The biggest piece of advice I read on a spending freeze is stay home. Even if you don't shop for entertainment, there are other things people do that costs money- like visiting friends, going out for coffee, even one of our girl scout leader's training days cost 16.00 ( for materials and lunch)

Going out to dinner, seeing a bargain movie, heck even a red box rental is a dollar. Even if I go curbside shopping or dumpster diving I have to buy gas to get around.

So I'm home. Yep- I sit here and look at the dingy 4 walls around me. I think- well all this time I have at home, maybe I should be productive. I think about painting the walls, refinishing a dreary looking dresser, sewing up some curtains- all of which takes money to buy supplies to do those chores.

so I sit.

What exactly do you do to fight the boredom on a spending freeze? Oh- and how long does the freeze last? a month??

I read, clean, play with my kids, play in the backyard, take a walk to the park, have friends over, reorganize, watch tv, surf the net and I still get bored sometimes.

My husband and I had this exact issue last night! We went out to run some errands (for our date ;-) We hit up Best Buy to return a DVD ( I thought I bought Beauty and the Beast..the original for my daughter....but I bought that 2nd one...the orginal is still in the "Vault"...stupid Disney!) We also went to Target to return some jeans that didn't fit me. so basically..we put $50 back onto the credit card! Then we paid cash...$20 for a birthday present for our daughter's 1st b-day. It was half-off so I went for it! Plus we have all of this excess cash now that we aren't eating out or spending any of it on anything but food, etc. We also went to cancel our membership to a local "club" that they call a community center..but it's expensive..$50 a month...swimming..sports...work-out..stuff like that. Between our jobs and the holidays...we weren't using it and it was going to waste!

So we were like..Yeah! We saved probably $200...spent $20 cash total! It's only 8pm..what do we do now?

So we called up some close friends of ours who just bought a new house and asked if we could stop by. So that's what we did!

On the way home..we were like..."That's what we need to do...visit friends and invite them over!" We have tons of party-games and movies. We have several friends who are couples with small children or no children..or children on the way! I could make dinner..we could have a movie night!

So that's one thing you can do...reconnect with friends!!

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Bekah
Co-founder and CEO of the NOVITZKE FAMILY INC.

Gosh, we watch tv or movies at home, play video games, play board games, air hockey or pool. All things we already have at home. We so rarely have an evening without some sort of kids activity that it is nice to just sit On nights we have activities, they rarely cost extra money. They boys have wrestling 2x a week. I paid their registration already and there are no other related expenses. We already have shoes for all of them (either given to us, outgrown by friends or bought on ebay). Dh and I are active in the Parents group at the school, that does not cost us anything, and I am active in the ECFE parents board that costs nothing either.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I'm really struggling with this one. Part of it is FTJ because I'm avoiding stores and eating out. Part of it is our horrible weather right now. We've had all this snow and then it rain and froze. Part of it is we've all been sick for so long and just when I thought everyone was getting better my daughter wakes up this morning with a swollen eye!

I'm thinking we may pack up my camera today and go for a drive. I could get out and take pictures and leave my husband in the car with the kids! Of course our biggest temptation here is going to be eating out. It's not like I can pack a picnic for us as it is too icky to eat outside.

But I'm really struggling today!

And we just got hit with another snow storm, not sure how I missed this one ... I guess that cancels out the drive. Sigh.

I am struggling w/ this myself. I am a go-er. Which equals in spending a lot of our money. I have found myself doing a LOT more visiting, especially with our families. I've been keeping track of where we go (to see if there is a spending pattern corralating with different places), and I was really surprised at how often we are seeing mine and dh's families.

I had to laugh about looking at the house because you are home - I am doing the same thing. I even went so far as to get some paint swatch papers when we were at the hardware store the other day. I keep holding them up to the wall and thinking about which one I want, but I can't buy any paint. ROFL!

Today we are taking a walk, because the weather finally broke freezing.... to no where! LOL

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Carrie
SAHM Momma to 2 sweet boys and a baby princess

---My oldest got Dance Dance Revolution for Christmas so we play this (great exercise too )
---My oldest reads almost everynight to dh or I. I also read to the girls before bed.
---Free movies from the library
---Story time/craft time at the library
---Family game night (board games, Uno, etc)
---The girls help me bake or cook supper.

DeeMom I have too got out my DDR Game as one of my goals is to loose weight sad to say though I bought it for myself.

I am not Bored I have my knitting and my internet addiction. Still there are things I do that don't cost anything. Last Friday we went to the Children's museun (for FREE), the zoo has Free days and I am the queen of finding a play date. I even host play dates every other week and that saves on gas. There is nothing stopping you from inviting your friends in

2008 is our Finish up year So lots to do to get things finished up. I have a lot of knitting and sewing to catch up on and my scrapbook supplies are all just waiting for me.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

I'm right there with you... one of my 2008 resolutions is to finish up some of my projects which include crochet/knit/sewing/painting/scrapbooking. My house is being taken over by half finished projects. I haven't gotten bored, I'm just trying to squeeze some more hours into the day =)