To ask, in these times of financial struggle, what free or very cheap things do you do for yourself that make life that bit nicer?

[FattyAirways]

For me, I love going in the garden if it's a clear day, and as lots of planes go over I love to look them up on Flight Radar 24 and see where they've been or where they're going. That's the geek in me!

I also really enjoy lighting tealights (you can buy loads for £1 or £2) or burning incense sticks.

I have recently rejoined the library and mine gives free access to magazines, even the good ones and hundreds of titles. All I do is put my library card number in and away I go. It's just brilliant and if I can afford a slice of cake whilst I read, even better!

I like to research places to visit. I might not ever get there, but it doesn't mean I can't plan for if it might happen!

A Lidl pastry and a good cup of coffee at home, with music in the background. Lovely thread.

Going for a run, taking baths listening to an audio book or podcast, and watching episodes of things I like by the fire.

Long walks with baby DD asleep in the pram, headphones in and listen to a podcast - love spooky ones at the minute!

Baths, hot and deep

Tea

Music

Thanks for the yoga recommendation

Lovely thread !
Snuggling with a duvet or cosy fleece blanket and the cats.
Nice glass of red and cheese and onion crisps whilst watching Youtube.
Lazy bubble bath and candles.
Getting into p.j s early and feeling free after wearing a bra.
Watching the sunset.
Walking in nature daily whatever the weather.
Art in any form sketching, doodling, painting, messing about with clay.
Listening to music.
Fairy lights and nice aromatherapy candles.
Listening to the rain at night especially when I don't have to get up early- Bliss !

Long walks with the dog in the countryside. It's not always free - sometimes I drive to get somewhere interesting, sometimes pay for parking and sometimes get a hot chocolate whilst I'm out. But not always. But the walk itself is the most glorious, glorious thing.

I like to put some nice violin music on, take time to spritz all my house plants, pour a big glass of wine and pre-brie my crackers, open a big jigsaw and turn off all means of communications - living the dream one evening at a time.

This is a lovely thread! Lots of great ideas.

Forest bathing
Learning a language on Duolingo
Going through cupboards and drawers and finding things to use that I had forgotten about
Making a batch of soup
Watching TED talks
Pinning on pinterest on things to make or upcycle
Making homemade items to give to family for Christmas
Listening to monks chanting Om for relaxation
Having a right good pamper using up facepacks and hair masks

I adore this idea.

Geocaching is the best, cheapest hobby out there. £20 for premium membership for a year.

Nice long walk with a podcast
Doing a mini facial or painting my nails
Watching bake off with a cup of tea and a treat from the bakery section of the supermarket
Lighting a nice candle
Odd one - I really enjoy topping up my hand wash dispensers and Reed diffusers. I find it really soothing for some reason.

You could search for solo travel, overlanding, wild camping, bike packing, travel vlog etc. Once you’ve watched a few you’ll be recommended others and you’ll find the niche you enjoy.

Podcasts
Walking my friends dog in the woods (my favourite part of my week!)
Painting my nails
Making myself a cappuccino or a hot chocolate at home.

You must be me 😂

Fab thread!

For me, it's climbing back into bed once I've seen the kids off to school, with a good coffee and a good read.

Giving the guinea pigs their individual cucumber slices in the morning.

Lighting the oil burner at night and watching something soothing (enjoying Jamie's new one pan cookery show at the moment).

Sending and receiving stupid memes to/from my friends.

I follow lots of community pages on fbook for free events. Most weekends there's stuff going on that the kids enjoy

Cheap/ free and usually fun and outdoors

Went to the theatre the other week, free pumpkins/fall event this weekend and a Halloween maze event next weekend

All free

I like this. Good food for thought.

Love all the suggestions on this thread! A few more:
Museums and galleries are often free, you can have a full day out in a city for the cost of travel and lunch (which you can always buy cheaply from a local supermarket). In fact, London might be one of the world's most expensive cities but it is also a really easy place to have a cheap day out. It took me a while to realise you don't really need to get the tube to places, they are often walking distance and you see so much more if you walk. All the national museums are free and so amazing. I live in a much smaller city and there are still free museums, but obviously less choice.

The library. When my DC were younger I used to go several times a week and it's still my favourite thing to do on a Saturday morning. I have had a library card my whole life and can still never get over that it is all free and also that barely anyone I know uses it.

Coffee with a friend. A few years ago when I was very skint, switched the usual going out for dinner or drinks to going out for coffee. It costs a fraction of the price and you still get to catch up. You could even take your own coffee from home and go for a walk, which is what we all started doing during covid and it made me wonder why we had never thought of it before.

Library books.
Going for a walk
Having an occasional bath.

I must be in a different part of Australia! Bloody leaves everywhere where I live, I hate them!

Swapping. DHs family love doing this... books, jigsaws, clothes, toys, food weve grown...

Finishing off the kids craft kids they've got bored of or doing them with them. (Not free, but Lego Dots are very calming!)

Haha, we only had pine trees and eucalyptus leaves if I recall, not proper scrunchy oak leaves! Mind you it was bloody years ago, they might have grown different trees now.

That is beautiful. I hope your kids really grow up to treasure the world and to be true adventurers!