You have a weekend coming up and an empty bank account. The weekend is supposed to be a time for you to relax and unwind after a long, hard week. How can you make this happen? You do not have to sit at home and be bored. You do not have to break into your savings, either. Instead, get creative and find ways to make this a fun weekend without spending money at all.
Here are a few tips to help you with the process. You may find these are just idea starters and that you can create an interesting weekend similar to these.
- Go camping but make a rule that you can only take the items at home with you. This puts a bit more challenge on the process. If there is not a free campground locally, camp in the backyard. You can only buy and cook what you have at home. Take games with you to play, too.
- Take a good look around your house. What do you have sitting around that you have never gotten to take advantage of because you have not had time? Have you slept in that hammock you got for Father’s Day? Have you played that role-playing game with the kids you got over the holidays? How about those bikes hanging in the garage, can you take them down and ride them? What is sitting around that you could do?
- Take the time to break out the pictures and just relax with the family scrapbooking. Put on a few good movies on television, sit around, and talk about all the memories you have from the pictures you’ve found. You can often make this an event for friends and family, too, not just you.
- Find out what is going on in your local community that may be free. Is there a concert in the park this weekend? Does the local recreation center have fun activities planned for the kids this weekend? You may find a few activities through churches or charities, too. Participate in a fundraising event so that when the weekend is over, you feel good about yourself.
- Hang out with a group of friends. This is a fun way to spend the weekend, without spending money. Each family can bring a snack or a covered dish. Play cards with the guys or hang out and chat. You can also spend this time talking with your loved one about your goals or just relaxing without doing anything.
It is a good idea to have a few weekends where you just do not spend money, even if you do have it in the bank account. Doing this can help you to keep a little more money in your bank account for that weekend away or in a bigger project or need later on. Sometimes, being creative may be necessary and it does not have to cost you a lot of money to have fun. How can you be creative?
George Gallagher is a personal finance and education blogger. His latest project has him helping students find California student loans.