Making Your Own Home Fun...

One of my frugal blogs (I read a lot of them and I can't, for the life of me, find the blogger who had the link), had a link to a blog called A Mother in Israel. I thought it was an interesting connection/link for a frugal blogger and I clicked on over out of curiosity. Boy, am I glad I did. I really like the blog over all, but the post that it was originally linked to was fabulous. The topic of the blog post was Frugal Strategies for Young Families and it was terrific. One of the things that spoke to me was this: Make home a fun place to be. (Her entire post was fantastic...I urge you to check it out.)

Think about it...roll it around...do you find yourself heading out of the house for entertainment? Why? Shouldn't our homes be a source of entertainment as well as sheltering us? We know so many families that drop big dollars heading to the movie theater or restaurants, even as they worry about their financial situation. Despite having more entertainment possibilities than ever in our own homes, home doesn't seem to be the place to be. Why is that? (I don't know the answer...I'm thinking out loud here.)

When Amy at the Mother Load did a No-Spend Challenge a few months back, she quickly realized that she spent money as a form of entertainment...as she put it, her "social engagements revolved around spending money". When the Nagle5 embarked on the 30 Days of No Fast Food challenge, we quickly discovered that our fast-food habit was actually how we entertained ourselves when we got bored. Definitely not frugal, I can tell you that for sure.

So, what do you do to make your home fun? To make your home a desirable destination? You already know we have Game Night as a way to "stay in" and have our friends "stay in", but what else can we do to make home fun?

The American Homemaker did a "fast food night" at her house, dressing up the home-made stuff in fast-food like holders and paper wrappers and serving it in plastic baskets and disposabe cups. It turned out really well and I'll be her kids thought it was a treat even though it was the same food she always serves.


As for us, we're still working on it. One of the things we did was to buy a small fire pit last year when the home stores were clearing out their patio stuff to put the Christmas stuff in (in September!). Our thinking was, "Why wait until we're camping? Why can't we have fire-roasted hot dogs and s'mores at home? "Why can't we get all bundled up and head outside to enjoy the crisp nights of spring and fall?" No reason, really...we just have to think about it. I'm thinking of having a sleep-over in our trailer one night...the kids would think it was a great treat and I wouldn't be far from my shower. There are just so many ways we can make our homes fun, if we just start thinking about it.

So, what about you guys? Is there something you do to make your home fun? I need ideas.

A Disclaimer: I read a lot. I mean, seriously, a lot. Sometimes I don't remember where I read something or who got me to clicking on a link, but I know I didn't think of it on my own. So, if I mention something that I can't remember the source of and you know the source, please let me know...I really want to say thank-you.