From Cindy's Porch: Planning Your "DO Instead of BUY" Weekend
"We are not cutting back. We are DOING more! The more you practice, the easier it is to DO!" - Cindy
"DO instead of BUY" is one of the most powerful tools you have to help you keep more cash in your stash. However, going from a BUYing lifestyle to a DOing lifestyle is not going to
happen overnight. It takes time. And it is not easy.
You actually have to plan how to DO
again. Here's the goal: Can you and your family enjoy the weekend without
spending a dime? This includes Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. Quit
your giggling LOL. Let's take a look at a few ideas to start your planning...
Go outside and DO!
Thank-you to our members who sent in their DO instead of BUY plans!
Put on your walking shoes and just start walking. A little bit at a time. Who knows where you will end up! - Cindy
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- Blow the dust off your sports stash. If it is warm, head out
for a bike ride. If it is cold, try out your skates (or snowshoes in
my case). Bring along your camera and a small lunch. Even a picnic in
the snow tastes great!
- Our weekend DO instead of BUY is to go biking. Not just a short bike trip, but a load up the backpacks, our tent, food, and gear and go for a five hour bike trip to a local camp spot, spend the night and bike home again. I couldn’t believe the reaction of the kids when we told them we were going! They have already started packing. Thank-you Cindy, this weekend is going to be fantastic – and it won’t cost a dime. – E in So Cal
- My snowshoes have been collecting dust under the stairs for over four years. Thanks to your photos and your challenge, I am going snowshoeing this weekend.
- My husband and I are going to start walking in the evening again.
- My sister’s family and our family are going sledding together. She’s in charge of the hot chocolate, and I am bringing the sandwiches. The plan is to have an extremely tired bunch of cousins by the end of the day. Then they are all coming to our place to watch movies and eat popcorn. It’s been too long since we have done this!
- Take the dogs to the dog park. They love it!
- SOLO/GROUP - Spend a couple of hours playing with your pets! We keep these
little critters in our lives, but often don't provide them with nearly
enough attention.
- Last summer, our family joined the Naturalist Club. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done. Since then, we’ve been hiking in all the local parks and this winter we have already gone on two snowshoe treks. There is another one planned for this weekend. Even our 10 year old comes with us.
- Visit a senior. It can be lonely out there this time of year.
If you have a senior in your life, go visit them. Their smile will be
worth it.
Explore Your Community!
We ended up at this winter carnival by accident. The snow sculptures were stunning! - Cindy
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- Check your local listings in the events guide of your
newspaper. What's happening in your community? Any winter fairs?
Robbie Burns day events? Any museum openings? Call up a friend and
enjoy a night out.
- After checking out the events section in our newspaper, I discovered a Winter Fair, complete with a chilli cookout, ice sculptures, and even a community dance. They are collecting cans for our local foodbank, so although our weekend won’t cost a dime, it will cost us a bag of food.
- We will be spending the weekend at my son't basketball tournament. Instead of BUYING the junk food from the school, we'll bring our own sandwiches, juice, and water from home.
- In the past, we have enjoyed free skating and swimming at our local rink and pool during open houses. We’re on their email list, so we find out when they occur and can plan ahead.
- I am a fan of the library. We are going Saturday morning for children’s story time, then we’ll sign out a pile of books for the week. Our library also has an assortment of DVD’s and CD’s so we always choose a kid show and an adult show for the weekend. I am going to start signing out their CD’s too.
- This weekend I am auditioning for our community theatre. Wish me luck! (Note from Cindy: Wow! And here’s an idea for those of you who would rather be behind the scenes, find out if your community theatre needs help with the sets, lighting, costumes, props, etc. What a great way to meet new people!)
- Art museums, historical museums, science museums – call them up. See if any have any “free admission days.” I also discovered that our local Visitor’s Centers have two for one coupons for some of our area’s attractions. It might not be free, but it will be less.
- I am going to the gym. My membership expires at the end of the month. I am not going to renew it, but I may as well use it up!
- My husband and I are going out for supper. The kids are sleeping over at grandma’s house and we got a $40 gift certificate for Christmas, so it won’t cost a dime.
