Fresh and Frugal Fun ideas just in time for Summertime

Oh my Heavenly Daisies...as my daughter says.
It's Summertime here at the OK Corral...
that means summer camp, amusement parks, TRAVEL! , cruises, cottage rentals and grilling out on our brand new stainless steel grill.
WAIT...none of that is happening since I started a love/hate relationship with Mr. Denim Dave. aka: Dave Ramsey.Financial Peace University actually mostly LOVE! the Cheapskate "Lolita" in me has come right on outta the closet , so to speak!
So this year here at OUR house we will be seeking out fun and frugal ways to have some good old summertime fun!

so hang on tight...I'm gonna unload my brain. right here ....in this BLOG!
I have a system. well. I just made it up. I had an extra planner lying around. it's completely empty! I take a pencil and start writing in my daughter's activities. That way I can move dates and not over book our little one! I have a rule. ONE activity a day. WE are not on a marathon! Cora walked up the other day and asked me what I was doing. I said. BOOKING FUN time for YOU! all of this is FUN time. all areas highlighted in Green are YOURS! She was SO excited! Also...if you are type A here is a link :Money Saving Mom
with her tips to Simplify Summer Schedules. check her out. She rocks!

1. God first: so VBS-Vacation Bible School. girls...get on it! they fill up quick are most are FREE! I found 3 in my area and a fourth run by a friend. So that's 16 days of my little one getting closer to God and having fun for a few hours in the morning or evening! Praise God for quiet time! I stalk these. I look for 4-5 churches in my area and check their web pages until they post up their dates. FREE! only one had a charge. and it was $25. for 4 days that's a steal! and this one has a FREE dinner for children starting at 5:30 when they have their parents with them. FREE dinner and childcare. So Awesome!
My church does one...but not for my daughter's age! in case you are wondering why I have not mentioned Vineyard! :)

2. GET Dad involved! Home Depot offers little workshops for children and their parents! Home Depot Children's workshops check their schedule and find a project that you and your child can enjoy!  FREE

3. This one started this entire quest for FUN! I looked up all the local city parks for Chesapeake.Chesapeake Parks There are 10! 10? I have only been to 2. Well. I sat down and put each one in our planner. Those will be out "nature" days. I may even link them up on fb to invite friends. I will scope the parks amenities the day before to prepare us for packing etc! FREE . that's 10 days. seriously FREE!

4. AMF Bowling has FREE bowling for Kids. ALL SUMMER LONG! Free bowling available until 8 p.m., 7 days a week. AMF summer is May 14 – Sept. 3, 2012. seriously 2 games a day. All week. All summer long! AMF FREE bowlingAll you have to pay for is shoe rentals. I paid $4.57 to rent her shoes. If she likes it we will purchase her some used shoes at a "play it again" store. How can you pass this up? Air conditioning, SEATS, and a 6 pound ball that will guarantee tire my little girl out! FREE except shoe rental.

5. Petting Zoo sponsored by the SPCA. I found this gem hiding when I searched FREE things to do in Hampton Roads on Google:Peninsula ASPCA Petting Zoo BAM.  Peninsula SPCA's Petting Zoo! Our Petting Zoo is a great place to bring your family and friends to play with our barnyard animals. Never ever heard of it! Sounds like a fun little 1/2 day trip to me! Adults: $2, Children are $1...2 and under are FREE. for REAL. and you can touch the little buggers! I am on it!
This screams Play date! :) and I am SO not a play date Mommy. ask my daughter's friends mommies...or whatever!

6. FREE movies at the Oceanfront! Family Great Adventure Series a super fantastic friend, Melissa, shared this with me (psst. she told me about bowling too) I grew up at the Oceanfront (Va Beach) I really despise going there. I am more of an Outer banks type of gal. However , anything for my Baby girl...so we may be hitting up some of these later during the summer! it's on the books. Just have to deal with parking and drunks...but hey...I used to be one of the drunks at the beach...so life goes on! :)

