What to do with friends/future friends when you are broke?

[rikun]

Hi,

My first post here. I've been reading on making new friends and most articles say "do something cool with people". Well, duh, what to do when you are broke? I know a lot of cool things to invite people to, but they all cost too much money

I live in a small city so we don't have that much going on...

[openeyes]

Just being able to hang out, talk, and maybe wonder around together is all friends really need. Beyond that, there are plenty of things friends can do for free, such as hiking, group massage, and even climbing trees (which recently got us in the local college paper for photo of the week). Often we like to just get together and play various games, talk a bit, and maybe have a movie night.

[Isis Kali]

Cook, man, cook. And chip in for a bottle of good wine. Cheap and fun.

[da1prophet]

If you choose your friends wisely, you'll be able to have fun on little or no money. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford some of the finer things in life, but some of my best times with friends are had on the cheap. Here's some of the cheap, fun things I do--obviously the specifics will depend on your own interests (as well as your friends' interests) but just for example:

--Get a friend (or two) and go walk dogs. This, of course, necessitates having a dog.

--Get a bunch of friends over and watch something interesting on TV. I don't mean re-runs--I have pretty much a standing invite for every big boxing and MMA card. If its on pay-per-view you can get everyone to chip in (I don't do this since in my line of work it's a tax deduction!). Feel free to add snacks and adult beverages if you're so inclined.

--Assuming you're not a heavy drinker, you can even go out for a cocktail or two. Obviously if you start hitting in hard it'll cost you money, but a cocktail or two will set you back less than $10 (depending on where you live).

--I've got friends that are self employed or in school of some sort. We'll frequently meet at a local espresso bar and hang out while working on our laptops. This not only provides a cheap social interaction, but has the added benefit of being productive.

--And I'll echo one of the previous posters suggestions--chip in for a good bottle of wine or whatever and just hang out. I've got friends who share my fondness for heavy metal music and we've had a great time just sitting around watching vintage 80's metal videos on VH1 Classic....

I'll emphasize my initial observation--if its difficult to have fun with your friends, maybe you need to choose them a little better....

[ticktockclok]

Make a snow man.

[Kristina]

Here are some cheap things that my friends have done together over the last couple of months because one of us was flat broke

- Pick up soccer, soccer-baseball, frisbee, football, horseshoes, bocci, curling etc. games
- Games night (charades, karaoke, twister, canasta, taboo, cranium, bridge, rummy etc.)
- Picnic
- baking exchange
- Pot luck dinners at various houses (including fondue night)
- Wine/Cheese tasting (1/2 bring a bottle of wine, 1/2 bring neat cheeses)
- Hiking, snowshoeing (10$ to rent, harder to get snow though), toboganning
- Craft nights, bring your favourite craft to work on in a group - we knit, scrapbook, crochet, quilt.. the guys play video games/poker/pickup ice hockey
- Window shopping
- camping/winter camping (yes maybe we're crazy)

Enjoy!

[StarFish]

The Park! or, if you have no park, then nature, just go on a hike somewhere in nature.

People around here seem to like hanging around Waffle House, which is super cheap.

Besides the park, I personally like being a Mall Rat.