What do you do in the evenings/weekends? Or how to improve your quality of life....

[lunavix]

Quite frankly I'm sick of staring at the TV every evening, and waking up on the weekend and looking at dh and we're stumped for what to do.

Our quality of life does seem impaired because of this. What do you do in the evenings? Every evening? And what do you do on the weekends?

We wake up generally at 7.30 (we both seem to need a lot of sleep) then dh races to work for 8, and I speedily dress ds and myself for 8. We both work till 5, when dinner is generaly on the table. 6 o clock and simpsons is put on, then hollyoaks, then dh has a bath with ds (and I tidy away) then a bit more tv and ds goes to bed at 8 (don't get me wrong we play with ds then, but the tv is on, and it's just toys not major activities.)
Then it's tv on for the rest of the night. One of us is generally using the PC at the same time (dh for uni work, or me for our accounts/MN) or two nights a week I'm cleaning the house.

Dh is starting to play football wednesday evenings soon (and unknown to him I intend to take ds every week - will get us out the house!!!) In september I'll be doing a course one evening a week hopefully.

But that's it. And it's the same on the weekends, we spend saturday shopping which we can't afford, and sundays at the PILs. We have occassionally gone to the park or for a picnic, but there isn't a lot around here to do. Weekends we like to be OUT of the house - I work from home and if I spend all weekend in the house/garden I go a bit stir crazy.

Dh takes ds swimming one lunch time a week, but we're thinking of doing that at a different time, but I don't think evenings are suitable...

How can I improve all this? How do you fill your weekends with fun activities and how do you make your evenings more interesting?? We don't have much disposable income so anything too expensive is not really an option.. but suggest it anyways!
I've been thinking hobbies (tried knitting!) but haven't come up with much I'm good at. I'd love to try gardening but we're moving soon so not the best option in a rented house...

Sorry if this is a rant!

[GetOrlaithOut]

I work and it's exhausting.

[flowerfairy]

I needed some ideas to, most evenings atm are spent with me onMN on the laptop and dh playing this stupid online game, he just laughs at me when I say we're not talking very much.

When we're not glued to our monitors we mainly watch DVD's of series eg XFiles, CSI, West Wing which we swap with friends. When the weather is fine and ds asleep we sit in the garden witha shandy, play backgammon, have friends around for poker nights(just with plastic chips not money).

Weekends we visit the park, a farm that is free, large garden centres with plenty to look at, etc.

[TracyK]

You defo won't need a TV if you have a puppy - so much entertainment in a little bundle. Don't get one in the winter though - all that house training/walking in the cold. Much better spring/summer.
And you are right - you will have to get up and out to take it for walks. My doggie is 14 and until the past 2 years or so - she needed 2 good walks a day - but I've met so many people through walking her. Now its ds to do the introducing - everyone loves babies and puppies!

[woollybaalamp]

I have just got a job! For 6 weeks I'll be training from 5-10 Mon-Fri and all day Saturday, and after that I'll be working from 5-10 on 3 evenings - so instead of spending most/all of the evening on the PC drinking wine, I will be up and out, getting paid, and not drinking wine! Huge improvement!

Our kids are very old though - it wouldn't work with little ones - but I'm hoping it will also make me appreciate everybody else more when I am here (as long as they aren't on the PC when I want it ).

[Tortington]

i go out and get sh*tfaced every other friday is poss. play pool and wear low cut tops so i win

[Gizmo]

Evenings in the Gizmo household are a fair division between house stuff, 'proper' recreation and TV, I guess.

DH and I do swing shifts of evening childcare so theoretically I can go out Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night, although all three would be a bit much. When I'm in, I try not to turn the TV on unless there is something I specifically want to watch (not always successfully...)

