Frugal and Fun things we've done!!! Add yours!

**guest2** · 06-14-2004, 06:24 PM

I'm posting this under the challenges because I'd love to have this be a thread to share the frugal and fun things we have all found to do since the kids are out of school!

Today I went shopping and talked to the produce manager of one of the stores I was in. I asked him if he had any reduced priced bags of bananas since I saw him stocking the bananas. He told me he had not bagged any up yet, but that the whole bottom shelf of his cart was going to be the reduced priced ones. He asked me how many I wanted and I told him that since I had a house full of teeneaged boys, I'd take them all!!!!

He was more than happy to have me take them off his hands and filled a huge box full and only charged me $2.00 for all of them.

Most of them are in the just right to eat stage and only a few are about ready for banana bread. My kids are thrilled and so are all their friends! It pays to ask...you never know what kind of deal you can get.

The boys have 2 and possibly 4 friends spending the night tonight. We have a small home so they are setting up the tent in the backyard and are all camping out there. If it gets too cold, I'm sure they will all end up in the house at some point, but that's ok.

Last summer we had the tent up for most of the time and the kids thought it was a great treat to be able to sleep out there.

Today and tomorrow are Free days at our town pool. It's a bit cold, but the kids went swimming anyway. They have also been down at the park playing basketball and are going to have a guitar jam session here tonight. Can you just imagine 4 electric guitars in my small home????

I'm sure that we and the neighbors will enjoy the "concert". We are also heading up to watch a double header softball game that 2 of our favorite teenaged girls are playing in. They will have their own cheering section with all these boys!

I love summer!!!!

**Heather** · 06-14-2004, 06:38 PM

Great thread Debbie! Enjoy your music!

We enjoy our pool that we put in 2 years ago. Don't have to put up with crowded beaches and we know where the kids are and they can invite their friends over. This way too, I can make snacks instead of buying at stores or concession stands.

There is a hiking trail that the town has just opened up to the public....it's a wonderful walk with rest stops along the way....great idea for picnics!

We are in the middle of a tourist area so there is something going on every weekend for little or no money....Scottish Festival, Volleyball on the beach, Vintage Car Nights every Saturday night, and so much more.

The boys love to just go up to the park with a bunch of friends and play baseball.

Oh, I'm sure I'll think of lots more...

**simplemom** · 06-14-2004, 06:52 PM

Yes, I agree! Great thread!

Our frugal fun in the summer:

Like Heather, the boys enjoy the pool all summer and invite friends.

Like you Debbie, this year, 2 of our boys each had a camp out in the yard with friends. I like this and feel less stressed since they are older now.

We enjoy music shows every monday evening in the yard of our church. The city organizes this and there are a wide variety of artisits and groups which come and it's free. Just bring your picnic chair.

We also go to the St. Jean Batiste festivities on the 24th---there are always inflated structures for the kids, all sorts of activities and every year, there is a popular group from Quebec that comes for the evening.

We also go to the Canada festivities...same here, lots of free activities, music shows and more!

I will think for more

**PrairieRose** · 06-15-2004, 08:21 AM

Really great thread Deb!

We enjoy our pool all summer long....pretending to be at a resort on some days by just lounging around the pool for the whole afternoon and evening. I love those days.

We're taking a fairly frugal trip to see ds in D.C. as well. We have free airline vouchers that we earned b/c we've used our credit card to make major purchases (Ok now don't go bullistic....we paid them off in full every month...using them only to earn the tickets with

) and we've found a very great rate at a Sheraton near ds's house. We plan on doing mostly free things while there and try to see how "cheap" we can do the trip. It's gonna be fun!

**Early Bird** · 06-15-2004, 12:48 PM

Frugal: bought a half-priced cake @ the grocery store and put it into the freezer for Fathers' Day!

Fun: taking kids to library programs
Monday - knitting class
Tues - science class
Wed - chili club (New Mexico culture and history)

And on Thursday, they take Scottish Dancing. (It was $20/child for 13 weeks, so not expensive).

