Any time I go to a large city im exhausted by being charged for doing anything. How do people have fun if theyre poor(the neat part, you dont, probably). And to make it worse many of them probably have a 1 bedroom apartment so its not like you can sit in there all day long (at least i cant).
I realize im still spending money by being in my house out of town, but still, at least things I buy are owned by me, and im not paying someone else every time I want to do anything. If I want to stay at home all day I have tons of stuff to occupy my mind without going nuts.
I figure 98% of lemmy users live in big cities so id like to hear this perspective!
The trick in cities is to know things and people.
Know the guy with the swimming pool.
Know the woman who runs yoga in the park every Thursday.
Know when the museums have free or discounted events for the locals.
Know where the buck-a-slice pizza joint is - the one two blocks from your apartment that’s almost tucked into an alley at the bottom of a brownstone’s side stairs, and that most people would just walk past without noticing.
Cities have lots of free and cheap things, you just need to be a local to find a lot of them.
Know when the museums have free or discounted events for the locals.
Know that the library probably has free passes to the museums, too!
And if you’re in a city with a decent sized college, there are lots of cheap or free interesting things to do related to it: public lectures, music performances, theater, sports…
Pretty much this :)
A while back I switched to using RSS feeds for news, and there are so many free and low cost events out there in my city. Free shows, food festivals, cultural days, free admission days at attractions, music in the park, etc
I’ve been posting some of them to [email protected], but that’s only the events that I was interested enough to click on + think that people here would be interested in as well
For example:
[Science World will have free admission on Friday, Sept. 19, as a part of their ‘Tech-Up’ initiative]
There are also free activities you can do anywhere, with lots of good ideas in this thread. Some extras that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
- Go mapping with StreetComplete (https://streetcomplete.app/) or similar apps where you contribute to public data sets
- Go geocaching! [email protected]
Sometimes cities also have scavenger hunt type guides where you can explore an area
people
Paying your landlord rent and your other bills every month isn’t enough human interaction for you? I know its more then enough for me.
I go for walks in a nearby park, it’s a great way to spend an hour
I’m not poor but most of my fun stuff is free, hanging out at parks (picnics with friends or just relaxing with a book or something), walking/cycling trails, free or pay as you feel shows and weekly food not bombs community dinners.
Nothing wrong with a 1 bedroom apartment tbh, and I don’t understand why not living in a house means you can’t buy and own things lol. I’ve got loads of stuff I can do here if I don’t want to go out, I’ve even got plenty of private outdoor space. If I didn’t have so much stuff keeping me busy I could very easily stay in my apartment for weeks at a time, only really leaving to get groceries, I’ve never gone mad from it.
Tbh I find this life is significantly cheaper given I don’t have as much maintenance as a house, and I don’t need to pay the absurdly high costs associated with a car.
Edit: looks like jerboa broke for me so I’ve got no clue if this posted or what anyone else is saying lol
Regarding your edit: you’re good! Hi!
I’m getting replies in my inbox but I can’t view post comments lol, thankyou!
Honestly I’ve found there’s way more to do for fun that’s free in cities compared to when I lived in a small town. The libraries, museums, parks, etc. are all much larger, more exciting, and easier to access - I don’t even need to own a car to have fun anymore. There’s also more social groups for more niche interinterests. Back when I lived in a town, the options for free(ish) fun were: go to a house, go to a mountain, go to the beach, and all were places you had to drive, god forbid you want to take a bus or walk somewhere, and then the people you would hang out with at those places were just co-workers or people you met in school, because there was no other way to meet people.
I completely agree here. I found city entertainment to be cheaper and more fun for children. Sure my house cost me twice as much but at least there’s a cultural weekend almost once a month at my local market.
I’m not here to argue with anyone about their preferred lifestyle, but I’ve never been so lonely as when I moved near a city. In case anyone thinks that will solve their loneliness.
A good city or town is a good one when they can offer things that don’t require money. Parks, Events that don’t charge anything and vice versa.
Our parks, Zoo, and Science Center are all free. And the Botanical Garden is free on specific days, and the symphony and other similar orgs do at least 1 free event per year on average.
