Hey friends!  So do you all have plans for the upcoming sunny weekend yet?  Well, in case you haven’t realized, it’s Friday, so… you might want to get on that.

Here’s a few more ideas for weekend fun on a dime:

1. Find a place to go hiking.  It’s outdoorsy, beautiful, and fun (and active!).  There are tons of places to hike for free (at least in the Bay Area), and it’s a great way to get cute pictures of you and your hiking buddy for your house/apartment/room/office.  (A picture of you hiking in the wilderness on your desk at work says, “I’m fearless!  And I look great with a canteen pack on.”)

2. Spend some time RELAXING.  Yes, I realize that many of us working Americans have not really mastered the art of relaxation on the weekends.  If you’re anything like me, you work all week, whilst keeping up with workouts and homemade meals, then spend your weekends running around taking care of various errands and social obligations.  Take an hour or two just for yourself where you can just relax and let go.  Take your honey out for coffee, or go sit in a park and just enjoy the scenery.  Sit in your apartment and catch up on your DVR without worrying about the fact that you need to vacuum, do laundry, and plan next week’s meals.  I think I would be a lot less crazy if I managed to work this into my weekends.  I will have to make an effort!

3. If you don’t belong to a gym already, do some research on the gyms in your area.  Once you’ve found one (or more) you like, head over and ask for a free trial.  Most gyms will give you a week to a month free to try out the place before signing up for membership.  (And if they have a pool — BONUS.  It’s supposed to be wicked hot this weekend.)

4. Volunteer!  There are TONS of volunteer opportunities out there.  Call your local animal shelter and see if you can help out — it’s kitten season so most places are overloaded with incoming new animals and need help now more than any other time of year.

5. Throw a spa party for your girlfriends.  Invite your besties over for a night of old-school facials (think: those clay masks you used to do in high school — they’re literally like $5 or less at the drugstore) and at-home mani/pedis.  Pop in your favorite chick flick and reminisce about the days when you used to just die over electric blue Wet ‘n Wild nails.

6. Find your neighborhood farmer’s market.  Most places in the Bay Area have at least one farmer’s market that goes on during the weekend.  Check out what’s coming from the local farms and sample the local fare.  Because most of the produce comes straight from the farm, there’s generally less of a mark-up than what you would find in your local grocery store.  Plus you’re supporting local agriculture — look at you, you fashionable local-vore!

7. Organize a clothes-swap.  If you’re anything like me, you have a closet full of clothes, half of which you don’t wear anymore.  I become dissatisfied with my clothes and constantly complain about having “nothing to wear.”  There are plenty of wearable pieces in my wardrobe that have simply fallen out of favor with me.  Enlist your friends to go through their closets and collect clothes, shoes, and jewelry that they no longer wear.  Once you’re all together, swap pieces (either by doing even trades, or have everyone draw a number and pick things one at a time).  By the end of it, everyone will have some great new pieces for $0!

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More weekend fun to come!