Another good thing that’s come out of the past few months is that we’ve all learned how to entertain ourselves fairly cheaply. Previously, we might have spent a lot of money on an evening out to keep ourselves busy – but that hasn’t been an option for the past few months.
So we’ve all learned how to keep ourselves entertained with what we can find at home! Here are some of the ways people have been keeping busy for free or cheap:
- Going for walks
- Baking
- Playing games online with friends
- Taking free online classes
- Downloading ebooks from the library
1. Going for walks
For a while, when only the bare essential stores were open and even playgrounds were closed, a lot of people were going for walks. I’m lucky enough to live in an area with great nature paths and quiet streets, so our main entertainment for a few months was socially distanced walks once a week with family members.
2. Baking
Baking has definitely been very popular over the past few months. I’m not much of a baker – and even I baked my first loaf of bread. Flour and yeast have been flying off the shelves! When I found some yeast, I picked up some extra to share. I think baking has been popular because it’s very soothing and because you get to eat the end product.
3. Playing games online with friends
If I had managed to get a Nintendo Switch and a copy of Animal Crossing I’d definitely have spent time online playing games with friends. This didn’t happen for me, so I played stuff I already had solo. I know that online gaming has been popular with a lot of older kids as a great way to have fun and keep in touch with their friends.
4. Taking free online classes
As soon as it looked like schools were going to shut down, lots of places stepped up to offer classes that anyone could take for free. Disney was offering animation lessons, Scholastic had stuff for younger kids – you could find a free class on just about anything you wanted! I started one that talked about the history of the pyramids.
5. Downloading ebooks from the library
My local library really ramped up their online offerings since the actual library branches were closed. You could even apply for a library card online if you didn’t have one. We also got access to two other city library ebook offerings which was great – I found some books I wanted to read that I couldn’t find anywhere else.
The Takeaway
The great news is that all of these options will continue to be available even as things open up. We may not have as much selection in some things in the future, but stuff will still be out!
What’s one free or cheap way you entertained yourself over the past few months?