Otherwise, I/we:

Cook - plus extra helpings for freezing
Clean - occasionally
DIY - new house needs vast quantities of wallpaper stripping etc
All of the above generally to the soothing tones of Radio 4 or a French radio station
Go for a run - do quite a bit of that or do some yoga
Read papers, books etc
Call friends
Garden (new house, neglected garden - that alone could be a full time job)
Get friends round for supper and/or glass of wine
Have romantic supper with DH and set world to rights
Draw plans for house (quite soothing)
Odd bit of website design for various fundraising activities (ditto)

Weekends are a bit more of the same: I enter races perhaps 4-6 times a year which often means at least one Sunday out and about, we go out and visit friends quite a lot (easy and cheap in a small town!) picnic in parks nearby, visit playgrounds, get ds friends round for tea (bake lots of cake)

Luckily round here is quite flat so we can cycle out into countryside and visit a pub or paddle in local rivers - going to the beach can be fun, even when the weather is bad, if you have the right rough weather gear. Kite flying? Camping?

Alternatively we stay home and try things like local museums (great thing about kids is how they can make even the 'biggest ball of twine in Cambridgeshire' museum fun), story time in the local library and bookshop, absolutely any free kids entertainment going (for which I must say our city council is almost embarrassingly good) in which I include things like going to toy shops and letting ds play with display stock!

....God, have bored myself now....it's quite fun when you're doing it, honest!

[expatinscotland]

After DD goes down

Clean

Work on my second job

Play online

DH works evenings and weekends and I work days so 'quality time' has a whole new meaning.

[fisil]

we found this when ds1 came along - before then we'd never been tv people (didn't even have one the first 2 yrs we lived together). So dp took up film making and i took up cardmaking and knitting. We both read a lot and i often have a bath instead of watching telly!

[lunavix]

AN allotment sounds interesting.. may see if there's some around here.

Museums and such are definately interesting for me, but ds is still a tad small.

Tracy - I DEFINATELY want a puppy. I say to dh over and over it will force us on family walks together, getting up early etc. Plus I think pets are great for kids. But we want to wait till we have another baby, then the puppy will get used to babies and toddlers. Plus it will be the babies present to ds.... Besides I can't pick a breed....

I think I'm going to put more time into my knitting. I really need to bide my time more till we move... then gardening/decorating will come into it's own.

Oh and I mean general junk shopping on a saturday (hence can't afford it!) we DO do our shopping online!

[leonardodavinci]

allotments cost £10 a year plus your time and seeds but if you like gardening then could be an option for you?

[leonardodavinci]

I do salsa dancing Tuesday nights, dh is out fishing Monday, I play table tennis ocassionally with children, or walk in local park, and now we take ds and dd fishing at least once a week. If you have the energy get an allotment, very sociable nowadays and gets you fit or try your hand at book clubs or whatever everone else does on an evening. Try writing songs, attempting novels or drawing. Don't ever get bored too much to do.

[slotnicki]

I have a diary which I use especially for noting down any free/low cost activities which I come across. These might range from activities in the local nature reserve to museums to school fetes. These are often publicised well in advance in local listings or the library. I then just look in the diary a few days before and see what's going on. It sounds really obvious but it works and stops you missing out on interesting events/activites.

[twirlaround]

weekends are excellent for nature outings!

[Magscat]

Are there any free museums near you? I'm not saying we're always in them (energy, time etc...) BUT we do sometimes manage to get out to the local Industrial Museum - ds is only 4 but he loves it cos there are shire horses & big engines & a there's a cafe.

He also likes anywhere you go to on a bus or train - doesn't have to be anything special at the end - just the journey is exciting. (Obviously this will wear off at some point).

Also the local park, the library all the summer galas we can get to and we have a great Photography museum. (We're lucky I guess)

Good luck

[jac34]

Why don't you do your shopping in the week or online so you don't have to go on weekends.
We tend to go to the park alot, sometimes after work with a picnic. We go walking on weekends,ride bikes, bowling,museum, cinema,(our DS's are 6 and step DD is 10), we still do farms, the boys play football on saturday and DD swims. We go to the library, which we've done since they were quite young.
If you have to do shopping on weekends, go early and have breakfast in Tesco's, our kids love it, they have their own now but used to eat off our plates.
It is a bit of a bind when they are young and in a routine, but it would be good to have a break from it once in a while.

