Frugal Family Outing

• Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Sometimes it can hard to spend "quality" time with our families, especially when we're trying hard to save money and counting every penny. I think this is especially true as our children get older. When they're little, they're happy to go the park to play on the "big slides", and get a snow cone afterwards. As they grow up, though, frugal family time outside the normal day-to-day routine at home can be difficult to come by.

We are a family of readers, and often a family outing for us is driving to the nearest big bookstore and browsing the books and magazines. We used to buy lots and lots of books. We don't buy nearly as many as we used to, but I still like to look and skim and evaluate. So I was especially pleased to find coupons from Barnes and Noble here. One for a free cappuccino or other hot drink, the other for a 15% discount off any non-sale item. We had a very enjoyable afternoon looking and reading and sipping our hot chai (my personal favorite) and coffee.

It's important that our families see us outside of the just the regular mom/dad/household roles that we fill. It's so easy to get caught up in our necessary routines--what are some things you do together as a family that are frugal, fun, and relaxing?

Leave me a comment and share what works for your family.

Until next time...

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