militarymoms

If you’ve survived a PCS move, you have probably stayed in temporary lodging on or off base during your transfer process.  Did you know that many of the lodging facilities on military bases offer low-cost lodging to military leisure travelers?  We’ve stayed at Navy Inns, visitors’ quarters and Air Force Inns in Europe and the U.S., and you can’t beat the prices.

For example, Hanscom Air Force Base, which is just a ten-minute drive from Lexington, Massachusetts, charged us $47 for a two-room suite, with kitchenette.  Most motel rooms in the area charge at least twice that rate, if not more.  We bought breakfast food at the commissary and gassed up our car on base, too.  This would be a great place to stay if you were planning to explore Boston, Lexington and Concord.

We’ve stayed at Navy Lodges in Virginia Beach, Great Lakes (Illinois) and Annapolis, and in a Marine Corps inn outside of San Diego, at Miramar.  Everywhere we’ve stayed, we’ve received great value for our money, and we’ve been able to use base facilities (think laundromats!) to save even more while on vacation.

If you’ve never considered the military lodging system, I encourage you to give it a try.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Several years ago, my son’s Webelos den participated in a District-wide campout.  All the boys were eager to go.  We had sleeping bags - what military family hasn’t spent the night on the floor of a home recently emptied of furniture - but we did not have a tent, and each family needed its own place to sleep.

So, I called up MWR at our local Navy base.   Yes, they had lots of four-person tents.  Yes, they were open on Saturday.  My son and I trundled down to the MWR office and rented a tent.  It was easy to pitch and worked out just fine.  My son and husband had a great time on the campout.

Now my son is an older Boy Scout.  He is working his way through all those merit badges, and, when Personal Fitness could no longer be avoided, we started using the base gym three days per week.  What a deal!  Convenient hours, trained staff, decent equipment - all free.

Your local MWR office can fill you in on all the fitness programs, exercise classes and equipment rentals offered in your area.  Even the smallest bases have a lot going on - when we were stationed in West Virginia, we had free aerobics classes, a good gym, karate classes, fun runs and more.  I think you’ll be surprised at just how much is available to you.

If you’re a kid, swimming pools are The Best.  My daughter has been asking about pool opening dates for weeks now.  We live near two military bases with swimming pools, so we will be doing our swimming there this summer, even though our residential community also has a pool.

Why?  It’s all about the money.  Our community pool charges $300 for the summer, plus a one-time fee for a pool certificate of $350.  A base pool membership is $97 - $228, depending on pay grade.  No, the base pool isn’t two blocks away, but I drive to base at least once a week to buy groceries.

Our base pool also offers half-season memberships.  You can join for the first or second half of the summer.  This is handy for families who travel or send their children to summer camp.

We’ll probably skip the membership altogether and pay the $2 per person daily entrance fee.  I did the math, and we’d have to go to the pool over 30 times during the summer to make a membership pay.  Given our crazy schedule, that’s not too likely.

Your base pool probably offers swimming lessons at reasonable prices, too.  Swimming is an important survival skill.  Why not sign your little ones up for lessons this summer?

These days it seems as though everything is getting more expensive - and it is.  It’s pretty hard to stretch a military paycheck to cover increased food and gas prices, let alone anything else.  While I can’t stop the price of gas from going up, I can offer a few tips on finding military discounts.

• Use your military privileges.  AAFES‘ website offers a feature called “Centric Mall” that includes merchants who offer discounts or free shipping to military customers.  I’ve bought shoes from Zappos this way and everything worked out just fine. 
• Your ITT office has discounted tickets to all kinds of events and attractions.  Check out their website, read their newsletter or drop by the office to find out what’s available.  We’ve bought tickets for everything from Sea World to minor league baseball games through ITT.
• Look online.  Google “military discounts” and see what comes up.  Read the websites of every company you buy from regularly.  If you have insurance through USAA, for example, you can get a 5% discount on Hertz rental cars.  All you have to do is book your rental through USAA’s online affiliate.
• Look on base.  Your BX or PX may have contracted with concessionaires, including cell phone providers, who offer military discounts.
• Network.  Find friends who like good deals and ask them about military discounts.  Read blogs written by military folks.  You’ll quickly find out where good deals can be found.
• Ask, ask, ask.  It never hurts to mention that you’re military and inquire about discounts.  For example, I took my daughter to a dance competition last fall and had to buy some accessories from one of the vendors there.  I mentioned in passing that we were military and she gave me a discount on the spot.

You won’t save mega-bucks going after discounts here and there, but everything adds up.  Over time, you can save a decent amount of money by taking advantage of special offers for military members and families.  You have earned these discounts.  Go out and use them.

Photo © Nancy Parode

Did you know that many military bases have RV campgrounds?

I don’t own an RV, but I know many military families who do, or who have relatives who visit them in RVs.  You can find military RV campgrounds all over the U.S., and their rates are reasonable.  Some RV campgrounds also offer long-term RV storage.

For example, the Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., has an RV campground at Monterey Pines Recreation Complex.  RV camping costs $24 - $31 per night for a full hook-up site.  KOA’s Santa Cruz-Monterey Bay campground charges $69 - $81 per night, depending on the season, for a “standard” (back-in), full hook-up site, and it’s not even in Monterey.

When you stay at a military RV campground, you’ll be able to save even more money by buying your groceries at the commissary, and there could be a pool or on-base military theater nearby.

If you’re planning an RV trip, don’t forget to check out the Army and Navy MWR lists of RV campgrounds.  You’ll be glad you did.

I took my kids to the base gym on Friday so my son could work out.  My daughter and I played ping-pong - well, we tried - and I grabbed a summer activities flyer from the MWR desk.  The first thing I noticed about the flyer was the announcement about swimming lessons.

My daughter learned to swim at an MWR pool at our last duty station.  The lessons were taught by a Red Cross-certified instructor and were very affordable.  Over two summers, she went from being a timid non-swimmer to a child who can jump into the deep end with confidence thanks to her swimming lessons and her afternoons at the base pool.

Swimming is a life skill everyone should have.  Your local military base pool offers lessons for children and adults, and you’ll probably pay less than you would at your community pool.  For example, my local recreation department charges $70 - $75 for youth swimming lessons, while our base pool charges active duty family members $45 - $55.  Why not sign up?