Being from a no fun state

[mi*vida*loca]

There are a lot of free things to do in NJ. I think the OP was talking about entertainment options that cost money. Since most of those aren’t happening what have you been spending that extra cash on.

We usually go to a few Phillies games in the summer, a vacation, maybe 1-2 weekend getaways, nights in Atlantic City, an outdoor summer concert, etc. Since those have all been cancelled we’ve either saved the money or spent it in updating our garage into a man cave.

 

[hsmamato2]

a no fun state means you can’t go anywhere and have fun. Can’t go to Florida. 14 day quarantine when you get to Florida. There’s like 34 states once you get back there’s a 14 day advisory on quarantine. Have you ever been to the New Jersey shores? They suck. At least the ones I have been to. Wildwood, ocean city, Atlantic City, Avalon, and a few more down that way. Don’t know if they have any good ones or not central or north. Heard there’s a good Nudist beach up north.

Ahhhh I see. I've never been to a Jersey beach, but I have friends who love their yearly vacation on a Jersey beach (they're sad they didn't go this year) so I get the whole indoor fun stuff, but still.... I'm making it a goal to find local stuff that's "fun" around where I live. I see from other pp's there is plenty in Jersey still to do in summer.... yeah,I live in a 'no Florida" state also....

 

[dclpluto]

Ahhhh I see. I've never been to a Jersey beach, but I have friends who love their yearly vacation on a Jersey beach (they're sad they didn't go this year) so I get the whole indoor fun stuff, but still.... I'm making it a goal to find local stuff that's "fun" around where I live. I see from other pp's there is plenty in Jersey still to do in summer.... yeah,I live in a 'no Florida" state also....

most of the people who love the jersey beach probably don’t get anywhere good. Might be all they know.

 

[imbatman]

Replaced bathroom and kitchen flooring. Will get to the living room and hallways after an unexpected life event. DH and I have watched more documentaries this year and we love it! Makes us feel a tad smarter.

Headed for a two-day ocean stay next weekend.

 

[mjkacmom]

a no fun state means you can’t go anywhere and have fun. Can’t go to Florida. 14 day quarantine when you get to Florida. There’s like 34 states once you get back there’s a 14 day advisory on quarantine. Have you ever been to the New Jersey shores? They suck. At least the ones I have been to. Wildwood, ocean city, Atlantic City, Avalon, and a few more down that way. Don’t know if they have any good ones or not central or north. Heard there’s a good Nudist beach up north.

I love the jersey shore! Cape May, Wildwood Crest, LBI, Avon, Spring Lake, our usual day trip is seven presidents. The nude beach is at sandy hook state park. What don’t you like about our beaches?

 

[tcufrog]

The main thing we did was finish the master bedroom. We painted it nice blue instead of the poop brown it was and bought a loveseat and an upholstered bench that I use for workouts. We also hung reading sconces next to the bed and purchased a treadmill. Since we can't have our usual pool parties, we bought the kids some new pool floats and strung up a spare sheet for dive-in movies. My husband got a boat building kit for Father's Day and is currently building a small 3 person sailboat. I got a giant wall-mounted Scrabble board for my birthday last month.

 

[havaneselover]

I love the jersey shore! Cape May, Wildwood Crest, LBI, Avon, Spring Lake, our usual day trip is seven presidents. The nude beach is at sandy hook state park. What don’t you like about our beaches?

I love the Jersey shore too. I mean if you want to talk about bad beaches, let's talk about Virginia. If I had to pick my favorite east coast beach, it would be Ocean City, NJ. And that isn't because I've never been anywhere else.

 

[shh]

I got to replace a fairly new and pricey fridge that died last week way before it's rightful time - everything I wanted was out of stock through late Aug/Sept (and I just can't live out of a cooler for more than a week - I'm not a camping gal!) Which means I now have a diff color fridge than rest of my appliances - first world problems, I know lol! But not exactly "fun" spending.

Everyone else's home improvements I'm reading about here sound pretty great, though! I'm especially jealous of all you guys with pools....must be awesome during quarantine.