- Thanks to your challenge to declutter the kitchen, I found an old gift certificate from for a massage at a spa. The kicker is, that it expires on January 31! My appointment is for 2:00 Saturday afternoon.
- Visit a garden store. It's been very cold in our part of the
world right now. I am starting to get a little spring-crazy. A visit
into our local garden store is in my plans for the weekend. All I
want to DO is see the colorful primulas and the new seed collections.
I am not going to BUY anything – just look, and smell. Mmmmmm. Spring
is around the corner.
- Volunteer - at a foodbank, senior's home, hospital, school, whatever. Giving back doesn't necessary mean giving cash. Your time and skill can be more valuable.
- Last weekend all the museums in our town were free for the day. Since we live in Lucy's, Roger Tory Peterson's and Robert H. Jackson's hometown there are a nice number of museums that have been established because of them. There is also a nice historical museum. If you went to all of these, you would probably spend at least $35 a person to get in. It is nice to leave a donation as they do struggle sometimes to keep going. This year we chose our historical museum who had a wonderful display of Christmas past. In spite of the cold probably the biggest event in our town is the Christmas Parade complete with hot chocolate and fireworks. There is also an evening in the park with a bonfire, cookies, donuts, hot chocolate ,special music, horse drawn wagon rides and Santa Claus. This is all free and wonderful events. No need to spend money for gas except to go perhaps a couple miles and if you work it right the parking is even free! Make sure you watch your paper for these events,even if you live in a small town. Our ice rink is open anytime for anyone who wants to use their indoor track to walk for free and they have a wonderful rubber track around the ouside of the rink. This is all enclosed and not an open skating rink, so you can shed your coat and walk in comfort. In the summer time there are a number of free concerts available, free picnic tables in the park and lots of church events that are free going on. Us seniors even congregate at McDonald's in the morning for senior coffee at $.69 cents a cup and spend an hour gabbing with friends! Grandma D, from frozen western NY.
SHOP at home FIRST
When I am looking for something new to DO, I start at my library. In no time at all, I am loaded up with new cookbooks, crafting books, novels, magazines, and music. And it didn't cost a dime! - Cindy
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- Plan a fantastic supper for Friday night. Set out the good
dishes. Use a tablecloth (eeks – that's means I have to iron it
first). Light a couple candles. Have you ever made home-made pizza
from scratch? Kids love it!
- Go through your stash of movies of television shows that you
already own. Pick out a favorite, pop some popcorn (not the
chemicallized microwave stuff), curl up with a favorite blanket and
enjoy some downtime.
- My kids love this – play a game with the family. If you want
to see your kids smile, just haul out their favorite board game and
sit down to play with them. Older kids enjoy cards – crazy whist is
our family favorite.
- Our family has a board game tournament once in a while on the weekends. We play as many family-friendly board and card games (Sorry, UNO, Clue, some Cranium games, etc) as we can throughout the weekend. We keep track of the winner of each game by listing the winner and the date on the inside of the box lid (or in the case of card games, we keep an index card cut the same size). On some games we have about 30 dates/winners listed. It's fun to look back and see who won a game the most or who can keep a run going.
Mary
- GROUP - Play a board game with the family. No kids? Me neither - but there
are a lot of great strategy board games out there that are designed for a
group of adults. To learn more about this phenomenon, google German-style
board game, or just look up the entry on Wikipedia.
- Call up another couple and organize an impromptu potluck
supper. Ask them to bring the salad and desert and you'll do the
rest. SHOP at home FIRST. Keep it simple – lasagne taste great when
shared with friends!
- Dig out a favorite baking cookbook and make something new.
Perhaps a couple loaves of bread or some fresh muffins. Add a pot of
homemade soup and you have the makings for a fantastic supper.
- Tackle a few of the TO DO's around the home. Have you already
purchased everything you need to repaint the guest room? You might
not have gotten it done before Christmas like you planned, perhaps
this weekend? There is nothing like having Monday come around and you
can so, WOW – we did so much over the weekend!
