When Netflix raised it's rates earlier this month, I began thinking about whether to cancel our streaming feature. D and I get a dvd by mail every week and try our best to watch a movie together every weekend. Since we got rid of satellite long ago, we like having the streaming so the kids can watch shows that aren't on PBS. But I didn't know if I was gonna be willing to spend an additional $6 a month for it.
In addition to being freakishly frugal, our family tends to be quite lame when it comes to activities. I do playdates and library visits and zoo visits during the mornings of the week, but generally on the weekends we lay fairly low. We visit grandparents or my brother's family. We go for family walks together. We play outside in the backyard. The kids really get excited when D and I swing them in a blanket (not all at the same time, for crying out loud---N weighs 64 lbs by herself) before bed and sing "Rock a Bye Baby." They especially love "Daddy Wrestling Time."
We don't go to movie theaters or see Disney on Ice or do much of anything that costs money since there are 5 of us now and that could get quite expensive.
Generally, even on Friday and Saturday nights, the kids are in bed by 8:30. It would be very unusual for anyone to see my tribe out and about past dark in winter and past 8:00 in summer; truthfully, it would probably mean we'd had to take someone to urgent care.
We are highly routine-oriented, and while that doesn't make for entertaining stories, I think it is nice that we just spend time together, walking or reading or letting the kids spray each other with water on the patio or race tricycles down the driveway or chase bubbles in the backyard or jump in leaf piles.
So we're keeping the Netflix streaming becausewe I can suck it up and deal for $6 extra a month. I don't know when I stopped worrying that my kids' minds would turn to jello from watching too much tv, but it is nice that the weekends are less of a worry fest than they used to be. Plus, we gotta have something to do on rainy, cold days when we can't get outside.
In addition to being freakishly frugal, our family tends to be quite lame when it comes to activities. I do playdates and library visits and zoo visits during the mornings of the week, but generally on the weekends we lay fairly low. We visit grandparents or my brother's family. We go for family walks together. We play outside in the backyard. The kids really get excited when D and I swing them in a blanket (not all at the same time, for crying out loud---N weighs 64 lbs by herself) before bed and sing "Rock a Bye Baby." They especially love "Daddy Wrestling Time."
We don't go to movie theaters or see Disney on Ice or do much of anything that costs money since there are 5 of us now and that could get quite expensive.
Generally, even on Friday and Saturday nights, the kids are in bed by 8:30. It would be very unusual for anyone to see my tribe out and about past dark in winter and past 8:00 in summer; truthfully, it would probably mean we'd had to take someone to urgent care.
We are highly routine-oriented, and while that doesn't make for entertaining stories, I think it is nice that we just spend time together, walking or reading or letting the kids spray each other with water on the patio or race tricycles down the driveway or chase bubbles in the backyard or jump in leaf piles.
So we're keeping the Netflix streaming because
1 comment:
We are lame too. :) We hardly ever go out to do something, as a family, that costs any amount of money. Reason? Our family is too stinkin' big to do stuff that costs money. My girls want to go to the AG Fashion Show at Churchill Downs...it's $35 a ticket. It's just not going to happen. Sometimes I feel sad that and think that they are missing out on stuff because we have such a large family and we are thrifty. However, I remind myself that I spend tons of quality one on one time with my kids and I would imagine that is a rare thing these days. I know a lot of kids have a lot more than my kids do...Ipads, cell phones, expensive game systems, etc.... However, my kids spend very little time in front of a screen and our best family memories are of hiking, having picnics, catching fireflies, roasting marshmallows and the like. So, in the end I love being lame. :)
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