20 frugal or free summer fun activities

Looking for something frugal or free to do this summer? Here's a list of 20 summer fun activities which cost little or no money and provide endless entertainment.

1. Go to the park.
2. Go to your local library. Check out a book or movie, and check out the schedule for book clubs, reading rewards, lectures, and story times.
3. Consider joining your local museum or zoo. Usually, for the cost of visiting twice, you can go as much as you want for the whole season.
4. Stargaze.
5. Get wet. Play with a garden hose, run through sprinklers, get yourself a squirt gun - it doesn't matter how old you are, everyone likes to cool off.
6. Read. Sit on your deck or in your backyard, read out loud with your honey or kids, just read.
7. Be a tourist (in your own hometown). Check a guidebook out of the library, or read an article online, and check out all the local attractions you would take family to if they visited.
8. Learn to knit or sew.
9. Build a solar oven in your backyard and use it to keep your house cooler.
10. Do crafts with your kids or on your own.
11. Have a friend over for lemonade. My ideal day would be sitting in a rocking chair on my porch, drinking lemonade and gossiping with the girls.
12. Browse your local farmer's market. If you make friends, you might even be able to visit some farms.
13. Fly a kite.
14. Volunteer at your local food bank sorting food or filing papers.
15. Go to the mall. Not for the shopping, for the free air conditioning.
16. Take daily walks around your neighborhood or on the beach/boardwalk/nature path. Smile at strangers.
17. Sleep late!
18. Rent a movie from Redbox or take your kids to some free summer movies.
19. Go to a local winery that has a free tasting. Mmmmm.
20. Search the Free attractions directory and find something within driving distance of where you live.

What's #21? Please leave me a comment with your best frugal or free summer fun activities!

Two high impact free donate opportunities

Usually click to donate sites will donate between 2 and 10 cents per click. Sometimes companies offer higher impact click drives, on a temporary basis, as a marketing campaign. Two such click drives are running now:


Right now, Country Crock is donating a meal to America's Second Harvest for every small change you share at their website, Your Family Table

Listerine will donate $1 to Right to Play's Red Ball Challenge, which uses sports and play to help kids in developing countries when you click the red ball

Cleaning out my apartment: donating

The three bags of health and beauty items above went to my local food bank yesterday. The bags mostly consist of shampoos and toothpastes, but there is also some lotion and some packs of feminine products in there too. Most of this is stuff I purchased for free with grocery coupons, and which has been languishing under the sink in my guest bathroom for months. I feel lighter for it being gone, and I have all that extra storage space back, but mostly I feel good because it's going to go to good use.

If you donate goods to a food bank, soup kitchen, or shelter, you can deduct the full value (i.e., not what you paid with coupons and rebates, but what someone else would have to pay) from your taxes. Since we don't itemize deductions, I don't worry about this, but if you do make sure to get a receipt.

This is my first bit of progress on my goals for summer. Try to keep me honest at making steady progress!

My Goals and Priorities for summer

1. RECOVER. Rest and heal my mind, body, and spirit from the tortures I put them through the past few months. No matter what else I accomplish, I want to finally take some time for me and feel better, to invite more quiet into my life and more space in my brain.

2. Break even. Just like last summer, my goal is to make enough money to cover all of my share of household expenses. Extra money to put toward debt would be great, but only if it doesn't interfere with priority #1.

3. Have an adventure. I've been so busy, and so narrowly focused, for the past couple of years that I've forgotten to be young and have fun. This summer hubby and I want to take a (relatively inexpensive) vacation, without too much excessive planning. :)

4. Clean out my apartment. I really want to have less stuff. I'm going to start sorting, ebaying, recycling, freecycling, and donating as much as possible this summer. I'm going to start with my stockpile of health and beauty products purchased for free or pennies. Donating to the food bank always ups my mood, as does clearing stuff out of the apartment.

5. Get fit. Between Wii Fit and my apartment complex's fitness room and pool, I have no excuse for not getting in shape this summer. I would like to lose a few pounds, but mostly I would like to feel stronger, stand taller, and Fight the blues.

6. Write. I want to get into the habit of writing every day again. It doesn't matter so much where I write or what I write, I think that will work itself out in the end, I just want to make sure that I write every single day.

School's out for summer

School ended Friday. My grades are in, my classroom cleaned out, my forms signed, and my last check in the bank.

I wish I had more to say right now but my incredibly frugal plans for the next couple days mostly involve curling up on the couch and staring at a wall for a while.