Archive for the ‘Things to do for less cash’ Category

Posted on January 9, 2009 - by admin

Starting the New Year off right - A couple of ideas

Today’s Friday fun is going to be a little different.

I’m not very much on New Year’s resolutions, but the New Year is a great time to make some changes, even if they are small changes. Small changes can make a big difference.

To Do Ist

One of my goals for this year is to get better organized. I found a great tool over the Christmas holidays and I figured I would share it with you.

http://todoist.com

On Tuesday I’ll work on getting a video for you showing how to make it work.

A Brain Dump

If you have a lot of trouble concentrating then this exercise may help you a great deal (and even if you don’t have trouble concentrating it will still help.

Watch this 60 or so minute video and then do the Eight action steps. I plan on doing it over the weekend and I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday. One of the things I encourage you to do this New Years is to take action.

http://www.marketingsecrets.com/images/rebootmethod/rebootmethod.html

I would like to end today with a thought that my Father-In-Law gave me. “If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe you need to water your own grass.”

Posted on December 19, 2008 - by admin

Fun with your family - 7 Fun things you can do Christmas week that won’t cost you a dime.

1. Go Caroling - even if you can’t sing, it can be a whole lot of fun.
2. Since most kids have some days off during the next couple of weeks, why not volunteer your time helping a local charity. It will make you feel good, teach your kids about charity, and help others at the same time.
3. Bake some cookies or another holiday treat and then have the family deliver them to a neighbor you’ve not spoken to in a while.
4. Everyone pitch in and make a card (or create a video message) for Grandpa and Grandma… the goofier the better.
5. Play a Marathon game of Monopoly - instead of starting with the correct amount of cash - divide all the money in the bank among the players.
6. Everyone gets to pick a holiday show they like - research when it will be on television and the whole family watches each of the programs together.
7. Task everyone to write a coupon for the other members of the family - then put them in the stockings.
Examples - I will do you chores for a day - I will clean up your room… etc.

The big thing is to have fun with your friends and family.

Posted on December 12, 2008 - by admin

Having Fun in the Snow

We got some snow last night so I thought I would post some things you and your family could do in the snow.

Here are a few fun ideas.

Build a Snow Mountain.

http://www.familyfunshop.com/sledmountain.htm

Some more ideas -

http://www.divavillage.com/article.php?id=34966

http://www.homemadesimple.com/en_US/nbrcontent.do?contentType=op&articleId=ar010

Check out some videos of driving in the snow (in Iceland)

http://www.4×4offroads.com/4×4-fun-sun-and-snow.html

Build a snow fort -

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Snow-Fort

Enjoy your day and Stay safe!

Posted on December 5, 2008 - by admin

Saving Money on Sending Greeting Cards - Elf fun with the kids.

I saw an excellent piece today on the show today - it talked about saving money on Christmas cards. They should have a video up shortly and when they’ll do I’ll put in a direct link to the video. They may also put a link to it on their home page.

You can find that here:

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My Tip -

Use the internet - first have the whole family create a card. Scan the card and make it a picture. Then you can upload the cards onto a free photo sharing site like http://www.flickr.com/. Then email your card list and ask them to choose their favorite. When you email the card list make sure to make it personal. They can of course choose to print any cards from the photos that they wish.

Here’s something fun that we’ve been doing for a few years now.

We have an elf that leaves small presents hidden on the Christmas tree. You can get as elaborate as you want to (one year we had a mystery that the kids had to solve, another year there was a shortage on candy). You get the idea. You don’t have to go crazy on gifts, anything small works great. You can also let the kids write letters to the elf. Use your imagination it can be a lot of fun.

Here’s a list of a ton of ways to save money.

http://beingfrugal.net/2008/11/26/holiday-money-saving-tips-contest-by-nickelodeon/

Enjoy your Friday.

Posted on November 21, 2008 - by admin

Ideas for a Fun ThanksGiving - without spending a lot of money

Happy Friday. We have some snow here - actually more than we had all of last year. It looks like it will be a good time to break out the sleds.

Next week is Thanksgiving and we’ve been talking quite a bit about saving money - today we want to talk about having some fun.

You should have a good crowd for your Thanksgiving dinner if you’ve followed our previous tips - here are some ideas.

