To wonder how people afford to do anything much these days?

[Bouncingavocado]

I’m working most of the summer so have my dc with family / in childcare which is costly enough.

I’ve had a couple of days off this week and because I’m not getting much time with my dc I’ve taken them out and about and basically just burnt through cash.
I don’t even feel we’ve done that much?! I mean we could have gone cheaper but my older dc is 12 now and a bit old for the park / a picnic.
We’ve been out for lunch, been to the cinema, a trampoline park and to a local museum.
It is just as well I’m back as work next week tbh.

I don’t know how anyone affords to do anything these days. Everywhere we went was very quiet too which makes me worry that a lot of places aren’t going to survive because actually people cannot afford to go out in the way they used to.

There are 3 kids and 2 adults in our family. Going to see a current film is around £55 in the cinema just for tickets. The parking at the cinema is an extra £6 so it’s over £60 for that trip for 5. You don’t have to be the radfords for it to be £100. An extra adult and a couple of extra kids would do it

@Silverswirl wow it's £23.75 for us , two adults five of our dc free parking. Never known a cinema complex to charge for parking why is that?

I work a 2nd job. I don't get much sleep but this money is usually used to actually enjoy life for the 4 of us.

Both of our local cinemas are in the town/city centres. They don't have their own car park, you have to park in one of the city centre car parks and pay their usual prices. The tickets are only £5 per head though, so even with parking it's nowhere near £100 for a family

Do you have Sky? We get lots of family days out through their Sky VIP app. National trust tickets, English heritage tickets, they’ve got zoo tickets on at the moment which we’ve had twice in the past. We have received about 5 free books in the past year or so. Always lots of free outdoor cinema or concert tickets too.

Wow how come so cheap?? At the odeon near us one adult and child is at least £20 so for all 5 of us it’s at least £50.
The cinema is in a complex with a few resturants and a trampoline park. It’s in a large town so everywhere charges for parking!

They are all recliners in our local odeon and all seats charge this price

Horribleherstory that sounds like a perfect summer holiday.

Had a conversation with DSis about this last week and the only paid for activity we can remember doing as preteens was a visit to Cockington Green model village. And we both think we had the best childhood ever.

Do you have Vue cinemas nearby? They're all £4.99 a seat. Groupon were doing deals on odeon cinemas.
We tend to do mostly free stuff like parks, forests and beaches and the occasional pricey activity.

They definitely are not all £4.99 per seat. My local one is £9.99 per seat,

@Silverswirl dh work scheme offers discounts including cheap cinema tickets. We couldn't afford to go often at all with our size family otherwise.

Our cinema is a complex too although more of a retail park I guess. Has restaurants, trampoline park bowling and shops.

I think there's so many reasons why..
For us, it's because we have a relatively good combined income and avoid childcare completely by working alternate hours. We're pretty money saving with minimal debt.

*money savvy rather 🤣

"They definitely are not all £4.99 per seat. My local one is £9.99 per seat,"

Apologies then. Our local one is £4.99 then we visited relatives in a different town and that one was £4.99 too. I wonder why they don't do them all at that price.

@HorribleHerstory that sounds brilliant. Are your kids generally quite positive and ‘up for anything’ types? Also how old are they? Do they always bring friends or happy to do it as a sibling group? Whereabouts ( roughly) do you live- sounds like a great combo of nature and public transport- I need all the info to recreate this schedule! Mine are now 12 &10 and I feel really unimaginative in terms of what to do with them. They’re on the cusp of being too old for kid stuff but not yet old enough to hang out alone with friends. I don’t want them in structured activities all the time but otherwise I feel like they don’t want to do anything.

No vue cinemas no. I will look at groupon though.
I guess it’s just different areas and rent prices / overheads etc? Where are you in the country?
I am in the SE and everything is probably the most expensive you can get in the UK!

We always go to Vue - I won't pay the ticket price in other cinemas when we can see any film any day for £4.99. We always get excellent seats and the place is clean and well maintained, despite apparently being run by a skeleton staff of 15 year olds.

I'm in the South and our Vue has tickets for £4.99

No kids and live in the north. We didn't want to compromise our living standards by having children and it's rubbish most people have to if they want them.

Generally do what we like within reason but noticing the pinch now so having to be more careful with what we spend.

I’ve just checked and our nearest vue is around 45 mins away but it’s a £5 toll to get there and the crossing can be so bad that it can add a long time on to your journey.
Not sure with petrol you would make much of a saving

I suppose that in some places (like London) it’s just not feasible.

@illiterato i wouldn’t say they were positive and up for anything types no. I am though. A lot of the time I find giving them no option but the outing or event I have planned for them, full stop, leads to whinging initially but they begin to go with the flow a bit and by the end of the day declare it to be the best activity/event ever. Until the next time when they drag their feet again but I don’t consider getting up, getting out and being active optional and then again, when they’ve warmed up to it, they agree. DCs ages vary between 8-16. Live in a suburb of a large town but close enough to parks, woodlands and rivers.

one thing I would say is that we have spent in the past a fair amount on actual equipment and suitable clothing, footwear so that the activities are doable/comfortable. I grew up very poor and never had the stuff needed to actually enjoy an activity, eg I didn’t have walking boots, or a raincoat, so didn’t enjoy hiking/long walks. There was a tennis court and a basketball net in the local park but I didn’t have tennis rackets or a basketball, for example, or any idea of how to play. I’m lucky to have had the money to buy the equipment and the space to store it. So my DC have bikes, a dinghy, trainers, ropes, climbing shoes, waterproof coats, helmets, gardening gloves, kites, proper rucksacks, tennis rackets, footballs, hiking boots, knee pads, shin pads, sun hats and sun cream etc etc etc etc.

@HorribleHerstory Thanks - good to know - what you've written has sort of confirmed that I'm probably part of the problem. I'm good at sorting organised clubs (like rugby etc. which they both enjoy) but I need to be better at planning some longer trips/ activities and free stuff we can enjoy as a family. I tend to get up on a Saturday and Sunday and not really have thought anything through and then we don't get anything done and I'm too easily deterred by whining . As you say, once they're there, they enjoy it.

Doesn't help that I don't know how to climb/sail/ kayak etc. so I couldn't just go to the hire place and feel confident launching us all into the seas a cliff face. That said, we do live near a harbour and the beach and some beautiful countryside plus forestry commission place so should definitely make more of it. Will start simple with Parkrun and sea swimming.

DS and DD keen to do more bouldering (they've done a few lessons before but covid closures meant it didnt stick). There's a great climbing centre near us but they need an adult who has done the basic course to supervise unless I want to constantly pay for kids lessons which are always waitlisted. Had filed it under "too hard" but you're inspired me to sign up for the adult course so we can all do that.

Wish me luck!

We always had a list on the fridge when my children were little.

Free things to enjoy locally list 1.

Season ticket things to enjoy locally, list 2

More expensive things to enjoy, list 3

Every summer we would primarily choose from list 1, especially if we were going out as a group.

Each January the families we mixed with would decide which venue we would all subscribe to for that year (list 2). Often locals got subsidised annual membership to various places if you joined in January. This then works out very cheaply over a year.

Once during the summer we did a more expensive treat such as a water park or theme park. List 3.

It kept the costs down and the children busy.