But then again, I'm from Florida - can't say we're a "no fun" state - plenty 'o fun around here....but common sense? Well....not so much.

 

[MKCP5]

a no fun state means you can’t go anywhere and have fun. Can’t go to Florida. 14 day quarantine when you get to Florida. There’s like 34 states once you get back there’s a 14 day advisory on quarantine. Have you ever been to the New Jersey shores? They suck. At least the ones I have been to. Wildwood, ocean city, Atlantic City, Avalon, and a few more down that way. Don’t know if they have any good ones or not central or north. Heard there’s a good Nudist beach up north.

Well it sounds like you're pretty determined to be unhappy. That's a choice too. I know this sucks but we've gotta do our best.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Removed the last section of the old railroad tie fence and had 120 feet of new pipe fence installed. It took a week to install but well worth the price.
The concrete lab is finally open to graduate students at UNM so I am a happy camper. Back on the dissertation projects.

 

[kathy884]

I visited some nearby inexpensive entertainment places that never made it to my list before - day trips (Historic Ste Genevieve, MO (perfectly fine 200 year old settlement -- french colonial just an hour away). Did this day trip with DH. My overall thoughts were sure, stop if you are passing by, but that it's not really worth a special trip. I also hit Springfield, IL for a day trip -- an hour and 45 minutes each way. Usually I would say that's too much driving for a day trip, but since I work from home I actually really enjoyed the drive part (want to do some driving with gas so inexpensive). Visited a Frank Lloyd Wright home and the Lincoln Presidential museum. I actually did this trip solo as DH and DS both weren't interested, didn't want to ask any friends as most are not going out much / big into being safe and mostly staying home due to COVID-19 - didn't want them to do something they might not be comfortable doing, and was surprised how much I enjoyed the trip on my own.

The other thing I just finished doing that I can't say I enjoyed, but I can say that I was happy to get off my to do list was researching do it yourself will kits (picked and purchased Quicken Willmaker). Put together and got other immediate family members to put together wills, financial power of attorney documents, and healthcare power of attorney documents. Next we lined up two witnesses, made an appointment at our bank, and got everything signed and notarized (strange way to spend two vacation days), but great to get this off my to do list. Then we took our witnesses out for an outside socially distanced Mexican lunch fiesta. Our other documents were out of date.

Seems like I've spent extra money on backyard updates as well as saving more than normal. We put in a new outside eectric outlet, new outdoor lighting, new patio table and chairs, one of those propane firepits, bird feeder on shepherd's hook, squirrel feeder attached to tree, and some new plants. Seems like an outdoor oasis to me. I've never had a bird feeder before and have been super surprised at how much the whole family is really enjoying this.

 

[leebee]

I've been on 4 day walk/hikes (my top speed is "stroll") with different friends, everyone in masks and walking with some distance between us. DH and I finally did some vegetable gardening. We always say we are going to but then never get to it, but this summer we have 2 cucumber plants, 4 tomato plants, 6 Swiss chard, basil, mint, and scallions, all in containers. We've been harvesting the chard and herbs already, and the scallions are big enough to pull. Cukes and tomatoes are gonna be awhile, alas. We also are having our dilapidated vinyl fence replaced and just signed a contract to have the driveway paved. When we were house hunting 15 years ago, a 2 car garage, preferably attached, was #1 or #2 on the "must have" list. Well, not only did we not get the attached garage, we don't even have a paid driveway! DH has said now that he's 60, he is far, far less interested in shoveling snow. A friend handed down his old snow blower, but with a gravel driveway it's really not usable. However, now that we aren't "playing" as much, we have the cash flow for the driveway AND the fence!

 

[BritneyBelle]

Weeded the yard (we moved into this house last September and the prior owners had neglected the landscaping so that was quite the project). Painted the bathroom, installed a ceiling fan, installed a new light fixture, and kept up with my one year old twins.

Ready for travel too, but the house gets painted next week so at least it's not all bad.

