My wife brought back a pair of badminton racquets from her Taiwan trip a few weeks ago that she’s been using when she was about 10 years old. It was surprising that she could still locate it but I’m glad she did! We’ve been wanting to play batminton for a while but didn’t want to spend the money to buy new racquets (actually, we brought some 99 cents ones that broke after half an hour of play).
This past weekend, my wife and I found some time to go downstairs to the grass area in our apartment complex and had loads of fun! It wasn’t too windy but one side definitely had an advantage! People were all looking at us weird (I assume it’s because no one ever plays batminton in the US, especially outdoors with no net) but it was so much fun!
So today’s frugal tip – Go dig up your childhood toy!
I know that I still have some old rollerblades at home, tennis racquets and such that I can dig up when I go back to Canada to see my folks. It will be difficult to carry all those things back down to the US but I will definitely try!
I’m sure that once we transport the equipment down here, Emma and I can come up with a ton of activities to reuse all our childhood toys over the weekend!
So everyone, time for a treasure hunt and start digging!
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I always saved the board games that my family bought when I was younger so I can play with my future children. Never really thought about playing it with my wife but maybe I should start. Thanks for reminding me!
My dd loves playing with my old toys. Some of the “old” toys were made much more durable than some of the new toys one can buy these days.
Joe: Hmm board games. Good idea
Sammy: Speaking of that, I used to have these action figures (read transformers etc) back in the day that were made of metal. Nowadays they are all plastic. If only I still had them!
I discovered that you can find online guitar tuners so I tuned up my guitar (the best I can since you have to rely on your own ears…) and now, it’s my new hobby that I abandoned a few years ago! I hated the thought of not learning how to play it and having it sit there, especially because guitars aren’t cheap, and the major thing stopping me was that I couldn’t find my tuner!
Great tip!
My dad and I used to play on the street with no net and with WIND! lol
-Mike
I dug up my roller-blades the other day (in fact, I got these as an adult, but many year ago). I had a fantastic time and completely forgot how enjoyable they are.
Of course, I still can’t turn properly
I have kept a lot of things to pass on to my grandchildren and waiting for the day in anticipation. One of my grandchildren plays with my doll (SChlummerle) who is (dare I say) 45 years old and in mink condition. And she also reads all of my little German kids books as we taught her German. All of them have dates on the front page. Some of them(Pixibuecher)date back to 1962…and they look like new. YES, even when I was little, I always looked after what was mine and that hasn’t changed
Did you say Badminton! Oh how I love it. My husband and I actually upgraded our gear (was tired of all the cheapies breaking.) Speed badminton is a GREAT workout. I just hate it’s not so popular in the U.S. It’s hard to find doubles partners.
When I was young, I practice badminton with a wall if I do not have a partner… No joke. That’s how much I used to love the sports.
My grandkids and I are playing with some of my old toys and games now.
A word of caution tho for us “much older kids”, the bones break a lot easier now than when we were kids. I don’t think you’re gonna find me back on a skateboard
LOL!
I loved playing badminton when I was younger. My parents did always buy the cheap rackets, and my brother and I were always hitting the birdies up onto the roof… lol. We played with a net until the net, which was also cheap, broke!
I never thought they would be worth anything but I’ve got 2 ZX Spectrums (and their original boxes) in my loft and a Commodore 64 complete with hundreds of games, and apparently they’re worth a small fortune nowadays.
Hopefully their value will continue to go up as the years go on.
Breaking out my old Star Wars toys to play with my boy was actually one of the reasons I got back into collecting toys and for pubilshing my blog. It is really awesome to see him enjoying the exact same toys I played with as a kid. A nice bonus was it didn’t cost a penny!