I have been blessed to be a stay-at-home mom for my daughters’ entire lives. The hubby and I made a conscious decision many years ago for one of us to always be home for our children. Of course, at the time, I had no idea what an oxymoron the term stay-at-home mom would be. Between school carpools, Girl Scout troops, library trips and playdates, we’re very rarely actually home.
And, that’s a big part of my survival strategy this summer.
After my oldest daughter’s kindergarten year, summer hit me hard. I’d forgotten what it was like having 2 kids at home. She had gotten used to structure & routine, but it was the year I had started my frugal site. It was the year my toddler had broken her leg & spent 6 weeks in a lower body cast.
My life was anything but routine.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out I’d need one if I hoped to get any work accomplished all season. I took a cue from her school to create a schedule of activities for the week and turned to the many free things to do in our area for inspiration. We are on the go all summer long with daily field trips to keep the girls active in between my work.
Monday is library day. Tuesday became is water day. We can go to the pool, setup sprinklers at home or hit the splash parks in our area. Wednesday became free movie day. Thursday is our official park day. We head to a different nearby park or playground each week. Friday’s fun varies – I use it as a bribe for good behavior every week.
We go bowling (for free, of course), drop a few quarters at the arcade, hit the bounce house and come up with creative things to do at home now & then. The result? Something to look forward to each morning while I work, with an added treat to get us through the week.
Happy kids, happy momma!
It’s been 6 years since that first, hectic summer. Our schedule hasn’t changed much at all. Only, free wifi at many of our regular haunts has made the whole thing even easier. They don’t have to wait for me to finish work before we go – I can just jump right back in when we get there!
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Heather Sokol is the wife of a tech geek and mother of 3 beautiful, active girls. Each week, she shares miscellaneous mom secrets and their tricks for living life inexpensively.
ok, I love this post. The “free movie” link didn’t work for me, but I need to know more.
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The Proverbs Wife Reply:
July 14th, 2010 at
@designHer Momma, http://inexpensively.com/deals/free-summer-movies/
I pasted the movie link above for you. It should work.
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Heather Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at
@designHer Momma, Thanks! I hope you were able to get the post to open – there are several movie opportunities in Indy.
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