While I head out of town today for the WordCamp Conference, enjoy this guest post on keeping a frugal home, courtesy of my pal Bobbie from One Scrappy Mom!

About Bobbie:

Bobbie is the owner and author of OneScrappyMom. She is the mother of one daughter, Mariah, one son, Alex, and wife to Travis. She is a mommy blogger and love all things involving her family. In her spare time she enjoys photography, digital scrapbooking and social networking.

Keeping a Frugal Home In Today’s Economy

I’ve always had a pretty good mindset when it came to being frugal. I’ve been a girl on a budget since I got my first job years ago. Now as a wife and stay at home mother of two children I am always looking at ways to improve the family budget while not compromising the family fun and lifestyle. I’ve always been able to keep my children busy and having fun while keeping the cost affordable. You can too! Here’s a few ways that you can make this work for your family:

Public Libraries: Public libraries have a lot to offer. It’s more then renting a book. They often have story time, puppet shows and other activities for children. They usually have at least 2-3 days a week with activities that are family oriented and best of all free. Not only do they have these activities, but they also offer free rentals of books, magazines and media. You can rent movies for free at the library. True, they might not be the new releases, but a family movie or a Disney movie is a great choice for a family movie night!

Local Parks: Many local parks offer activities for the children. Here in the summer months they have free lunch in the park which are all run by park attendees. It’s a safe place for the children and they can play with other children as well as run off their energy. We also have a parade put on by the parks every year. The children from the park decorate the float that runs in the parades for many to see. My children LOVE seeing their art on the floats that are part of a celebration! This is all FREE! Many of the local parks here also have small kiddie pools or splash pads the kids can play on. They can get wet and enjoy the water on the hot days! Dry off on the playground, do some more fun things and cool off in the water.

Local Attractions: Many of the local attractions offer a discount to residents of the community. They may even offer a discount on a family pass. These are often great things to do when you add them in with something special like lunch in the park. These attractions are much cheaper then a vacation that can be stressful on the wallet. Make these attractions into activities. Play “I Spy” or take a “bingo” type card with. The attraction may be the same, but you can spice up the visits with different activities. Also be sure to get a schedule for your attractions! Here we have a small zoo. They have MANY activities through the year, like the “Zoo Boo” which is trick or treating with the animals and the “Birthday Bonanza” in which they celebrate the birthday of some of the animals and you get to have cake with the animals! These are all exciting for little ones and as they grow older the experience changes meaning each time they go.

Recycle: Not everything that comes into your home can be recycled, but there are SO many things that can, you would amaze yourself with the possibilities! Milk jugs are good for so many things!! You can cut them with scissors and have just the bottoms. These can be used to store small toys like legos and bathroom needs like rubber bands and other things. If you are going to use them for storage, grab some old stained shirts or sheets, let the children cut them {adult supervision please}, glue them and decorate them. These little containers are also cute as candy dishes and so much more. You can also use them as a craft idea for so many more projects! Make masks for play, use them to grow seeds and observe them daily, make piggy banks, or Easter baskets, the possibilities are endless!! Our other favorite thing to recycle is cardboard. We make castles with a few boxes and some toilet paper rolls. The kids can paint them, color them, decorate them. It takes them some time to complete the projects that can be done inside on a rainy day or out on the porch on a sunny day!

Now that I have shared some of my fun and frugal family tips with you, please tell me, what are some things you do for fun that are free or wallet friendly? What are some crafts that your children and family enjoy?