1. Football fun - this is a game that lasts the entire weekend. First decide on a prize for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Then each person that wants to participate picks the winners and losers of the weekends games. You can find schedules at the following links. For a tie breaker have one game that people need to pick the score - like the Sunday night game

2. During the game on Turkey day - everyone chooses a side. Before the game the teams gather together and write a list of goofy things they want the other team to do. Like perform a play. Sing the National Anthem. Tell who gave them their first kiss etc. Make sure you have around 20 different things in the hat. The goofier the task the better.

Decide when the losers will have to perform the task. Say you are watching Seatle and Dallas on Fox. I’m on the Dallas team - so everytime Dallas makes a first down then the losers would have to draw one of the goofy things out of a hat and do it. Everytime Seatle did something great (touchdown, first down, big play etc) then my team would have to draw from the hat.

The team with the most paper left in their hat win. Losers get to clean the kitchen.

The last time we did this I laughed so hard I couldn’t watch the game.

Here are schedules for the NFL

http://www.nfl.com/schedules?seasonType=REG#Week13

Here are the schedules for college football.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/schedules?week=14&season=2&year=2008&groupId=80

3. While you are getting ready for dinner - everyone writes down what they are thankful for. During the meal everyone takes their turn and gets to read / discuss their answer.

These are just some ideas - below are some links to a ton more.

http://fun.familyeducation.com/slideshow/thanksgiving/35209.html

http://www.playlibrary.com/2007/11/19/15-fun-things-to-do-with-the-kids-during-thanksgiving/

Here’s a big list of links.

http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/thanksgi.htm

We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Posted on November 7, 2008 - by admin

Site Review - 101 things to do

For this fun Friday we thought you would enjoy a site that we found yesterday.

Grandparents.com has a section on their site that lists 101 things you can do with your grandkids (or your kids). There are 40+ cities to choose from and many of the things to do are available at little or no cost.

You can check the list out here.

Enjoy your day (and weekend).

Posted on October 10, 2008 - by admin

Fun With the Family

This weeks tip is short and sweet (since we’re on Fall break with our kiddos). Think back to when you were young. What is something that you did that you remember. Memories are funny - you will usually remember things that were fun, exciting or both. One of the things I remember is building a huge camp fire and making smores, camping out, and going to get a strawberry pie after church almost every Sunday night. There is nothing stopping you from reliving some of your memories with your own kids. You can also tell them stories about how you did it when you’re younger (and no matter how boring you think it may be) they will enjoy it. It’s not how much money that you spend on them they’ll remember… it is the time that you spent with them that they will cherish.

Enjoy your weekend.

Posted on October 3, 2008 - by admin

Fantasy Football - Fun with your Family

This may be a little late since the football season has started, but it is never too late to join the fun. In Fantasy Football you choose different players to be on your team and based on how well those players do during the week you either win or loose. You can learn much more detail about how to play here.

http://www.squidoo.com/fantasyfootball101

The great thing is that you can play fantasy football online for free. Below are some sites where you can do it.

http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/football

http://www.sportsline.com/fantasy

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

Posted on September 26, 2008 - by admin

Fun at the football game with your Family

Fall is finally starting to get here in our little corner of the world. Although the leaves aren’t changing yet, some mornings are a little brisk and high school football is in full swing. You can take your family out for an evening of fun at your local high school. Tickets for these games are usually pretty cheap ($5 or $6 at our house). You may want to ask around to see what prices are at the concession stand. If they’re high you may want to take some snacks with you and eat a meal before you go. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Posted on September 19, 2008 - by admin

Fun at local Festivals - Having Fun with your family

Here’s an idea for some fun and friendly competition with you and your family. There are many local festivals acroos the country - in Kentucky (especially Eastern KY where we live) most of these are in the fall. You could in fact visit a festival every weekend for several months.

The downside of these festivals is to get a drink you’ll have to pay 5 bucks - to buy something to eat you’ll have to shell out ten bucks. Below are some ideas on how to enjoy the festival for peanuts.

Before you go to the festival make sure that everyone has a good meal. Pack a cooler with snacks and drinks for the whole family and make sure that everyone packs one with them. Remind your family that if they want something to eat to come find you. A fun way to make the outing a contest is to give everyone $10 bucks to buy things. Have a prize for

a) the most interesting buy for the money
b) the family member that gets the most for their money

We hope you enjoy your weekend!!