 

[mjkacmom]

I got to replace a fairly new and pricey fridge that died last week way before it's rightful time - everything I wanted was out of stock through late Aug/Sept (and I just can't live out of a cooler for more than a week - I'm not a camping gal!) Which means I now have a diff color fridge than rest of my appliances - first world problems, I know lol! But not exactly "fun" spending.

Everyone else's home improvements I'm reading about here sound pretty great, though! I'm especially jealous of all you guys with pools....must be awesome during quarantine.

But then again, I'm from Florida - can't say we're a "no fun" state - plenty 'o fun around here....but common sense? Well....not so much.

My 9 year old fridge died (I had already put $800 into it), we are planning on gutting the kitchen this year, it’s replacement was $2400, so we bought a crappy $800 fridge instead which we can sell because it is perfect for a basement or garage, I hate it.

 

[jerseygal]

Eldest DS and DIL, NJ are jumping for joy! Condo pool FINALLY opened as of today ..at least they can have some outdoor pool time now. , salvage part of the summer at least. Perhaps the condo will extend the pool closing into September, as most pools have closed in pre-Covid time by Labor Day.

 

[firefly_ris]

Went a little crazy and compressed 3 years of house projects into 1. Extended our back deck, new vinyl cedar shake look siding on the front second story (first floor is stone), added a pergola over front porch, and a mini pergola over the garage doors. Bought a nice set of brown wicker chairs for the front porch off Facebook.

Gutted the kitchen and installed new cabinets, sink and counter top, haven't gotten to the backsplash tile yet. We will also be tearing out the laminate flooring and replace with waterproof vinyl plank and move the laminate to the basement, probably not until fall though. Lastly, in a few weeks we will be getting a new shed which we will run electric and natural gas lines to.

Next year all I'm doing is touch up paint!!!

I'm also finally having a successful year with my tomato plants after the previous 2 years not going well.

 

[lpandorf]

Tiled a back splash in the kitchen. Tiled one of the bathrooms. Planted a garden. Built a retaining wall and update some landscaping.
Painted the entire first floor of our house. Put in new light fixtures throughout the first floor We've been in our house 20 years so was definitely time for a few of these updates.

 

[rigs32]

New fridge, new TV, painting, investing more into my Roth IRA, aggressively paying down my mortgage.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Fun is in the eye of the beholder. There are still 14 states we can currently travel to which include Wyoming, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maine, so plenty of gorgeous places to visit. Also, we can eat at restaurants, you just need to eat outside.

As far as beaches are concerned, Island Beach State Park is my favorite in the state.

My Covid-19 related purchase has been a mountain bike to take along on all the road trips I'm now taking.

SSShhhh, don't tell the whole world! Move along folks, nothing to see here. Borrrrring!

That is our fav too. It's great if you're not into boardwalk/rides/casinos, etc. It's so peaceful and set up perfectly for a day trip. We were considering a B&B that we love in Cape May (Queen Victoria) but it's not cheap. We're on the fence about staying overnight anywhere at this point and whether it's worth it with so much uncertainty in the world. The day trip works well for us; we can pack a cooler with some Primo hoagies and not have to stress about whether restaurants with outdoor seating can accommodate the demand.

Our 25th wedding anniversary is in October. I was looking into Vermont to see the fall foliage but I'm losing all urge to travel. The good part is that we are saving more $ than ever.

Ds20 decided last spring to attend welding school and by coincidence Discover sent us a special offer/blank check for 0% for 12 months so I am making great progress on saving up the amount needed to pay back. I should have it by the end of October.

Next up, attacking our mortgage.

I hope you all find a new (or old) happy place.

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I did a ton of work in my yard, ripped out a couple of old and dying shrubs and planted annuals and added some whiskey barrel planters since I can’t get the roots out - I just cover them up, lol. I got 4 big pines removed for just over $2k, and I am refinancing my house to upgrade to a heat pump so I am doing some research on that.
I am in neighboring “no fun” PA, but I love the Jersey Shore. My family has a small place on LBI. But no one should go there, we are dumb for loving it.
I respect the need for no fun right now, but I spend a bunch of my discretionary income on music and theater, so I am definitely missing it all right now.