40 things before I’m 40

[BrieAndChilli]

I want to do 40 things in the next year but need some ideas. - ideally cheap or free!!

So far I’ve got

• go to New York
• do a project management course
• re-learn the piano
• sort out my eyebrows
• drop at least 1 dress size
• wear more dresses /make more effort with appearance
• go to a roller disco

Go see a stylist - best money spent

Knit a scarf
Find a geocache
Do a duolingo course (language)
Read a book you've always wanted to but never got around to
Ditto movie
Visit a planetarium and look through a telescope at stars/planets
Find out about the history of your town
Make a new friend
Go somewhere new (can be small like a library /Cafe)
Cook a dish from a different country

Is it the challenge element that appeals to you, or is it more a list of fun ideas?

How about:
Catch up with an old friend
Walk the length of a local footpath
Volunteer/ fundraise for a cause close to your heart
Read or re-read books by an author you really like
Clear out wardrobe
Get inspiration for your piano playing by going to a concert

-Learn to cook something amazing

• see your favourite singer/band
• go camping
• volunteer for a charity
• adopt an animal
• watch 40 classic films
• do race for life

Also do your family tree

• Complete a half marathon / marathon
• do something you’ve always been too scared to do but always wanted to
• buy an expensive handbag (not cheap or free!)
• read all the books on the BBC big read (100 books)
• try a different hair cut or colour.

Cycle 100 miles in a day, or walk 20.
Ferment and distil your own gin (only if you have an out building).
Eat some andouillette.

Climb a mountain
Climb a tree
Walk under a waterfall
Get a stone to skip across the sea, at least five skips
Take an art class
Volunteer for something you feel passionate about
Walk barefoot through mud
Go on an archeological dig
Visit a ruined caste
Grow veg even if it’s just a pot of strawberries or some herbs if your short of space
Visit a battleground
Try archery
Go on a political march
Slide down a really steep sand dune
Sing

I was just thinking if things I have done that have given me pleasure

I love these lists!

Be a tourist in your own town: go to all those attractions/museums/ beauty spots that you've never quite got round to because they'r eon your doorstep.
Make a bucket list of things to do in NYC and do them all
Get in touch with your best friend from primary school
Change your hairstyle completely
Buy a really classic item for your wardrobe: cashmere sweater, boots, handbag or coat
Physical adventure: go sea-kayaking or coasteering, zipwiring or skydiving or indoor parachuting
If you're not a runner do C25K. If you are a runner train for a marathon and sign up for it.
Paint a canvas in colours that work with your living space and hang it up (very cheap canvases at Tiger or IKEA)
Kondo your house
Plant a tree
Climb a tree

@MsMellivora - I love your list so much. I want to slide down a sand dune now!

I’m about to turn 38 and have been writing my 40 before 40 list. I have about 5 left to think of.

Some of mine
Make (knit/crochet in my case) 40 items for charity
Watch all of my fave TV show.
Try 5 new foods (I struggle with trying new foods)
Go to a show at an open air theatre
Read 40 books that have been on my shelf for more than a year
Start swimming again

I want to challenge myself to read a specific classic book but haven’t chosen one yet.

I'd like to learn the saxaphone and be more adept at roman numerals, but I'm a bit weird

40 things is a lot of things - nearly 1 a week assuming you have a whole year. So you need to be a bit smart about this to have any hope of doing them all. If you're serious about dropping a dress size then put in some food / exercise related things to break it down e.g.
do a park run
Try a yoga/spin/boxercise class/you tube video
Go for a walk at lunchtime at work
Climb your biggest local hill
Change your signature drink
Give up sugar in your tea (or whatever habit you want to give up that will help your goal)
Learn to cook a curry

How about some simple acts of kindness too - buy someone's coffee, donate to the charity shop, volunteer, do a litter pick - all free/cheap and quick to do.

And upgrading things you do already- go to a new bar/restuarant/cinema
Watch a classic film/series
Read a classic novel

Some great ideas. I am doing 50 before 50. I would suggest challenging yourself to learn something specific on the piano as it is more satisfying! I also have

• complete a 50km walk (this is a local trekking path that I have wanted to do for ages).
• get a short story published.
• make fresh pasta
• read Dante's Inferno (have had the book for ages...started at uni 25 years ago!!)

@JemilyJ Jane Eyre? That's one of the few classic novels I actually enjoyed

Skydive, get a charity place and that would be free/cheaper!

We did 50 during our 50th year (me and dh together)

• went to a dark sky area and saw the milky way
• went on a forging lesson / foraging cooking lesson
• skinny dipping
• sex alfresco (bizarrely we'd not done it together). That was a particularly good one for the list, because if people got too nosy about what we were doing, we could either tell them to shut them up (nosy aunt), or say that we couldn't possible tell them everything we were doing because some of it was 'too rude' - which got people wondering what depraved things we might be up to!
• ate something we'd never had before
• learnt to play backgammon
• went white water rafting (no so good because it all went horribly wrong and we could have died)
• had candlelit dinners every day for a month (this habit has lasted for 8 years - every dinner chez venus is candlelit!)
• banned phones from the bedroom
• became puppy walkers for Guide Dogs
• learnt to play a duet on the piano
• going to see a grouse lek at dawn

For us the main thing is not the actual tick list of activities, but more about our shared approach - more likely to do something new, then not to do it, looking for (and taking) new challenges, appreciating the small free things as much as the costly once-in-a-lifetime things.

Do some activities in a dementia home or old folks home. So rewarding and fun.
Dog walk for the RSPCA
Join your parish council
Hug a tree
Get involved in a local conservation project
Take up pottery
Sort out your paperwork
Make a list of things that need doing in your home
I could keep going, but that'll do ... ...

Go to a protest/march
Drive/walk over a really cool-looking bridge 'just because'
Visit a stone circle that's not stonehenge
Go to the beach during a storm
Drive the entire length of a motorway (and stop at every services)
See salmon leaping up a river

I'm doing 30 before 30 at the mo, and here are mine:

1. Get under 10st6 and stay there
2. Do a pull up
3. Run a half marathon
4. Complete 30 days of yoga with Adrienne on Youtube
5. Redecorate bedroom
6. Decorate sunroom
7. Read 30 new books
8. Watch 30 new films
9. Have a weekend away with my sister
10. Visit my parents for a long weekend
11. Have a city break with DH
12. Go abroad
13. Go camping
14. Visit Malham ( beautiful and geographically interesting place)
15. Visit Kew gardens
16. See a new play or musical
17. See a bittern (rare bird)
18. Complete [a very boring but difficult work-based task, redacted for anonymity]
19. Have an article published in a magazine or newspaper
20. Have a recipe published in a magazine or newspaper
21. Perfect ten of my own recipes
22. Get cake at [local expensive cake shop]
23. Eat at [local fancy restaurant]
24. Eat at [another fancy local restaurant]
25. Eat at Wagamamas [always wanted to; there isn't one anywhere near me!]
26. Do a cookery course
27. Make excellent chutney
28. Make excellent vegan lasagne
29. Make excellent vegan cheesecake
30. Make excellent vegan cheese

As you can probably tell, I'm a massive foodie so lots of mine are food based... I've currently completed 4, and part-completed another 6.