Summer in Oregon is so much fun!  With the beautiful weather comes a ton of free or inexpensive entertainment options that make being active on a budget fun and easier than I thought it would be.  I imagine most cities have many similar offerings.  A great way to start is to search for “free activities” then add the area you’re looking in.  Try that for anything you might be interested in such as concerts, swimming, kids events etc.  Now that you have a few ideas of who is putting on the free events in your community you can expand on that by  reading through their websites for event calendars.  Here are some things I have learned in my quest to have fun for less this Summer.

• In my area a lot of the free outdoor concerts and movies are put on by the parks department so I checked their site and found things going on in parks not in my zip code, but still very close by.  Events included free concerts, movies and festivals.
• I am in love with my library.  I use the website to request books & ebooks, DVD’s, CD’s and periodicals, then I can just stop by and pick them up from the reserved shelf.  Check your library system to find out what other things are included with your membership.  At mine they offer up to 4 tickets per year to various cultural things such as the Japanese Gardens, Operas, and Plays.  This is all FREE.  I could go on all day praising the library, so please check it out.
• On that note, check ALL the things you belong to for hidden inclusions.  For example, we just discovered that a Hulu membership comes with our Sprint phone plan.  This inspired me to check Amazon Prime and they have music streaming  so we decided to cancel Spotify.  Our Bank of America cards allow free entry one weekend per month to several local attractions.  These are things you are already paying for and deserve to enjoy.

Have a great summer!

Do your best!

Lisa