7. Oh Dear...next up THE REC CENTER. I LOVE the rec center. for you newbies...that's the Parks and Recreation in your area. Look em up honey. they got mad skills. when I was a young girl I would pour over the rec center catalogue like it was a Toysrus catalogue. I took sewing, played baseball, swimming lessons, cooking classes! the list goes on and on! Sadly our rec centers out here in Chesapeake don't hold a candle to Va. Beach...but that's just my opinion! So for UNDER 100$ I enrolled Cora in 14 classes! $6 bucks a class is the BOMB. City of Chesapeake Leisure Guide Yes we will miss our Little Gym. but like I told you...Dave Ramsey made me cut up my credit card and saving for a years tuition was not in the budget...so this is OUR season of cutting the FAT! Here is what my youngster will get into this summer: 4 ART classes. one hour each! 6 Gymnastics classes , taught at a local tumbling center, 4 Fitness and Fun Classes...great mix. now granted she is only 5. once they hit 6 and up the possibilities are endless! Total Cost: $94.00

8. LIBRARY----I love the library. My friend Bradlee reminded me that they have programs all the time in the summer. Library summer scheduleSo I took a fresh look at our local library system and found SO many things...I had to erase some! I seriously went nuts! BUT here is the secret. I have ONE library right up the road. there are MANY libraries located within my lovely city! and they don't all run the same thing! so check the master schedule! GETTING out of my rut this summer honey! yes indeed! here are the FREE activities I found! Not to mention if nothing was going on I have a Library day schedule EACH week. it's a must! we have no TV here at our house (mean growly gus face meant for Mr. Dave Ramsey) so fresh and new DVD's are a necessity at our CASA de Crazy! A summer reading carnival, FREE to the public, A summer story series called Get Gobsmacked (Australian Readers and stories) , Pajama story times, a program called Camp Kindergarten (registration required): Story time for the 5 year old child entering kindergarten in September 2012. Featuring early literacy skills to prepare your future kindergartner to start school. A puppet show. tons of activities for younger children and even MORE for older children. ALL FREE... Kindle schmindle...get a real book and READ it!

9. O my good googly goo...this just in. June 1 is FREE donut day. there's a little FREE side trip for ya! :) any donut you want. FREE. Hot off the presses: FREE donut DAY

10. This is the most important Summer Fun Fact yet. SERVE. don't forget to SERVE someone. Go volunteer ... in your church, in your community...anywhere! Letting your children see you serve and the opportunity to serve with you is HUGE. Talk about summer fun. Helping others is fun! If you don't go to church check this out: http://www.volunteermatch.org/ you can do a custom search and find your perfect match: FREE. hug a pug, hug a tree, hug a senior, just go! click , search!

And I just have to add one more item:

11. The greatest invention ever. the Plastic Pool. this year we skipped the blow up kind that has NO plug and is impossible to dump out...I went for the mac daddy of pools: 34.88 at Walmart. you know. 64" across. PLUG! included and a small slide! Fill it and BAM. FUN for hours! Today it rained and my daughter went out in the POOL! unbelievable! :)

so my Grand Total for Summer Fun: a cool buck fifty...$150 smackaroonies....rock ON!

leave your favorite summertime activities in my comments! :)

God Bless ya'll!
Tracy


Living Well Wednesdays

This Blog is dedicated to my friend Gina. She calls me the Frugal Sensei. I love that and I love her. can I get a soul Clap for Gina? :)

Comments

  1. You have certainly done your homework!! Proud of ya... BUT... you left out a road trip to Florida!!! Probably could work out a "freebie" on the cost of that one too... hmmmm.... just food for thought!! xoxoxo, Mom

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  2. Mom. it always wigs me out to get an anonymous comment! haha! I need to call you and do our Psalm Study! :) love you!

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  3. Writing is most definitely one of your many callings! Your auction descriptions are also amazing. Love, your fan...Linda :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh Linda! :) Glad to see you on here! :) thanks for your kind words! the auction is fun. they have assigned me to be a caller( giving descriptions to the auctioneer) haha! I will probably clam up! Love you!

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  4. Sorry about the anonymous, but I couldn't figure out how to send the comment from me. I need serious help!

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  5. Thank you,Tracy, for the shout out! I love what you have done so far! I only expect you to get better and better! These are amazing things to do! Thanks for sharing! I love you too! Keep up the awesome blog work, my Frugal Sensei friend! ;)

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  6. Mad love coming across the NC/VA line to YOU! thank YOU for pushing me to do new things!

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