Kids!! What would I not give to be carefree and have boundless energy?

If you’ve caught yourself saying this many times, welcome to the group. Kids are the ones that keep you lively. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they do something you’d never thought of (like growing up!)

If you have a kid like mine, you need to find ways to keep your kid/kids occupied, without breaking the bank (or your monthly budget). Here are my top five ideas for keeping your kids occupied and happy, spending high quality time with them, but spending very little money:

1. Visit the local library with kiddo: This is my personal favorite. Going to the library is an outing, it’s a great way for parents and kids to cozy up with a book and best of all – it’s free. If your kid is old enough to read, pick up a book for yourself as well as for them and sit down for a good old reading session. If your kid is not old enough to read yet, read to them from a book. This is a great way to emphasize to them the importance of reading as well as give them a great starting point to being a well-rounded personality.

2. Friends, Relatives & Grandparents: If you are well-acquainted with neighbors or friends that have children of similar age as your child, invite them over for a play session, or take your kids to their place for an outing of fun. Keep the session to about two hours or lesser and emphasize that your kids must be on their best behavior at all times. This is also a great way to teach kids to socialize outside school. If you have parents that live nearby, that’s even better because Grandma and Grandpa love to see their grandchildren (don’t forget to call first, though!!) and their children (face it, how long has it been since you spent time with your parents too?)

3. Chuck-E-Cheese’s: A perfect place to visit post dinner especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Place emphasis on the “post dinner” part though. I frequently use those “buy 25 tokens, get 25 free” coupons and my daughter loves it. The occasional coupon makes Chuck-E a great treat for her. We carry a bottle of water and don’t eat or drink anything in the store but have loads of fun all the same.

4. The Local Grocery Store: I’m serious. If you look closely, you will find that grocery stores are engaged in a competition these days. They are trying out various things to attract and retain customers. Some stores offer 5 cents off on gas when you spend $50 with them, others offer reward points and so on. Our local grocery chain is engaged in a fierce customer-loyalty battle with Walmart. They offer this great free wi-fi cafe and a little kids play area in their leading store. The idea is that you drop your kid off to play, they watch over him/her while you take the grocery cart and shop – and spend a lot of time which equals a lot of money too. What I do is to drop my daughter off, finish off my shopping real quick, grab a cuppa in the cafe and then sit down with a laptop. While I’m having fun blogging, my daughter’s having fun in the play area. While this option is great, I’m not a great fan since I’m not really spending a lot of time with my daughter this way. We do this about once a month, though.

5. The Mall: I know what you’re thinking, how on earth could this be a low-cost option? It’s easy – just visit the mall right after lunch. All you need to do is to take kiddo to the kids-play area in the mall. Grab a coffee along the way and let your child stretch their legs a bit. My daughter loves this very much. Whenever my wife wants to visit the mall, this is what my daughter and I do. We visit the mall right after lunch, I baby-sit my daughter in the mall’s play area for kids and my wife shops. My daughter has met a lot of kids there and it’s nice when she plays make-believe games with them.

Do you have other ideas that allow you to have fun with your kids while spending zero or very little money? Please share them by commenting on this article – I would love to hear back from readers.