I am tired of being stressed about money, even though like most folks I am scared. Very scared.

I am trying to enjoy life, worry less. So lately we have been doing free or pretty cheap things to up the fun. Yesterday, we used food color to make snow art outside with the kids. It was a mess but fun! Good thing the snow is melting. 

Anyone else on the cheap fun track?

 

LOL!  We are, but we don't have kids yet, but DH and I have a mean game of Cubsopoly going at home.  He's winning of course.  We play some card games, too.  I've been looking for  cool puzzles to do as well either at Dollar Tree or Thrift Stores, and soon Garage Sales (YEAH SPRING!!)

We also have a family owned drive-in movie theater near our home.  So the two of us can get in for $6 a piece, eat dinner..approx. $12 and see two first run movies.  This is my FAVORITE date night with the DH. 

We live 2 blocks from a 2nd run theature where the admission is $1.75 per person ($1.25 1x a week) about once every couple month they play something that we like since it's so close we walk there rather than drive (unless it's 5 with a windchill of -15).

We have and use our enjoy the city coupons when we go out to eat either as a family, me & dh on a date or dh decideding to surprise us on his way home from work.

The town we live in has a pool that is free to all residents which in the summer offers free swimming lessons

At one time we had a civic center that offered the dks an afterschool program and a free all day summer program offered through Catholic Charities (till they had a falling out with the town).

In the summer the town's parks department offers a 1/2 day recoration program

One thing I haven't done in forever but is a blast to do with kids is a scavenger hunt in the backyard/ around town.

  We've become fans of Redbox, and the free movie codes. We also have a $1.50 theater in town, and our neighborhood theater has a $5 movie club (usually those films that have been out a couple of weeks)  

I also keep an eye out for various free music performances around town -- we have a couple of universities in the area with music schools.  We'll occasionally go to a high school or college basketball game, though, unfortunately, many of them are pricing themselves out of our budget.

     In the summer, there are a lot more outdoor concerts offered by the area parks departments, so we like to go to those.

we have alot of board games , we have family all around us we exchange movie or gather as a family and watch movies ... we went to the library by wagon a in December ..

In cold weather, DD watches lots of DVD's, plays puzzles, colors. In warm weather, I go outside with her and we chalk on the driveway, scoop pea gravel, play on her playset. Sometimes if DH has her by himself, he'll take her to the park with a Happy Meal. When she gets older, she can play dominos, Yatzee, Life, and Monopoly with us. Our latest thing is to have a picnic on the living room floor and watch our free Disney planning DVD.

The teenagers have been watching free movies on the internet - reduced need to go to the cinema or rent movies.

This week we actually started exercising as a family, taking advantage of our weather and our proximity to the beach.  Running, swimming across the bay, sometimes followed a short bike ride. 

We'll probably start playing board games more often - we have a few, and for variety, we could temporarily trade games with my sister.  I'm not much of a board games person, unless it's Scrabble, but who knows, I might yet learn to enjoy them! 

I'm going to try to do more craft projects with my daughters.

 

We have Netflix and love it.  For $14.95 per month we can have unlimited rentals, 2 movies at a time, plus unlimited online viewing.  We like to play boardgames and cards with the neighbors.  In the summer we the beach is 20 mins. in one direction, a nice lake and state park is 20 mins. in the other direction.  There's a drive in that does double-features of new movies about 45 minutes north of us in the lakes region, so we might do that a few times this summer.  $17 for two adults for two movies, plus you can bring your own snacks, that's a steal.

We have netflix too, and I love it.

Where I live, there is one day a month in which almost everything is free - the museums, touring the state capitols (we have 2, one is historic), and boats docked on the Mississippi. I live a block from the current capitol, and sometimes take advantage of this. Especially the museums!

There are also live free concerts, festivals, farmer's markets, etc. Lots to do for free. It helps if you sign up for emails and get in on the action.

Our library has a great selection of family DVDs. I checked out Shrek and Shrek 2. DH and I have seen both but my boys have not. Good family movie night. We also take advantage of library activities (reading time, books and crafts). Our community playhouse has reduced fare matinees and coupons online.

I pre-buy season passes for our local zoo and children's museum. For $9 a month, I get unlimited family admission. For a family of 4, one trip to each place would be $18 so we save quite a bit. In the winter, we go to the museum at least once a month, sometimes more. In the warm months, we visit the zoo weekly. Both places have great programming and fun exhibits that change monthly.

Potluck with friends with kids the same age is always entertaining. The kids play, we eat and visit. We have kid-friendly games or just toys.