How to alleviate the boredom of being skint

walletmoths

My family and I live on an uber-tight budget. I have to say “no” to so much to keep the money in control, but we always get by in the end

CAPmoney (a truly wonderful organization!) help us with compiling the budget, and there are some things in there that could be cheaper, but I refuse to change them unless absolutely necessary – e.g. fees for Cubs for my kids, good school shoes for the kids, school dinners, food with ‘real’ ingredients for our menagerie of family food intolerances, etc, etc.

This means that, we don’t have cash aside for holidays, days out, new clothes and the like. There just isn’t enough mullah to stretch that far I’m afraid.

But – this then leaves us with the issue of facing each weekend where we can’t go out and do stuff and boredom (for us all) sets in. For example, recently I suffered with stress because we decided to take the kids out to a free museum – which we’d all looked forward to. But, there was the cost of petrol to get to the park-and-ride, the cost of the tram tickets, the stress of saying “no” in the gift shop to kids that don’t want to back down (understandably), the cost of snacks (even though I thought I’d brought enough with me) – so spend, spend, spend – even though it was intended to be a nice free day out.

I felt like a Baaad Mummy...

So, avoiding the stress of doing ‘free’ stuff, we tend to stay home a lot. There’s stuff you can do at home to keep busy on the weekends: cleaning, watching TV, maybe going for a walk (even though our area isn’t exactly picturesque), cooking, etc – but after so long it does become uber boring and we all really want something to look forward to that we know we can afford.

So, after all my waffling, what I’m fishing for ideas for is “What do you do to alleviate stay-at-home boredom when you’re skint?”

Many thanks in advance for your lovely replies

sourcrates

Walks, playparks (two of my kids are under 12) beach, I live on the coast so miles of beachs, caves, etc to explore, also lovely countryside around us as well, the yorkshire wolds, so i`m spoilt for choice really.

DigForVictory

Library - get your children reading & wherever they are physically fades as the book takes hold.
They often host free activity sessions too.

WhenIam64

Are you in the London area? There is an organisation which I think is called Free London. The idea is to provide a list of places to visit for free. Some are only open one or two days a year (No. 10) but worth the wait to see.

Locally to me there are Health walks where volunteers will guide you through your local areas to places you did not know existed.

https://www.walkingforhealth.org.uk/walkfinder/London

PS Assume you mean CABMoney and not CAPMoney

comeandgo

WhenIam64 wrote: »

Are you in the London area? There is an organisation which I think is called Free London. The idea is to provide a list of places to visit for free. Some are only open one or two days a year (No. 10) but worth the wait to see.

Locally to me there are Health walks where volunteers will guide you through your local areas to places you did not know existed.

https://www.walkingforhealth.org.uk/walkfinder/London

PS Assume you mean CABMoney and not CAPMoney

CAP, Christian Against Poverty.

theoretica

How old are the kids? Old enough to be told they won't be taken out to interesting places like museums if they pester for things in the gift shop? Old enough to work out how much food they want to take in advance and learn from being wrong?

Karonher

How old are the children if you are not getting free school meals? If they are old enough not to be eligible then can you talk to them about what they want to do?

I agree about telling them trips stop if they pester for extras. Also if they eat everything you have taken after saying it would be enough then you go home.

Could you do anything to bring in a little extra money? Mystery shopping or surveys? Some mystery shopping jobs involve meals out and some are at burger places.

Exodi

My partner and myself live a somewhat frugal lifestyle but this is through choice; it's just never seemed great value to spend £50+ on a meal or £1000+ on a week holiday when you compare it to what you can buy with that money. I think adults can cope without 'something to look forward to' though I concede there are a lot of people that feel like they 'need' a holiday every year.

I think with the children taken into consideration, you fall into the classic trap that most parents with financial difficulties do; they feel like their kids deserve the best and they strive to provide them the best clothing, experiences, games, etc.

Play board games together, read books, play on consoles, go to the beach, etc, plenty of free things to do if you look hard enough.

walletmoths

I'm not near London, no - but I wonder if there's something similar near me. I'll do some research

BTW - it is CAPmoney. It stands for Christians Against Poverty - but don't let the name put you off. Their money management courses are first class!

walletmoths

This is all really good stuff - thank you all so much.

You're right, I should get a bit tougher with the kids about pestering in shops and eating out (they're 8yr old twins), and yes - I believe I have fallen into the trap of attempting to give them the best experiences, when the free stuff we do together is actually more fun.

Trips out are just too stressful and the expense can quickly spiral out of control.

I think what I maybe need to do is to timetable our weekends a little more, so that there's always something planned (e.g. library visit, walk, etc) to stop boredom from setting in in the first place.

kathrynha

In the summer with nice weather do outdoors free stuff, and try to go to places where there are money spending options.


Not sure where you are but if you go to the beach don't go to one with amusement arcades, beach shops and cafes. Find one in a quieter area, where hopefully parking is free, and you take your own buckets and spades and food.


Or go to a river/stream in the countryside and take a picnic and paddle. No need to go to the river in the park where there is also an ice cream van.