House parties and board game nights, basically. Supermarket prices, and guaranteed to be around people I enjoy the company of. There’s also normally events going on every week, so there’s normally some kind of food fest/pedestrianized road with buskers/something going on that’s either cheap or free.
When I was a student with a small budget in an expensive city:
- Basketball, softball, flag football, soccer, kickball, bocce, volleyball (free for pickup games, very cheap for organized leagues)
- Picnics/cookouts at the park with friends (same price as eating and drinking at home)
- Lifting weights and other fitness-oriented exercise at an indoor gym (relatively affordable monthly fees)
- Museums (cheap/free access for students, some memberships can be a good deal if you’re going regularly)
- Volunteering (free, easy way to meet and socialize with people)
- Live events. Sure, an NFL game or a Taylor Swift concert isn’t going to be cheap, but the thing with big cities is that there are literally dozens of small music venues, semi-pro sports leagues, comedy venues, theaters, etc., putting on small shows for less than $10/person (or maybe $20-30 after buying a few drinks at the venue). Some things are free, like plays or movies or concerts in the park.
- Festivals. There are always street or art festivals going down in big cities.
I’m not a musician or artist but I know plenty of people who get together to play music with friends, or do creative things together.
And even now that I have money I still do plenty of the cheap/free things in my city, and I donate a lot to the libraries and museums and park cleanup/beautification nonprofits around me in large part because those are great public spaces worth supporting.
Yeah, it’s hard if the budget is literally zero, but if not, students get affordable monthly tickets to public transports at least around here, so that already makes it very possible to get around on the cheap. It’s not expensive to start with, at least anywhere where I’ve ever been to, as a local or as a tourist, so only in very extreme cases would that be a problem. Even then, asking around one can get lucky and get a used bike on the cheap, or for free from a relative or a friend. Depending on the city, the bike can be faster and more convenient, even, than public transport.
Once you can get around, a city turns into a treasure trove of possibilities and activities. Sure, there are expensive options, but also a huge variety of free or cheap options too! The toughest part is daring to go. It takes some bravery, especially if doing something or going somewhere for the first time, but it always gets easier and easier once you get through those first hurdles.
Edit: To add, there are almost always interesting places to spend a day in just outside the city proper. Or even a bit farther away, but still along the public transport routes or bike’s reach. Where I live, we have some public apple orchards for example, one can make a day out of going to pick a basketful of apples and having a picnic. In the winter there are fun slopes on some smaller hills that have publicly maintained slopes to go sledging in, make it a day with some hot chocolate and friends! Some smaller museums outside the city center are very affordable and can have quirky subjects and presentations. Even just biking or walking to some lake or park can be great, take some acoustic instruments or a boombox or something, sit around and chill, alone or with friends!
For things to do alone, at least in my city, we have public outdoor gyms spread around. Some of the farther ones don’t get much use, so I can usually be alone there when I go, it’s very zen especially in autumn when it’s a bit chilly. Local coffee shops and some bars have free exhibitions of local artists usually, same for libraries. Sometimes you can get lucky and have impromptu live music too, with no additional costs! Smaller local bands have very affordable tickets too, usually less than a pint. And if you’re a student, at least most places I’ve ever been to, you can get drinks on the cheap, if you’re not too picky about your vices.
This is all not even mentioning things like tabletop game groups that gather just for the fun of it, no cost. People bring games and you play, no need to own any yourself. Usually it’s coffee shops or bars, so there might be costs from the aux things like drinks, but you can participate with just water, who cares? Often these are advertised in said coffee shops with some printed paper on a wall, or maybe the various boards across the city and markets and whatnot that have adverts/notices etc.
The toughest thing, all in all, is daring to go. It really is the hardest part to be brave enough to go and do stuff. It’s not easy for anyone, but once you dare the one time, it gets easier from there, and gets fun very fast!
Every city has free activities that happen from time to time. There are guides on entertainment online and in paper that will tell you what they are and when they will occur. For example, there is a spanish culture center where I live, and I’ve taken my kid there several times for free shows.
Going on walks in the city to take in the architecture is free. If you have a phone, you can try to improve your photography skills by taking pictures of things you see that are interesting.
