Budget Family Fun: YMCA Still Rocks

Is it just me or is budget family fun more in demand than ever?

I have no idea why we’ve just totally ignored the YMCA up until recently – but that place flat out rocks in our area.  I have no idea where you live, either – but in case you’re not in America reading this, the YMCA is Young Men’s Christian Association, though there’s not much Christian or otherwise about it (not the point of the post).

What is the Y?  Simply one of the coolest places on Earth if you have kids and want to get them moving in the winter, like right now in our case.  Cabin fever started really setting in – and we don’t usually do snow-stuff just because we all equally prefer warmth (no offense, snow bunnies).

Solution?  The YMCA.  How’s this sound for cheap fun?

• Indoor rock climbing
• Ping Pong tables
• Basketball
• Full workout center with cardio, classes and free weights (and an indoor track!)
• Heated pool
• Smoothie bar…

It’s ridiculous.  I love budget family fun more than biscotti in my espresso – and I’m loving the Y lately.  This place is ridiculously engaging for all members of our family, from 5 y/o on up to teens: and me and the wife are all about taking powerlifting together (she’s lookin’ awesome I have to say).

If you haven’t lately – check out the budget family fun on offer at your local Y – or whatever you guys have that’s like it.  Get fit together – and have fun doing it, it’s grossly addicting.

Old-Fashioned Low-Tech Toys

OK. Maybe your kids are the typical iPod, XBox, iPad, etc. type: the kids who get every new fad gadget when it comes out (or at least for Christmas). Our kids? Not so much.

The reason is simple: we’ve taught them these things cost money, and we have old fashioned fun. We do try to promote a physical, simple is better type of life (without depriving them of things such as the internet, mind you).

For the MOST part, it has turned out that our kids love simple things: a model rocket that launches and takes pictures (that’s simple, right??), tire swings, building tree houses with dad…water balloon fights, board games as a family…

Even card games, jacks, croquet, etc. – these are all fun. I look around and see a lot of our neighbors don’t have the time or maybe the desire to spend much time with their kids, and it’s sad to watch.

Usually the kids aren’t so…thrilled, let’s say…with anything but the latest gadget, etc. come Christmas time or birthdays, or what have you. The net effect, as far as I can see, is a distance between the parents and kids.

Because we have not had much money, we’ve always made a big to-do about making the most from what we have. One year, that meant slicing up an old water heater box to make it into a fort.

Our kids were so young then – and they still hearken back to that! Just today, I watched our kids play with (of all things) a pair of old broomsticks. They were acting out scenes from Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton’s version), slaying the Jabberwocky and such.

I think being “bored” isn’t the crime it’s cracked up to be – and kids are much more inventive and imaginative when forced by circumstance to be so. Don’t tell them I said this, but I think one year we’re going to try to get away with one present each…and make that one present something they’d enjoy without electricity.

Here’s to your Christmas shopping season – or whatever holidays you celebrate – and hoping that you get at least one simpler gift this year and have some old-fashioned, low-tech fun!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Defined

Image via Wikipedia

Black Friday: the busiest shopping day on the calendar on the planet.  The day after Thanksgiving, which makes Black Friday the 4th Friday in November.

Cyber Monday: reportedly the biggest shopping day online, which is the Monday after Black Friday.  (We bought our travel crib this way.)

For parents on the frugal side (which doesn’t mean cheap, it means “smart shopper”) – you can use Black Friday and Cyber Monday to do the bulk of your shopping.  But for the life of me, I don’t quite get those who want to shop the old way: in the mall, fighting the press of bodies and funny stares…

This is when Christmas seems more like a competitive event: who gets the most for the least.  It also makes parents into zombies that jam from one red-eyed destination to another, forgetting all manners and all sense of politeness.

(At least, that’s the sense out here in the West, California most notably, and for some reason: I love it!)

Yeah.  I love it.  Love the red, puffy eyes, the turkey still digesting, the coffee still in the mug and the mad dash to the electronics aisle…fun stuff.

It is NOT the place for those with claustrophobia or for those who struggle with early hours: most sales are pretty fierce for big ticket items – with limited quantity…it’s all a game to herd the sheep in the right aisles using big enough bait.

Every year there’s a stampede of people, a trampling ‘event’ and normally someone makes the news for actually DYING in the Black Friday rush.  Ridiculous.  I don’t like that part, but I sure love saving money, planning strategies to get your items for next to nothing – and making sure you have scoped the place out.

Actually, I’m beginning to enjoy online shopping much more, just for the hassle factor of old school shopping – especially on Black Friday!