Cheap & Cheerful Weekends
Posted by Gail | Filed under Budgets, Good ideas
If you work all week – be it on the road, in an office, or hauling kids hither and yon – you might see the weekend as your opportunity to kick back, forget about rules and schedules, and splurge a little. But if every weekend turns into an excuse to spend money – eating out, going to venues, buying popcorn and candy for the kids at a movie – then you make be blowing your budget unconsciously.
There are ways to have fun without it costing an arm and a leg. Why not invite friends over for a clean-out-the-fridge party. Everyone brings their leftovers and you act like it’s a Chinese food fiesta, nibbling on bits of this and that as you gab about the week and catch up on the gossip.
If you’re towing kids, consider hosting a game night. You can make bucketsful of popcorn for very little money. Add some homemade iced tea, and you can play Monopoly, Scrabble or Charades all night. Each family can bring its favourite game, you can drop the game names into a hat and pick randomly to see what you’ll be doing first.
Want to wear those kids out before bed so the ‘rents can watch a movie and sip some wine? Get ‘em outside. A game of flashlight tag, gathering leaves for a spring tree paste-up, or blowing bubbles and feeding the ducks are great ways to fill their lungs with fresh air and wear ‘em out. Suggest impromptu races with rewards (like gummie worms) for all the runners when they hit the finish line.
If you’re leading the single life, start a tradition. Invite a bunch of friends over for competitive Scrabble or poker night. Each person brings a libation and nibbly to share with the group. See how easy?
Challenge yourself to be more mindful of your money on weekends. Think twice before blowing your budget on those days when watching your wallet isn’t necessarily top of mind. You can have fun on the cheap and head into the week cheerful because you stayed on track and still have money left in your entertainment jar.
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Zsanett in Winnipeg wants to know if there are any “financially awoken followers, here in Winnipeg and area who would be interested in getting together and discuss and share their stories.” If you’re interested send an email to getgvo@gmail.com with Zsanette in the subject line and I’ll forward on to her.
May 3, 2012 at 7:01 am
Our weekends are spent camping! It’s not cheap; we have a site for the season, and there was the cost of buying a trailer, but it’s a LOT cheaper than a cottage! And, our neighbours are awesome. The kids have a great time, with lots of friends and activities (no baby sitter required!) Simply the best decision we ever made! Health wise, a great decision; we’re outdoors and active all the time, and we increased our circle of friends, so its very uplifting too. And, we’re with people who have similar values. I LOVE our weekends!
May 3, 2012 at 7:05 am
Being a good Canadian girl, I love the chance to invite our friends or family over to watch Playoff Hockey!
May 3, 2012 at 7:08 am
Since summer is right around the corner I usually do a lot of free outdoor activities such as going for a walk, a bike ride or roller blading. There’s usually a lot of free events down town as well. This helps to keep my budget down on the weekends.
May 3, 2012 at 7:15 am
Hi Gail
Being an avid triathlete I spend my weekends training, some racing during the season, a bit of volunteering and my favourite activity….. napping between workouts! Throw in the grocery shopping and crockpot cooking, even this single girl might have trouble sqeezing in poker! But I may have to start an “over 50 ladies wine and nibbles” night
May 3, 2012 at 7:51 am
Good ideas from everyone, especially the outdoor activities.
Often weekend entertainment is a trip to the shopping mall where temptations to spend money are everywhere. Some people seem to think it’s a great place to spend time with the kids on week days too. What a waste of both time and money.
Potlucks are a great way to get together without spending too much. Or try a cooking demonstration dinner where different guests demonstrate new, inexpensive, but gourmet tasting, recipes.
Try swapping babysitting on a regular basis. One weekend a month all your kids spend a night with family friends and you host that family’s children another weekend each month. That way the kids have fun sleepovers and each couple has one kid free evening and night a month.
May 3, 2012 at 8:05 am
Camping and fishing. Fishing is still inexpensive, camping can be.
When my son and I go camping, we don’t even bother with the campsites. It’s up north and in the bush on crown land – once you’ve got the tent and equipment and if you prepare your meals at home, it’s basically a free weekend vacation. As long as you don’t mind sleeping with the bears
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Basically anything that involves time with family and not spending money is a great change. The not spending money part means you’re focused on time with your family, not being actively entertained and distracted. One thing we’re hoping to do this summer is head to niagara with our bikes for the day. I gather there’s some substantial networks of biking trails in the niagara region.
May 3, 2012 at 8:12 am
We love to go geocaching on weekends with the kids. If you’ve never heard of it, it is a world wide treasure hunt using a GPS to find tupperware! LOL! Check out the website at geocaching.com (just use the free membership) and just put in your postal code or zip code and see how many of these fun adventures are close to you. The kids love it – although I know lots of adults who are into it more than kids. It’s a mini adventure each time – great fun and a great way to find places you didn’t know about!! We love to check out geocaches when we are out camping in new areas! Have a great time!
May 3, 2012 at 9:00 am
Love the idea of Geocaching! wanted to try it years ago but didn’t have GPS..now I have GPS and forgot! Must try!
Our weekend, when I don’t work (Realtor) are spent just being together……with family. Hanging out, Wii nights, Sunday mass, just stuff to do together as a family minus the chaos of the week.
May 3, 2012 at 9:31 am
I run a part-time business, so weekends are usually spent organizing and creating in between things.
Usually, we just go for a walk around the neighborhood, or a picnic. We sometimes splurge and pick up the sushi lunch special and eat it at the park.
Saturday night is usually movie night, but we watch it on PBS or on DVR.
Sometimes, I go through my change jar, grab all the toonies and loonies and we’ll go down to St. Lawrence Market and pick up treats that we don’t normally have (crab cakes, special sausages/cheeses).