There are places that are made for public well being that are free; like Museums and libraries. You can go to them to enrich yourself and learn new things, or even just see the artifacts (or replicas) you’ve learned about elsewhere.
As others have noted : parks and the like are free for the public to access. You can have fun being in a green space and in nature.
Meetups are organised online for free, for various hobbies in public spaces, sometimes even in pubs/restaurants/bars, or even specialist stores. Usually the proprietors won’t mind if one or two people are not spending money if there is a large group there that is spending money.
By the way, for non-city folk, these things also apply to you. When I was living in a smaller town with population about 60k , I saw jazz performances, fun architecture and walked around in public forests and “meadows” for free.
For example, time out has a page dedicated to free things to do in London this week:
https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/free-things-to-do-in-london-this-week
There are other locations available just through timeout, and meetups has things that cater to your individual tastes, and I’m sure your local metropolitan authority has a page dedicated to publically funded events I’m sure they want people to attend, and are probably free because they are paid for with taxes.
For example, I went to two official US Cities sites…
San francisco :
https://www.sf.gov/latino-heritage-month There’s events listed here (some already finished) that you can attend for Latino Heritage month, it was on the homepage at sf.gov
https://www.sf.gov/topics--things-to-do-san-francisco more lists of things to do, which led me to :
https://sf.funcheap.com/free-events/ A bunch of free (some require early RSVPing) events you can enjoy in SF.
New York :
https://www.nyc.gov/main/events/?categories=Free
Here’s a bunch of free stuff you can do… although the NYC stuff is a lot more… serious than the SF one, just ignore all the “Special Waste Drop-Off” events.
If you want to know more, just reply. I love living in big cities and I usually don’t spend that much money there to have fun either. For most of my holidays, I literally just stay in my home city and walk around or have fun at home.
I used to base my social life around fun cheap’s suggestions.
Pregame. Dive bars
Especially with prices at name bars. Eff that.
I would like to kick this back to you, what do you do outside of a big city that is free?
In rural protected areas : outdoor activities like hiking biking climbing picking edible stuffs in the forests.
In small cities : not much.
In rural crops area : dying from pesticides at 50.
The area i live has all this within a few mile walk and there are nearly a million people here. I’m confused. What cities are you visiting that don’t have parks and bike paths. I’ve got a national forest close enough i could walk if i really wanted to. It’s a good 10 miles from me.
Many cities have excellent hiking and biking opportunities. The trails are usually easier, the scenery different, but you probably don’t want to eat stuff you find
Depends on the season. I hunt, fish, garden, and forage in the forest. Sometimes, like this morning, I sit outside and watch the leaves turn pretty colors and fall on the ground. Or I stay up late and watch the Northern Lights if it’s clear enough. Or I can watch a thunderstorm or blizzard roll across the lake. Right now I’m smoking bacon for the winter. I have the last pork belly curing to smoke Sunday and then it’s on to the pork loins for Canadian style bacon.
I don’t need to go to movies, plays, fancy restaurants, or crowds of people. Give me a good pocket knife and a stick to whittle and I can be content with life. But this isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can be comfortable enough with themselves to choose the solitude of a remote rural life. And youth almost always craves excitement over peacefulness.
Download SteetComplete. You can help to improve openstreetmap and you get around. I mapped my area and found it interesting, because the app made me explore the neighbourhood. https://streetcomplete.app/
Is it open-source ? Oh wait, it is💕
Yoo! What a cool app I download this and I love it. The gaminfication of doin this is fun.
Just chiming in as someone not in a big city, I’m pretty sure we’re more than 2% of Lemmy. But I have lived in a few big cities, and living outside the city is way worse. I have to drive to do anything. There are some free parks I can drive to, but that’s about it. You can’t even go for a walk or a bike ride without driving somewhere first. There is no old town to walk around.
Also for example, if you live in a big city you pay more for housing but jobs pay higher and you actually have the option of not owning a car. So you don’t have to sit in traffic and pay insane parking prices everywhere you go. My one complaint about the city is that food prices are crazy.
I would argue that cities have more free activities than towns, by far. Cost of living is higher but so are wages.
Also, I don’t understand why living in a huge home is required to stay in. Certainly isn’t for me.
