Ideas on outings with relatives?
Find a Conversation
Ideas on outings with relatives?
| Thu, 02-02-2006 - 8:38pm |
Hi, everyone.:) Well, DH's brother and family are coming to visit during the summer months. The house is a wreck, need new kitchen, curtains, yard work, garage door, etc. DH said "no" to getting a HELOC, or borrowing, so it looks like I will have to save a lot to get it done. Any ideas? Also need ideas on inexpensive outings with a pre-teen. Thanks. WHiz.

There are plenty of cheap outings depending on their interests. Go to a park with a picnic, go to the beach or lake,a local museum or zoo or how about a minor league ball game? Our local team does fireworks displays at some games and when I was in high school my girlfriends and I would go for ladies night(I think they did bat night and kids nights too). Admissions were 25c on ladies night(this was 1993-94), we weren't into the game, just went to get out and do something enjoy the nice weather on those nice summer evenings. They usually had some other kind of deals to entice us like coke and hot dog cheap on those nights so we did dinner at the ball park. We'd stay for the fireworks after the game. A few times we bought one of those disposable foil grills and made hot dogs in the parking lot as a tailgating party. Because our family always summered up north in a cooler climate we were much more active in hiking and outdoor activities than at home (S.FL) where it always seemed too hot to do too much outside. My mom loved the beach but I hated it always too hot, so just let the kids interests be your guide.
Call (or email) now and find out what they think they might like to see when they come to your city you can gather ideas and maps and get them involved in planning what they want to do now.
Pam
Proud sister of a Marine:
What sorts of things can you do to undo the 'wreck'? If it is clutter, I encourage you to start with just 15 min a day working on dealing with it. Set a timer and work your way though it bit by bit. If you are really struggling with clutter, check out www.flylady.net and see if she 'floats your boat'. She isn't for everyone but lots of people like me have changed our lives with her principles.
I don't know how big of a town you live in but if it is big enough to have a visitors center, drop in sometime and pick up some brochures. If you can afford to drop them in the mail, send them off ahead of time (get 2 copies) and if not, just gather them and have them when they get there.
Peg
Hey whiz - have you ever been letterboxing? I'm not sure what the rules are about posting links here, but if you went with (the obvious) dot org you could find out all about it. The costs are absolutely minimal - you could buy nothing at all and get by. Ideally at least purchase a rubber stamp, a small notebook, and a compass (you could get all of this at walmart for like $15 for the entire family group) but that will give you days and days of fun.
It's lots of fun, good exercise in the fresh air, and FREE after that initial purchase of supplies.
I *just* learned about this last week!
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
Hello,
Regarding decluttering, I would suggest working on the inside of the house before you work on the yard. After all, when relatives visit, they are mostly going to see the entranceway, kitchen, living room, and guest bathroom. Don't worry too much about the garage sale. If you have items that you think would be sellable at a garage sale, try donating them (tax deductions are nice...) For instance, in my area, AADD.org has an online form that you can fill out to schedule a "pickup". Write down what you are donating for tax purposes, then fill up a box and schedule the pickup. I make a note to myself (and on the box) to leave it on the front porch on the designated day, and "magically" it disappears with a receipt left in it's place. =)
You can be sure that someone will find it useful, but you don't have to worry about spending the time and energy compiling, pricing, and running a garage sale. I have done plenty of garage sales and really the money gained is not worth the time & energy + clutter storage you spend trying to get it done!
Yes, I'm paraphrasing some of Flylady's ideas here (www.flylady.net)
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished