Now we are feet firmly into 2020, I thought I would share with you our 'Family Challenge' ideas that perhaps you could take up with your own family, partner or even on your own. These challenges are great for getting you out of a monotonous routine which is all too easy to fall into when work, school, and life take over leaving us deflated, chewed up and spat out like an old dog toy.
Let me explain........ !
My family love to challenge ourselves (me more than anyone), but as mentioned previously, I'm not really motivated by the usual kind of challenge. We aim for all of our challenges to be based on something that we have never tried, eaten or visited.
The first year we thought about this we got so carried away thinking of all the wonderful things we could do that we set ourselves an epic 50 challenges to complete over the year. That first year we managed to complete only half of them, which although pretty impressive as we'd tried all these new things, left us also a bit glum as we hadn't completed the other 25. Heyho, they got rolled over to the next year and the next year and as the years have passed and time is at more of a premium, we have been a little bit more realistic with our ideas. Now we set ourselves one a month which is far more manageable and budget friendly. If you know what you are going to do in advance then they can be planned into a monthly budget.
The Wacky and the Wild
We have had some great suggestions from the kids such as eating as much popcorn as you can in a minute (I can personally recommend this with rice crispies or cream crackers) to climbing Everest barefoot in a blizzard, but with a teeny weeny bit of negotiation we normally come up with something we all agree on.
Once agreed (some time later) we as a family write our challenges down on a big piece of wall lining paper which then gets hung up in the kitchen as a bit of a visual motivator. When a challenge has been completed we take photographic evidence and the date is marked off against the challenge. So the challenge in the challenges is to get to the bottom of the epic list of challenges by the end of the year.
So if you fancy trying some fun, adventurous budget busting ideas, take a peek at some of the ideas we have completed in the past:
1. Find your way out of a maze. The kids loved this one. We found a local maize maze on a farm and spent an afternoon there.
2. Make jam. A trip to pick your own fruit at the local ‘pick your own’ and then make it into something even yummier.
3. Swim in an open air swimming pool in the winter. This is still on our to do list rolled over from last year.
4. Learn something new. My daughter and I learned french for our trip last summer (I'll tell you all about that budget holiday soon).
5. Try geocaching. Some people think this is quite nerdy. However, this can be quite good fun and the kids love looking for the caches. Sometimes there are swappables in them, sometimes it's just marking the log book which in itself gives a great sense of achievement.
6. Read a book a month. This is a personal challenge of mine. I love reading but rarely get the time. I have set out which books I want to read and the order I'm going to do them in already. I'm starting with 'The Librarian of Auschwitz'.
7. Raise money for a charity. Last year we raised money for The Lakes District Mountain Search and Rescue Dogs. Check out my 'Festival of Lights' post to find out more on this challenge. I can thoroughly recommend this one and of course why not combine it with a budget weekend away. We decided that this challenge would remain on the list indefinitely as it is such a good feeling to raise money for people, animals and causes that really need it. https://www.lakelandmountainguides.co.uk/the-lakeland-festival-of-light
8. Make your own geocache and hide it. We completed this challenge the first year we set ourselves the ‘epic 50’. In the cache description we explained all about the challenges and how this cache was one of them. You will need to log your cache on the geocaching website for it to be an official cache. You can get all the information to do this at www.geocaching.com.
9. Cook a meal on the beach. We have completed this a few times now. Your meal doesn’t have to be complicatedly exquisite, we cooked fajitas (everything in one pan), whilst we were holidaying in France and have also toasted marshmallows whilst watching the sunset on a beautiful beach in Wales.
10. Watch the sunrise. To make this a little bit more of a challenge, watch the sunrise in an epic location. We have done this twice now, the first time being in the winter: we got up at 5.00am ish and travelled to a local hill in the Peak District called Mam Tor. There was snow on the ground, it was cold, crisp and just beautiful.
This is just a small snippet of the challenges we have completed so far, but hopefully it is enough to whet your appetite and get you motivated in 2020.
If you have any challenge ideas that would be suitable to complete on a small budget, I would love to hear them. After all, I’m always on the lookout for my next adventure.
Better an oops than a what if.
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