Beating Those Summertime Budget Blues
This is a post from Mrs. Save and Conquer:
As the long days of summer approach, so do endless hours of “Mom! I’m bored! There’s nothing to do!” Some people pay thousands of dollars in expensive activities (camps at $300-$500 per week for 12 weeks! Holy cow- that’s up to $6000!) just to make those words go away.
Now, I know how frustrating those long, seemingly empty hours can be, and I am actually more likely to get cabin fever before the kids do, but I just can’t see paying thousands of dollars to find a little fun when I know it can be had for so much less. Here are some budget activities that we (my self, my son and my two nieces) have done in summers past:
- Check out the local library. It’s not just about books, folks! Each summer our local library puts on a weekly FREE program for kids. They have had magicians, treasure hunts, animals, musicians, crafts- and it’s no cost, air conditioned and age appropriate for several different ages. Plus, I let the kids pick out their own books (for later quiet time, when we all need a break) and a movie. While you’re there, also check out any message boards for local activities- I have found coupons for $3 admission to the local Tech Museum, announcements for free concerts and ideas for other fun activities.
- Look at local businesses. Close at hand we have a NASA site that runs a small space museum (free admission!) and farther abroad we have several factories that welcome people to go on free tours (including a Jelly Belly factory). Even if you’re not in a city, is there a local farm you can go visit? A restaurant that might offer the chance for kids to check out the kitchen (a local pizza place here let’s kids make their own pizza, with soda, for $4.95 each Tuesday)? A theatre that might let people come watch a dress rehearsal for free?
- Go outside. A local park or your own backyard is a great place for kids to run and explore (get some beach balls at the dollar store and you have a ready made game where ever you go), but if you’re looking for something a little different, check out the local parks & recreation websites. Info on activities at local parks (we found weekly free concerts at one local park, free “old fashioned games” days at another), state parks and national parks is right there at your fingertips. For the price of parking, you can have hours of fun.
- Letterbox. Having a hard time convincing the kids that going on a hike sounds like a good time? Try letterboxing! It’s kind of like a treasure hunt- people all over the world carve these beautiful rubber stamps, then hide them and post the clues (some easy, some very tricky) on how to find them on the internet (www.lbna.net or www.atlasquest.com). You can carve your own “signature” stamp (or, for the kids, make one using foam stickers- that’s what we did) and hit the trail. You stamp your signature stamp into the letterbox’s logbook and stamp the found stamp into your own logbook (ours are little blank pads from the drug store). There’s nothing like finding that first box! (Just a note, if you try this please use stealth! Many letterboxes are stolen or destroyed due to being found by non-letterboxers.)
- Camps don’t have to cost a fortune. I still remember going to day camp when I was little and loving it. I want my son to have that experience too, but $500 a week?! Don’t think so! Many areas offer community or city run camps at a fraction of the cost. A neighboring area of ours offers weeklong day camps (9-2) for about $160 a week. The counselors are mostly older teenagers (who have each had at least one summer as a counselor-in-training), but there are also paid staff guiding and watching over everything. Plus, because they have so many teenagers, the ratios are really good (one teen or adult per 5 or 6 kids usually). Also, teens are just better at getting messy and being goofy than we are!
- The “I’m Bored Jar.” Having hit my limit on hearing “I’m Bored” one gorgeous summer day, I came up with the “I’m Bored” jar. It contains little slips of paper with everything from “Take a picnic to the park” or “quiet reading” to “Toybox Diving” (that’s where you dig out those unused toys that haven’t seen the light of day in awhile and give them a little more play time). The rule is you have to do whatever is on the paper drawn. We only used the jar a couple of times, because the kids realized they might end up having to do something they didn’t want to do and they had better come up with their own ideas for activities instead. Once they really start thinking about it, they get creative and I don’t get the whining- it’s a win-win.
Stumble it!
Monty Loree:
OMG… whatever happened to the old days. My dad who is close to 70 describes how they used to have fun going to the park and playing with their friends. We did as well.. however kids nowadays have to be constantly stimulated with TV, nintendo, movies etc. They haven’t learned the simple art of going outside and playing with friends.
11 May 2008, 7:53 amBryce:
@Monty Loree – I agree that many kids now seem to be geared to having entertainment handed to them. It may not be apparent from my wife’s post, but our son, his cousins, and friends are not that way. They are very good at going outside and making up games and playing.
One of the unfortunate things about current society, however, is that more and more often both parents need to work to make ends meet. Day camps are a very good substitute for day care to keep kids learning, entertained, occupied, and cared for while both parents work during the months of summer.
11 May 2008, 10:57 amFunny about Money:
Problem is, around here (anyway) you CAN’T let your kids go outside and play…not and expect ever to see them again.
As a culture, we’re so inundated with if-it-bleeds-it-leads news, a large part of which focuses on sexual predators who go after children, that no parent in her or his right mind would allow her children to run around outside unsupervised. Some years ago a 13-year-old paper carrier was snatched out of our pretty upscale neighborhood…all that was ever found of him was his bicycle. His bones presumably are still out in the desert somewhere, or, more likely, in the city landfill. All it takes is ONE close-to-home confirmation of the lurid news stories to make people feel under siege.
When we were kids, back in the Cretaceous, every minute that wasn’t occupied by homework, school, or doing the dishes was spent playing outside — and that meant running all over the tiny community where we lived. If my mother lived today, she’d never have let me out the door!
23 May 2008, 4:11 amBryce:
@Funny about Money – Thanks for your input. Yes, I should have clarified that when I said our son and his cousins go outside to play, they are going into the back yard. Or we take them to a park for supervised play.
Our neighborhood is overall pretty well kept and we live on a dead-end street. Unfortunately, we are still scared to let our kids play unsupervised in the neighborhood. All neighbors around us are seemingly good people, but there have been assaults and a couple murders within a half mile of us. Talk about feeling under siege.
23 May 2008, 10:29 amAnd the Beat Goes On: 127th Festival of Frugality « Funny about Money:
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2 September 2008, 9:27 pm