30-Day Challenge #7: Find and participate in a FREE activity in your area! (July, 2017)
30-day challenges
We are pleased to continue our 30-day challenge series. Past challenges can be found here.
This month's 30-day challenge is to Find and participate in a FREE activity in your area! Some suggestions on how to do this:
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Search your local community subreddit, website, or newsletter for free activities. These can range from free days at a local museum to free concerts in the park.
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If you happen to live in or near a mid-sized or large city, check the local subreddit to see what type of events and meet-ups have been listed (also make sure you check their sidebar).
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Bulletin boards at community centers, places of worship, and schools are also good places to find different activities.
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We're also going to link threads on any local subreddits that want to participate below in a sticky comment so check that list too! Local subreddits can register here.
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Visit a local or national park and have a picnic, go for a hike, or walk a nature trail.
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Check out some of the "free to play" type activities that are available all over the world.
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Make a "walk in the park" more exciting with r/geocaching.
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See if there is a podcast/map for a historic walking tour of your town or a nearby town, download it, and make a morning or afternoon of walking the tour.
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Set-up and run a game night or movie night with your friends. Rather than go out for expensive fun at a bar or restaurant, stay home and have more fun with friends. r/boardgames has a helpful sidebar, r/NetflixBestOf has lots of movie suggestions, and you can always ask your friends for ideas.
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Meet up with some friends in a local park for a picnic, barbecue, to play basketball or tennis, or maybe just to toss a football or frisbee around.
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Large celebrations: National holidays like the Fourth of July or local "Heritage Weekends" - tend to have many options for free entertainment throughout town. Check out when the next one around you is happening (hint: Fourth of July if you live in the United States).
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Volunteer for free admission. Many events will need help with everything from ushers to clean-up, and will usually allow you free admission to the event as a reward for volunteering. Find a cause you believe in or an event you want see and see about volunteer opportunities.
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Check out VolunteerMatch.org to see some of the endless opportunities around you.
The goal of this exercise is to show you that spending money isn’t required to have a full and healthy life. There are tons of activities that can be used to fulfill almost any desire you have. Use the comments to discuss your allocation, any questions you might have, or if you're wondering what you can do about them.
Challenge success criteria
You've successfully completed this challenge once you've done one or more of the following things:
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Participated in 2 different activities around your town.
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Setup or joined an on-going activity (like a games night with friends).
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Found a free replacement for a current paid activity and at least tried it out. This could be anything from borrowing a movie from the library to attending a free yoga in the park session. Even if you decide not to do it in place of the paid activity, at least you gave it a shot!
Posted Jul 2, 2017, 2:08 PM UTC
I recently moved so today I will go get a new library card at the local library only a mile away. I've been on a Stephen King kick and buying them from the thrift store or online for pretty cheap... but free is better than cheap!
If you haven't already, look into using the Overdrive app -- lots of electronic King books are available for free from your library!
Libby is the updated Overdrive app for mobile devices and tablets. It's definitely much cleaner and easier to use, so maybe they can check that out as well.
I've been going to the library a lot too - and our city's library is hosting a bunch of fun events (for adults and kids) this summer. My baby and I go to a little baby read along thing once a week AND I've learned how to crochet and play Mah-Jong.
Yeah library is legit. Overdrive, books on tape, DVD rentals. They also do a summer program for kids once a week with some entertaining stuff. Last week they had a reptile guy with all kinds of lizards and snakes. My 2 yo got to pet a huge constrictor.
Haha I actually work at my local library and we do the same thing! I never really knew just how much content was available at my library, and that my library is a part of a set of local libraries in my local county.
Since these branches are connected you can even request materials from any branch and get the shipped to your "home branch" to check it out like it was a normal item you'd check out regularly!
And our summer reading program lets people earn tickets by reading each day and hitting certain milestones that can earn them tickets to use at a choice of raffle baskets they can win
Can't thank you and the library system enough. It's saved us so much money. Since the election I've been going through books on tape to keep me sane on my commute. There's a branch just down the street from my work so I send all my requests to get picked up there. Rented Logan the other day. Got through a few seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm. About to start the Wire and maybe Veep. I'm probably the only person who hasn't watched Game of Thrones so I'll get to that eventually.
My daughter got a free pizza for signing up and just hit enough points for a kids meal at Chipotle. The next milestone is entrance into a raffle for an annual family pass to a museum.
I think a personal hobby like this is okay to make a small purchase on. Just because it's not a damaging purchase. I mean if you're like my girlfriends mother who's on pace for 210 books in the year then definitely go to your library. But if youre like me and a one a month book type reader then I think it's okay.