Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which have changed as we've proceeded. (As things have settled down to a nice steady conversational pace, for example, I've deleted the rules about only one tip per person per week and about limiting the length of comments; I was worried early on about people flooding the forum with too much too fast, but I think we're past that risk.)

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Re: Entertainment.

[jenniferkobernik]

FWIW, of the “newer” games, we have been enjoying Settlers of Catan, Splendor, and Ticket to Ride lately with the niece and nephews (starting about age 10–they’re marginal for the eight year old, but he’s also young for his age developmentally).

Re: Entertainment.

[randomactsofkarmasc]

I love a good strategy game, but if you are looking for something a little less intense (or want a game to introduce non-gamers to the joy of gaming), a really great parlor game is 5ive Straight (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/369/5ive-straight). You can play with just two people, or three people, or you can play two vs two...

Re: Entertainment.

[methylethyl]

My 9 and 12 year olds do have Catan and Ticket to Ride and enjoy them a great deal, though they're not usually found secondhand (yet. It'll come), and quite expensive new- not as expensive as a subscription entertainment service I reckon, so if you're looking for a way to ditch your $80/mo cable, certainly worth the swap.

But some gems we've picked up used and cheap, which have been popular with kids and/or adults are Mastermind, Scrabble, Risk (the pieces get lost, so you may need to improvise or find a second set), Taboo (and its classic cousin Password), backgammon, chinese checkers, and Mancala. We keep trying dominos, and... sigh. I have now gotten rid of 3 sets because I am tired of stepping on them. YMMV.

For the pricier games we have... once we had a few classics and were playing them regularly, godparents and grandparents cottoned on that we were "board game people" and have since kept us supplied with the more interesting newer games, plus some educational ones (the 50 states game, say) that the kids learn a bunch of trivia from and then get tired of and pass on to someone else. I'm not crazy about them, but the kids do like Apples to Apples, Carcasonne, and Castle Panic. I'll take a few rounds of Rummy over those any day ;)