- Write a letter to a friend. I never got around to typing out
a family Christmas letter – so I think we will be putting together a
Happy Belated New Year Letter. I'm going to set it up as a PDF file
and email it out to everyone – complete with pictures of the kids. It
won't cost a dime! (Maybe I will even be able to get my husband to
type some of it – hint hint dear).
- Organize a closet. WHAT? That's no fun! LOL. Just do it. For
the rest of the weekend, you'll keep on opening up that closet –
amazed that it looks so good. And who knows, perhaps you'll find a
treasure you forgot you had.
- Saturday Morning - "30 Minute Cyclone" (cleaning contest to see who can get the most jobs done in 30 minutes) jobs include: vacuuming, mopping floors, dusting, wiping cupboard door fronts, bathroom and sweeping down cobwebs from the ceiling. Winner gets to choose between various prizes - all of which are free and most of which are activities, such as hiking, library, geocaching (treasure hunting with a GPS unit), making dessert for dinnertime, etc.
- Grab your camera or recorder and take some pictures of the
family. Make a movie. No kids? Then take pictures of your favorite
things. Remember to take a few pictures of yourself as well. In our
home, I am the picture-taker. When you look at our albums you would
swear there is no mother in the home LOL! Send a copy of the movie to
far away relatives. Share.
- Haul out a jigsaw puzzle.
- SOLO - Try out a new recipe - something you've never even had before. (Note from Cindy: Get the kids to join in! My youngest daughter made a mean French Loaf from scratch. The house smelled delicious - and she was so proud of herself.)
- Make pizza from scratch (including crust) and bake bread.
- Candlelight Pasta Dinner and movie (from the library - free!)
- Get your finances ready for the next month. Clean out the purse
(add your change to your Christmas Cash Stash), pay the bills, empty
out your inbox, figure out how much you still owe on credit cards (or
other debt), figure out how much is in your savings/checking
accounts, get a feel for what your money is at right now. Think about
a couple financial goals for the following month – how much debt do you want to
conquer? How much savings do you want to add? Write the two numbers
on your calendar.
- SOLO - Do your taxes. Ok, this one's not fun at all - but when it's done,
it's done - none of those last-minute, procrastinated-too-long jitters in
April. Plus, if you're lucky you might even end the weekend with more money
than you started with.
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Who has paints drying out in the craft stash? Haul them out and let the kids enjoy. Do a little bit yourself too! - Cindy
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Haul out an unfinished craft. This is the time of year, my
mother-in-law finishes off all her knitting projects. She has two new
great-grandchildren on the way this year – I know they will each be
getting one of Lilly's special blankets. I have a painting I started
in December that is staring at me from the top of our piano. I think
on Sunday, I will haul out the paints and DO some more on it (perhaps
I will even post an update on my DO-LOG).
- Pamper yourself. Do you have a color-kit, manicure kit, spa
kit, or some other pampering thing hidden away under the sink in the
bathroom? Haul it out and enjoy! Take some time for you. I can
honestly admit that I am not into all the fuss some women put
themselves through to "look beautiful" but every once in awhile it's
nice to take some time out just for you.
- COUPLES - Close the bedroom door and see how long you can keep your minds
off of BUYING and on DOING...each other. Be sure to include some snuggle
time before/after.(Note from Cindy: OK I am blushing now...)
- DO nothing. Yup, that's what I said. Sometimes, simply taking
the time to just sit and gaze out the window can be the perfect
retreat. Take a nap (don't wait until a nasty cold forces "rest and
plenty of fluids" on you). Enjoy the sunshine. Go for a walk. Keep it
simple.
What
are you and your family going to DO? Can you DO a "DO instead of BUY
Weekend?" Give it a go. This is your challenge!
DO instead of BUY is going to be one of your most powerful tools for
rediscovering all the wonderful things you can do with your family,
your friends, and yourself that you can do in your home, and your
neighborhood that simply don't cost a dime.
The neat part is – the more you DO, the more you want to DO. Shopping
becomes something you "have to do." "Not shopping" becomes an absolute treat!
Take care of you,
Cindy
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