海角大神

This week, The Simple Dollar is running a short series on some of the key moments in my financial turnaround and how you can experience those moments as well. For a full description of this, .

My weekend planning has always followed the same general structure (at least since I graduated from college). I鈥檒l sit down with Sarah on Friday evening, we鈥檒l throw a few ideas off the top of our head, we鈥檒l pick one or two of them, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檒l do. Saturday and Sunday follows that same general structure, though Saturday鈥檚 options usually revolve around chores.

Before my financial recovery, the options we鈥檇 throw out were often expensive ones. 鈥淟et鈥檚 go golfing Saturday afternoon.鈥� 鈥淗ow about we go over to Jordan Creek on Sunday?鈥� (Jordan Creek being the relatively expensive shopping area in the Des Moines Metro.) 鈥淗ow about dinner and a movie on Saturday night?鈥�

The problem was that by just relying on the ideas that came off the top of our head, we were by default preloading ourselves with activities that were fresh in our minds from marketing. We鈥檇 listen to the radio on the way home on Friday night and hear talk of a great new movie or restaurant. I鈥檇 drive by the golf course on the way home. She鈥檇 hear an ad for Jordan Creek on the radio.

Since these happened to be the easy ideas to recall, they were usually the ones we did. It wasn鈥檛 because they were the 鈥渂est鈥� options, they were just the options that popped into our heads.

I know that my parents did much the same thing. I also know that a lot of our friends did the same thing, too.

So, what鈥檚 a better solution?

Make a Weekend Plan
The approach that works best for us is simply 鈥減re-loading鈥� our usual weekend activity brainstorm with activities that are free or extremely low-cost.

Of course, to do that requires both some forethought and some research. My solution to this is to simply keep a 鈥渘ote鈥� on my phone that lists such activities.

How do I find them? It鈥檚 pretty easy 鈥� it鈥檒l only take a minute or two with your web browser by just visiting three websites.

First, visit the website of your municipality鈥檚 parks and recreation department. Many cities have parks and recreation departments that have lots of free activities for all skill levels. You can also find out about trails, facilities, parks, and other such features of your community that you might not know about that are well worth exploring and utilizing.

Next, visit the website of your municipality鈥檚 library. Libraries have tons of resources available to you for free if you just step up to the plate and take advantage of them. Free books, free CDs, free DVDs, free magazines, free classes, free meetings 鈥� it鈥檚 all there, just waiting to be used.

Finally, look for the 鈥渃ommunity calendar鈥� for your city. Just search for the name of your city in Google and add the phrase 鈥渃ommunity calendar鈥� behind it. You鈥檒l find a listing of great activities in your area going on in the near future, many of which are free.

Beyond that, you should try similar searches for communities near you. We often utilize resources in neighboring communities and often use things in the Des Moines area as well.

Of course, while I鈥檓 doing this, I鈥檓 usually taking some notes. Even better, I鈥檒l do this while Sarah and I are brainstorming. Instead of merely relying on whatever half-baked ideas pop into our head, we turn instead to some options that aren鈥檛 expensive.

That doesn鈥檛 mean we don鈥檛 do anything 鈥渇un,鈥� which is a response I often hear to suggestions like this. All we do is look at the free activities first. If one of them registers as 鈥渇un鈥� to us 鈥� and one of them usually does 鈥� we do that. That way, we鈥檙e doing something fun without spending money.

Even better, this contributes to a sense that not spending money is the norm, and that spending money is the abnormal activity, which is also something worth demonstrating to our children.

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