[WideWebWitch]

Evenings:
we watch films quite often (dp records loads or you could get a dvd rental deal quite cheaply)
or we have a proper dinnner together after the children have gone to bed and talk, properly
we read, separately - libraries are free if you like reading, oh just seen you can't, oh well!
I catch up with friends, I can easily spend 1.5 hours on the phone so that's most of the evening gone
Sometimes we have people round but usually impromtu or nearby family, not dinner parties or anytnhig
Mumsnet, obviously.
We don't do chores in the evenings though, other than loading the dishwasher and washing machine, we manage them either in the morning/weekend between us all plus we do live in a mess, which is blitzed now and then, which helps free up evenings.
At weekends we sometimes (depends on what's on, what ds wants to do etc) go to art galleries/exhibitions - a lot of them are free
do quite a lot of walking - another free thing
Laze about relishing not doing school run
Watch family films all together
Go to see friends/family
blitz the house
Hope there's sometihng in there thay helps.

[TracyK]

what about getting a puppy??

[MarsLady]

I salsa, I go to bookgroup, I visit friends.

What's great about salsa is that no one drinks (or very few do), we all drink tap water, cos we need to stay steady on our feet.

Bookgroup costs nothing, you can get the book from the library (sorry SG I've just remembered that I owe you a list).

Visiting friends only costs about a fiver (for the bottle of wine).

Then of course there's having friends over for supper and they provide the wine. hth

[TwinSetAndPearls]

Lunavix I was feeling the same as you so a few months ago we banished our TV to the study.

I now have time for walking on the beach with the family and dog, I go to a family drama group and also take dd to a nature club. I spend a lot of my evening studying but I also garden, sew and make cards and am currently teaching myself how to knit. I used to goto sewing classes but had to drop them when studying took over. All this time freed up by getting rid of the telly.

Weeekends are mainly spent walking in the Lakes or surrounding areas. I go mad if we don't get out and blow away the cobwebs.

[lunavix]

maybe yes..

I'm a real fan of routines, I organise our days down to the last hour, then it all goes arse up in the evenings. I'd love to have a plan for every day, I jsut have no ideas... sigh. Some great suggestions here, though, so thanks. Any more, please keep them coming.

[TracyK]

How about getting a book out on accupressure and get dh to give you a indian head massage or something for hayfever?

[Bramshott]

In the week we are mostly slumped in front of the TV too!! But weekends, no shopping as DD hates it we are mostly out walking as it's fun and free. Have also joined the National Trust (although always thought that was for the over-60s) and if we don't have anything else planned we go to a National Trust place.

I know what you mean though - sometimes there's too much TV, but then when you're tired . . . We have DVDs from LoveFilm which at least means we're not at the mercy of whatever's on.

[lunavix]

OOh thank you all!

I'm trying to cut down on reading (crazy as that sounds) as I suffer bad hayfever and concentrating on a book seems to be giving me migraines..

Boot sales and cinema etc are a nice idea but we're trying to cull on spending plus ds is too young (15 months) for the cinema...

Can't ride a bike and that, swimming and driving are on my to-learn list (sadly that's a long list) but that would be something lovely to do.. hmm...

Gardening may be a good idea in this hot weather too.. might need to fill a weekend down the local nursery!!!

A fitness class could be good too.. will need to look at local centre. My friends go to one on a tuesday but its a 6 mile round walk for me..

[Gomez]

Parks, walks, beaches, local art centres, library, cinema, childrens theatre, baking/cooking, 'treasure hunts', visting friends, museums, exhibitions. Get some furniture to renovate, car boot sales, auctions, country parks, zoos, childrens farms, kite flying, day trip on the train, overnight at a cheap B & B...

[sharklet]

We try to keep ourselves pretty busy. We get sick of sitting in front of the TV too and only do it once in a while.

We bought our selves a nice hammock and often sit in the garden sipping Pimms or something else nice when DD is in bed. Also we have got very into gardening and growing vegetables, so that gives us plenty to do together.

Other than that I do pilates once a week in the village and we try to invite friends over for food / hanging out at ours which is always good.

Last week we bought a bike for me and a bike seat for DD so we can go on some picnics and the like on weekends. And when we're stuck for what to do that will be our plan.

Hope you come up with some stuff to suit you.

Emma xxx