.svg){kind=spacer}
Something that is often overlooked when improving your financial health is having fun. Yep, that’s right, having fun! If we focus all the time on the hard work it takes to climb the financial security ladder, then we lose the enthusiasm for doing so in the first place; it becomes a chore and something that we feel like we have to do, instead of something we want to do.
In fact, if you make sure to have fun and enjoy yourself while taking steps to earn, keep and save money, you are much more likely to stick to the good habits you started and stay financially stable. It’s all about that balance! Here are some ways that you and your family can have fun for cheap, or even free:
- Turn your home into an activity center!
- Low-Cost Arts and Crafts: Turn on your creative side by doing simple DIY arts and crafts like origami, which requires only some paper. Or create your own board game that you can play with your family, using only some cardboard, markers, and paper.
- Try Cooking a New Recipe: Explore the joy of cooking-delicious, made-from-scratch meals don’t have to be expensive. There are millions of recipes on the internet, in magazines and newspapers, or even from your friends or family that you can try, that use simple materials but produce amazing flavor.
- Have a Movie Night: Turn your house into a movie theater by renting a movie, making your own popcorn, and enjoying from the comfort of your couch. Pro tip: Rent a movie for free at your local library.
- Take advantage of the outdoors!
- Go on a Scavenger Hunt: Even if you live in the middle of a city, you’ll still find nature all around you. Keep your eyes on the sky for the different kinds of birds that live in your area, check out the plants and bugs that you encounter and see if you can identify them.
- Visit Your Local Park: If you have access to a local park, you can have fun while exercising and staying in shape! Have a footrace with your family, hold your own group exercise class, or come up with your own games to get your body moving and heart racing.
- Try Hiking: If you have the means to visit one of America’s many state and national parks and monuments, oftentimes these parks have free admission days where you don’t have to pay a fee to enter. You also don’t need expensive equipment and gear to start hiking-just wear sturdy shoes, drink plenty of water, stay on the trail and enjoy the majestic scenery! Pro Tip: Most local libraries have passes to State and National Parks so you can get in for free!
- Your community could have cool resources and locations to enrich yourself and your family!
- Free Days at the Local Museum: If there is a museum in your area, many of them offer free days once or twice a month where you don’t have to pay to enter (and some never charge at all). Museums are a great way to learn about science, history, culture and so much more, and they exist to benefit the public. Pro Tip: Most local libraries have passes to local museums, including places like the Monterey Bay Aquarium!
- Visit Your Local Library: Your local library isn’t just a place to borrow and read books. Most libraries are hubs for many resources. Some of the common resources they offer are book, magazine and movie rentals, free classes and workshops, access to computers and printers, and story time for the little ones.
There are many other options besides those that we listed here, but we hope that this will be a good starting point for you-as you can see, having fun doesn’t necessarily mean having to stress about money either! We hope you enjoy and have a great time.