of September. Driving also saves us much money, use priceline to stay at hotel Columbia S.C. night before checking in.
We now stay two weeks every year thanks to the multiple savings, ie towels doing check out cleaning. We prefer staying in North Myrtle, less tourist, + many condos walking distance to grocery store. Thanks!