We like to keep it casual and fluid…
May 3, 2012 at 9:39 am
We live really close to a Value Village so sometimes I go over to get cheap book or cheap VHS movie since they are only $1! (Yes we still have a VHS.) We pop a big bowl of popcorn and settle in. We are not pop drinkers so the entire movie ends up costing us less than $2! We curl up on the big comfy sectional that WE SAVED UP FOR FIRST and it’s a great evening.
LuLu
May 3, 2012 at 10:25 am
We have HAPPY HOUR every Friday night! Friends come over with a bottle of wine, some munchies and we let the kids loose with chips and hotdogs! It’s a fantastic way to blow off steam from the week that costs a bottle of wine! As Rhianna would say… ‘Cheers to the freakin’ weekend…’
May 3, 2012 at 11:21 am
Instead of Friday night dinner out, my husband and I have Saturday am breakfast out. We read the papers, do the crossword, chat with our favorite waitress.
It is sacred to us (when I am not working…)
It is cheaper than dinner out and an easy way to reconnect with each other at the end of a busy week.
May 3, 2012 at 11:26 am
Your first paragraph says make be blowing your budget, should be maybe blowing your budget….
May 3, 2012 at 11:30 am
Planning a potluck for my belated birthday bash May long. Should be fun and great times with boardgames.
May 3, 2012 at 11:33 am
This weekend Hamilton, Ontario is hosting their “Doors Open” event. More then 50 businesses, organizations etc open their doors to the public FOR FREE. To name a few (on my list) Dundurn National Historical Site, Hamilton Port Authority, museum of Steam & Technology, Children’s Museum, Art Gallery, GO centre & TH&B Railway Museum. We pack a cooler for a picnic lunch and off we go. I do pick places that look more child friendly, or of interest to my kids in particular. Many communities hold these events through the summer.
May 3, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Here is the website for Ontario if anyone is interested:
http://www.doorsopenontario.on.ca/Home.aspx
May 3, 2012 at 12:07 pm
I have a firepit in my back yard…in the summer, i invite friends and family over and we blast the stereo, sit around the fire, cook marshmallows and weiners and have alot of laughs..it doesnt cost much at all..everyone brings their own booze. its also great because people can bring their kids and its a great family night…then i can can cash in the empties and put that into my “entertainment” jar for snacks for the next time…
May 3, 2012 at 1:16 pm
We actually spend money primarily on weekends. Because I spend so much time commuting back and forth to work I don’t really have the energy to run around and shop all week long. But we are big fans of “Game Night” and normally have one or two of these events in a month. Great times!
May 3, 2012 at 1:51 pm
We do a lot of home entertaining, mostly associated with board gaming. This weekend will have two couples over to play games and order pizza and people usually bring their own drinks. I also like pot lucks a lot and not just because of the money aspect but because I like trying what other people cook.
Also we are lucky enough to get in a lot of events for free because my hubby is in the theatre community and they always give him tickets to go see a show be it a play, opera, comedy fest. We probably save like $100 / month for not having to pay for those tickets. Mind you we probably wouldn’t be going out so much if we had to pay for the tickets every time.
May 3, 2012 at 2:24 pm
@GetReal – thanks for the reminder for Doors Open!
The flyer has been sitting on my counter since I picked it up at the last James St Art Crawl (another fun free activity) and I haven’t even looked at it. I went to a couple places last year and it was great. I think the Museum of Steam and Technology is on my list as well.
At the Hamilton Library you could sign out HSR days passes (family of four). The day pass gets you in at a discount or for free at a lot of local attractions. I’m not sure if the Library still has that – but a day pass is not too expensive.
May 3, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Should say that during the winter we borrow movies from the library. Free!!! My husband decided one night he wanted to rent a movie from the store and was surprised how many current titles we had already watched, courtesy of the library
We’ve also gone to free events. Recently we went to a local home show. And got free samples of drinks (beer, wine, coolers). We walked around to the booths, talking about our goals and dreams. And, LOVED telling a mortgage broker that their services weren’t needed by us, as we’re mortgage free in a year or less! Best date night ever, lol!
May 3, 2012 at 7:09 pm
I have a swamp so on Saturday I let the kids get as dirty as they like for as long as they like then give them a long bath since Hubby & I are both home.
May 3, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Or, Gail how about a “Princess” night. Watch your show on CNBC Saturday night and dress up as a princess and one can be, well, Gail. Have someone be a princess & confess their spending habits and then let the one being Gail do the jars and have them do fun tasks. The prize won’t be $5,000 (maybe if they have Monopoly money), it could be a “bring a dish” buffet.
May 3, 2012 at 10:52 pm
We actually just organized a game night last weekend. We had a blast and since we cooked, the costs were very low as compared to going out for dining or even ordering
May 4, 2012 at 3:39 pm
This weekend will be cheap and cheerful for me-last weekend was DH’s 40th Birthday Bash, which was done on a budget, but still pricier than an average weekend. DH is working all weekend, so the little man and I will go for walks, maybe the farmer’s market for the groceries we need anyway, and just play and read books, and then I’m having my mom’s group over with their babies Sunday afternoon to hang out and catch up. It will only cost me the ingredients to bake a simple cake and a few cups of tea
m Have a great weekend everyone!
May 4, 2012 at 4:36 pm
To GetReal…thanks for posting the wonderful link! We’ve moved to southern Ontario from Alberta recently, and don’t know much about interesting things to do here. Thus, your post has given me lots of great ideas…
May 6, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I volunteer at our local music hall. Volunteers see the show they’re “working” for free, and for certain shows, can bring a guest in free also. The live shows can run $20-$50/head, so it’s worth it!
May 7, 2012 at 10:15 pm
How do I get your blog updates sent directly to my email inbox. I keep forgetting to check back here for your new entries.