Cheap Family Fun: Fly a kite!

We’re on a budget. Like a one-income-family, working-on-a-masters-degree budget. In many ways we are very blessed. We own a home, my husband has a secure job, we have no debt (other than our mortgage). But after financially horrific May (we spent over $2000 on car repairs and to buy a new lawnmower. Yikes!) we realized our savings account was seriously lacking. So priority number one for us right now is to build up that savings, which unfortunately does not leave us much for the “family expenses” category. So this summer we are looking for inexpensive ways to have fun together.

Last Saturday we didn’t have much going on. We enjoyed a lazy morning (it’s good to have those every once in a while!) but by the afternoon, we were going a little stir crazy. We talked about going swimming but the pool in our town in closed for renovations this year. And driving to the city (45 min away) not only equals more in gas, but usually leads to eating out and going to Costco and overall spending more money that we should.

So we settled for a walk to the park. We loaded the boys up in the wagon and walked down to a park that’s a few blocks away. Halfway there, I remembered a kite that I had purchased on clearance at the end of season last year. I ran back home to grab it and it turned out to be some of the best 50 cents I’ve ever spent. The boys had so much fun with it!

I’m always amazed at the benefits of thinking outside the box. Taking a trek into the city would have cost us upwards of $50. Flying a kite at the park down the street cost us a whopping 50 cents. And truthfully, it was way more fun!