free day

I don't generally feel that our children need to know the details of our finaces, but I do think that it is important that they understand the importance of a budget. Yesterday we had "free day". We were clear to our kids that it was a family day that cost us little to nothing in terms of money. I wanted to do this so that my children understood that there are so many fun and entertaining things to do that don't involve buying anything. The older girls are at an age that when we say "we are having a family day out", they will often start spewing out ideas for the mall, Chuck-E-cheese, or the Build A Bear store. When they started in on these kinds of ideas yesterday, I simply reminded them that it was "free day" and they became excited to come up with other cheaper entertainment.
So our day started with a trip to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum with a cool exhibit about sattelites. I love how kid friendly (and free) this museum is and the kids have fun everytime we go. Next we went out to eat at a little family friendly restaurant that we had won a gift certificate to. (yes, this was not free, but when the kids begged to go to Chuck-E-Cheese, we were able to say that instead we were going to use the gift card to keep our cost down.) Next we went to the local library and both big girls picked out some books and movies and both got their own library cards. (all free) After the library, we went to the park and the kids had some friends over for a sleep over. Our total cost for the day was $3 for a tip at the restaurant. It was fun for the kids and I felt as if I was teaching them some lasting lessons.