**MJsLady** · 06-15-2004, 02:34 PM

My fave thing right now is supper time.
I cook, and the guys paly online games with each other (Mj even joins in when he gets home from work!)
During supper we play dice or uno or trivia games. Supper is longer than it used to be, and much more fun and relaxed than everyone snatching a plate and disappearing!

**guest2** · 06-15-2004, 02:58 PM

The frugal and fun plan for tonight is for my hubby and I to take a nice leisurely walk after dinner. I love having that time with him to just reconnect, talk about our day and dream about our future. It's so nice to walk along, holding hands and even stopping for a

now and then.

We stop a visit breifly with neighbors and admire other people's yards and gardens. We get some exercise, some special time together and come home relaxed.

**captclearance** · 06-15-2004, 04:51 PM

We like to take a walk and pick up stuff, all kinds of stuff. pinecones, sweetgum pods, dried weeds, rocks etc.... We take it home and ,ake strange creatures or yard animals out of them....
It's funny to see what the kids make. Little creatures with fuzzy foztail hair and tails,acorn caps hats and the like.

**guest2** · 06-15-2004, 05:03 PM

What a great idea Lori! I'll have to do this with my kids this summer!

**Jerseygirl** · 06-15-2004, 07:26 PM

Last night we all went to the shore aftwer the park stopped charging to enter and let the kids play in the surf and fly a kite.

**janimaj** · 06-15-2004, 11:27 PM

This has been a great summer so far. The kids have gone to grandparents for the summer and I am spending a much deserve brake with my dh. We will be going on our own vacation. We are go0ing to Colorado and then to Mississippi. So yep I'm Happy

**Chea** · 06-15-2004, 11:50 PM

Dh was being difficult this past weekend, so I packed up the kids and the dog and we went hiking in the park. It was WONDERFUL!! And dh was jeleous when we got back. Well if he'd learn to play nice!

**guest2** · 06-21-2004, 05:37 PM

This past Sunday for Father's Day I packed a very nice picnic lunch and we headed up to a park on a beautiful lake in Northern Idaho for a picnic and a free concert. The boys and Jeff also played basketball and Jaysn enjoyed the lake.

One of my other favorite things to do over the summer is make a list of all the videos that I want to see and then check the libraries to see if they have them. Today I picked up 3 to wathc during the hottest part of the day when no one feels like moving anyway.

**mustang80** · 06-23-2004, 09:09 AM

I can't stress the library enough. My library has online access so I can place holds on stuff from other libraries and they will deliver it to my local branch. Movies, cds, dvds and books. It's awesome!

My mom's church has a huge pool which I have passes for. The water is a little cold yet so we haven't been there but we will definitely be using that this summer. Only gas for the car required.

The shore is an hour away, so that costs me in gas, but if we go to Wildwood and only go to the beach it's free. They have no beach tags in Wildwood. Parking is by meter or in a lot for cheap during the day and during the week. It's a nice treat.

Today Ashlee and Duncan decided they want to go to the mall but I'm really broke so I'm taking a cooler with iced tea for myself and will pack food and snacks for Courtney. Hopefully I can put my entertainment book to use at Taco Bell.

There are lots of free concerts around that I never go to, but maybe I should

The 4H fair is coming up in July. It only costs $4.00 to park, but that is good for the entire 4 days. You can come and go as you please. Great entertainment, animals, pig races, rides, crafts and chicken bbq. Can't beat that with a stick!

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 06-26-2004, 12:59 AM

I work at the library and can attest to all of the great programs that are available! Tonight we are showing a late movie outside ("Gremlins") and DS#1 went to help set up.

We had our annual kick off for summer reading on Wednesday. What a zoo--but it was fun!

I walk Gypsy every evening. It is cheap exercise and we get to see a ton of people we have met out walking.