Quitting your job is terrifying, FYI.  For new readers, our family has decided to opt out of the typical fast-paced dual income lives that many young families find themselves in.

I am a major money nerd and thus had planned every detail I could possibly think of.  The plan that we came up with was nothing earth-shattering: we aimed to reduce our expenses as much as reasonably possible.  Reasonable is the key word.  Although I admire the extremely frugal, we’re more of a middle path type of family in most things.  We slowly made lifestyle adjustments and choices that made sense for us.  This type of long-range approach worked well for us.  Here’s one example of how we save money every week.
Free Family Fun!

Find free or cheap activities! We budget $100/week for “family fun” but most of that doesn’t get spent because we love to do things that are free (or nearly so!)  Here’s a list of things we love to do on a weekly basis:

Typical WSF Activities:

• The library…need I say more? Cost: FREE
• Bike/walk around town Cost: FREE
• Hiking Cost: Gas/Parking…less than $5 (maybe $10 :))
• Board Game Night: FREE
• Woods walk/nature walk: FREE
• Baking cookies or other treats:  less than $5
• Stay home! Play in the yard, chase the chickens (maybe that’s just me?) or build a pillow fort. Cost: FREE
• Camp out in the backyard (or living room)  Cost: FREE
• Go to church.  Cost: FREE
• Visit family/friends locally.  Bring them some of the cookies you baked earlier! Cost: FREE
• Teddy bear picnic.  Bring all the fluffies out, get into your Sunday best and set up an epic tea party. Cost: FREE or close to it!