The Great 'Simple Pleasures' Hunt

Exlied_Taff

Forkliftfred wrote: »

Not sure if you are all aware, but lately I've been getting DVD's and CD's out of the library.

It costs £1.50 to hire DVD for a whole week! That includes boxsets, e.g. Greys anatomy - got entire series 1 for only £1.50

£1.00 to hire CD for 3 weeks!

Can't be beaten. Video shops cost a fortune. And you can even order online and they text you when item is in.

Also, i'm going to invest in skyplus, I know it costs £160 to have fitted, but all the good films are on late at night so I plan to skyplus the lot then we will always have something to watch the next evening at a normal time!

BT Vision is helluva lot cheaper than skyplus and although films are low on the ground the PVR is above excellent. Plus for a relatively cheap monthly subscription their viewing packs are excellent value. Plenty of classic stuff available, and the TV replay gives you all of BBC, ITV, C4 and C5's home grown content.

Can't beat it IMO

Exlied_Taff

Two other cheap past times me and my girlfriend love are darts and tennis.

Both will cost about £30 to set yourself up in the first place (though will be even cheaper in places like sportsworld, especially next month I would have thought) and are very long term investments.

Obviously we play tennis in the summer and darts in the winter. If there are free courts near you (like there are us) then you're laughing. We do buy new equipment every year but it's worth it. And with the darts, new flights at 50p a throw (excuse the pun) are always a nice treat.

If one person is better than the other it's easy to handicap in both sports to keep the interest (I give my girlfriend a 15 point advantage in tennis and play it by ear in darts as she's not too distant from me!).

Not bad entertainment for £60 a year

karendb

Our kids always thought it was a great treat to go to the local cinema on a Saturday morning (£1 a ticket). I prepared a snack bag each for them with homemade popcorn, sweets & a drinks carton inside. Often in the summer, we'd then go to a car boot sale where they'd have, say, £1 each to spend. They were quite happy rummaging around for videos, dinosaurs etc. Sometimes, we'd go to Tescos and buy some cooked chicken, bread etc. and have a picnic somewhere. I always carry picnic blankets, paper plates, plastic cups etc. in the car for such an occasion.

Ah, happy days!

greenwheels007

Most of these simple pleasures sound like a nightnare to me, far too much sitting around eating bad food.
Get a bike off freecycle, raise backside from sofa and lower on to saddle.
Then go for a ride.
If you can't cycle, volunteer for a local charity, preferably something that involves standing up.
Surely simple pleasures should be free and have a positive impact on your health!

gb57

Don't be a misery, greenwheels!! We can't all be doing healthy things ALL of the time! Don't you ever eat? A nice home-cooked meal and a glass of wine is one of life's greatest pleasures.

However, I agree that cycling, walking (anywhere), playing tennis (wonderful game and does not need to cost a fortune) are all great things to do.

Someone already mentioned s e x - wonderful pastime, although of course could work out expensive if there are unintended consequences 9 months down the line! Reading - library books or cheap books from Charity Shops, and/or passed around friends (return to Charity Shop for resale afterwards), has to be one of the best and cheapest pastimes - you can do it anywhere, even in the queue at the shops. There are some great ideas on here for adults and kids to do together, and build memories for the future. Museums are usually free. Gardening is absorbing and can be done very cheaply - the pleasure when things you have planted grow is unimaginable, introduce your child to a love of gardening and they have a gift for life. And what small child does not enjoy grubbing around in the dirt?

I could go on.... LIFE is such a pleasure

sukysue

Love watching the birds in the garden and those starlings swooping are just fantastic. We are lucky enough to have a pack, swarm, dunno what you call it (but imho it should be a swooping !)where I live and we all watch them in the afternoon before they go off to roost for the night. I also like watching the skyline and the sunsets the light is so beautiful these days . We truly don't know how lucky we all are.

Dilijo

Don't ignore films on the TV that are on late at night, early morning or while you are at work. Record them and build up a bank of films for later.

lutzi1

Make a pot of tea, light a fire and toast bread and crumpets in front of it - add lots of butter and jam, and you can forget the miserable weather outside.

Turn the phone off and listen to some really nice music.

Watch a holiday programme or read a brochure - seeing all that sun and sand is a real tonic at this time of the year.

I too used to set up a home made burger bar when my daughter was little for her and her friends - they had a menu to choose from, and I made little sachets of sauce and mayo out of plastic bags. She still remembers it.

tenuissent

I totally agree with the cycling idea. Every half term I'd get us all (three children, and sometimes friends as well) onto cheap bikes and cycle off to various Youth Hostels. In those days (they are in late 30s now!) I would give each of them about £1 to buy whatever they could afford in shops as we went past, which they cooked when we got there. They mixed and matched and shared their purchases, and had to clear up properly afterwards, and do their Hostel jobs in the morning before we left. It was so restful to have the Warden take over authority and tell them what we had to do, instead of me being the cook and nagger-in-chief.

When we started, the youngest went on the back of my bike. As they got older, we branched out into France and Spain. Camping and Youth Hotels don't cost nothing, but we did everything the cheapest and scruffiest way, and they all have vivid memories of these outings, including the people they met.

roamerdan

for anybody thinking of taking Sky+ for Christmas, the BT Vision box offers all the Freeview channels with two channel recording for the price of your broadband... why keep Richard Murdoch in the lifestyle we all envy.