The best part of the week is the weekend. You get to sleep in late and most importantly, don’t have to get ready and go to work. After graduating, I couldn’t wait for the weekend to hang out with my friends. We were always coming up with ideas of things to do. We would go bowling, hit the bars and clubs to have a few drinks, you name it, we were doing it.

Fast forward to today, and we are all a little bit older. Some of us are married and some have kids. As a result, we aren’t free every weekend to go out and we don’t all have the cash flow either. Heck, some of us just don’t feel like going out after a long week of work! That doesn’t mean however the fun ends. There are countless ways to still have fun and be smart about our spending. If you aren’t older like me and still in college, these tips apply to you to since most likely you are on a shoestring budget as well.

Have a Game Night

Remember playing board games as kid? Well, you never really out grow them. My friends and I indulge in a game night monthly. We meet at a different person’s house each month and play games. It may sound corny, but it’s a blast. I can honestly say I usually laugh hard enough to cry each time. The range of games is endless, from trivia to strategy and everything in between. If you don’t have many games, don’t worry. They are fairly low cost at the store, but you can pick up some games in great condition at yard sales or thrift shops. If you have a Wii, you can even play some fun group games there as well.

Visit a Park

At a park, you can do a lot. You can hike, picnic, throw a Frisbee, hang out and catch up, kayak, and see sights. The choices are endless. I usually jump online and research parks within a certain radius of my house. When I first did this, I was surprised at how many I found. There are many smaller, local parks in my area than I would have ever guessed. I guess I mostly was focusing my attention on the larger state parks. And just for the record, I highly encourage you to try kayaking. It’s really fun!

Check Out Community Events

For this idea to work best, you need to live near a larger city as they will have endless events all of the time. Craft shows, art festivals, concerts, etc. are all game at the community events. The best part is, it’s completely free, unless of course you buy something from a vendor. You can find upcoming events in the local paper and online. You’d be surprised at how much goes on in your own backyard that you never knew of.

Join Meetup.com

Meetup.com is a free website where you find others in your local area that are interested in the same things you are. I’ve found some new friends in a board game club and others in a local mountain biking club. We get together a couple times per month and head out on a group ride. There are groups for all interests, including networking and furthering your career, as well as dating groups and investing groups. You can search your locale for certain groups or just browse all of the local groups. The vast majority of groups are free, however, there are a few that do charge memberships. But usually, I can find a similar group that doesn’t charge.

Readers, what do you like to do for fun that doesn’t cost much (if any) money?