A frugal life is an easy life!

To business, you are a cash cow to big profits whenever you decide to venture on a day trip out.
Your guard to being thrifty and protecting your hard earned money, naturally drops, when it should be at its most alert!

The ice cream van in the park on a sunny day, that adds 50p on every ice cream it sells, to the ice cream shop at the side of lake windermere (for example) that charges over the odds for regular ice creams and cans of drink because of the position of its kiosk.
We have all experienced it, but is there an alternative?

Here are some of my tips, if you know of any others, please add a comment (you don't need to be "a member" - just make up a name!)

Travel:
You can expect at least a 20% mark up in prices in motorway outlets, especially in fast food places.
Make sandwiches and eat them whilst you travel, even little quartered ones. For those that don't visit the services, this will save you money, as once you get to your destination for your day trip, you won't have to waste time finding somewhere to eat - the prospect of being disappointed at the food is negated - plus you wont be left with a big bill for three family meals plus over priced drinks.
This also allows more time to do what you want to do at your location.
Take with you some bottles of pop, it's not unheard of for a small bottle of pop to be approaching the £1.50 - £2 mark at services/cafes. There is no reason for them to be this much, when even your corner shop sells them for less.
You can have a drink in the car (saving time) and once at your destination, you won't be paying over the odds.

Souvenirs:
The biggest sting on visitors has to be the on site souvenir shop!
At so many of these "shops" the only way out is via the business' marketing.
Even when you can escape an attraction without going through their shop, they still present a real danger to value for money!

We visited the lowry gallery on Salford quays in Manchester, I'm a big fan of his work, but the prices in the Lowry shop for framed prints were astronomical.
You could buy a print for as little as £15, but to buy the same print framed was a staggering £40!

It didn't end there, we nipped across the water to the Imperial war museum north, in its big impressive modern art shaped building, an even bigger sting was in place.
Free entry is one thing, but the staff were badgering people for donations before they even had a chance to look around!
The prices in the gift shop were obscene!
Posters from the war, such as "dig for victory" were a jaw dropping £6.99 each.
A cup with a poppy print on it - £9
Books, DVDs, etc, were way overpriced.
The museum itself wasn't that impressive at all, far more worthy of a donation would be the Science and Industry museum in the centre of Manchester, so big and with that much to do, in a full day you'd struggle to get round it all and see everything and of course, it's FREE!

The tip with souvenirs is simple - you can visit the attraction's website and order from there, the Lowry prints, I order for Christmas presents, in the cold light of day, in my own time, way less chance of being caught out paying well over the odds.

Carry a day trip kit!
If you have sprogs, then a definate has to be the day trip kit.

It consists of a wet cloth wrapped up in carrier bag (sticky fingers!) - a small towel - 2 or 3 empty carrier bags (for catching little accidents or if you collect things) - couple of headache tablets - some plasters.
You do not need a special travel kit or first aid box, everything in them you can just pack at home before you set off, most things in it, you wont use and can be reused when you get home.

Another catch all marketing trick, is having the toilets right at the back of establishments, many people tend to buy something just to use the toilets/wash room.
Don't be worrying about not buying anything, just use the facilities and walk back out.

Post us your tips!
You can post us your tips via the feedback link on this post (No registration required) - via our facebook group (Just click on the button) - By Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/frugal_ways) or by good old email (ideas@frugalways.co.uk) and I'll add them to the post.