# Simple, Free/Cheap, Non-Tech Pleasures **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629 "2012-04-22T21:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/1 "2012-04-22T21:00:18Z")
When I was young and broke, there were things we used to for fun or to pass the time or just to be together. Some of them aren’t practical anymore, like “going for a drive” when the price of gas is almost $4.00. Or driving out to the end of the runway at the airport and watching the planes land (you’d probably get run off by Homeland Security today). We would go to the carwash, or drive around and look at Christmas lights (in season). For instance, I live in the country, and my late husband used to like to sit outside at night and just listen to what he called the “night sounds,” the tree frogs, coyotes, owls, the rustling of the trees. My mother would go to the Mall and sit and “people watch.” I liked to lie in a hammock and stare up at the sky through the leaves and branches. A friend and I sit and drink coffee and talk for a couple of hours. I spend all day every day on the computer or phone and sometimes I get techie’d out. Do you have things like this you used to do or still do that are free or cheap, non-tech, and frankly, kind of aimless, but satisfying and pleasurable? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/2 "2012-04-22T21:08:14Z")
During the summer, I love to go to a local state park and just walk for hours. I have a dream vacation where I take a month off in May or June and drive to all the different state parks in Minnesota, set up camp and stay for a day or two with lots of hikes, pack everything up and head to a new park and do it all over again. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/3 "2012-04-22T21:13:26Z")
I really like lying in the grass, and looking at the grass up close. There’s different kinds of plants, little animals, you can smell the earth. And cuddling my dog at the bottom of the stairs. She likes to lie under the stairs and when she hears your footsteps at the top of the stairs, her tail starts thumping louder and louder the closer you get. By the time you get to the bottom she’s pulling her “silly games” face, rolling on her back. We usually play a silly game (“coming to get the paws” is one we invented) and end up cuddling. 🙂 ETA: **Inner Stickler** , can you just camp anywhere you like in state parks? That sounds so cool! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/4 "2012-04-22T21:41:00Z")
Taking walks around the neighborhood. Jigsaw puzzles. You can get them cheap from thrift shops, and they disconnect your hands from the brain giving you time to think. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/5 "2012-04-22T21:44:44Z")
I like to keep moving-biking, walking, running. The digital camera is always with me. Yesterday I forgot to bring it and there was a man hurrying up from the lake like a kid to his motorized power scooter. He was carrying lots of fishing equipment and did not look the least bit impaired. I missed the perfect video of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/6 "2012-04-22T21:47:07Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > ETA: **Inner Stickler** , can you just camp anywhere you like in state parks? That sounds so cool! Maybe in some but mostly there are designated camping areas which is fine by me. While I love nature and all its beauty, I like regular showers as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/7 "2012-04-22T21:52:53Z")
I ride my bike ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/8 "2012-04-22T21:58:08Z")
Float down a river on an innertube. Good way to get killed, too. Lots of unseen/unknown hazards. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/9 "2012-04-22T22:20:54Z")
When I was growing up, aside from watching TV there were card games & board games. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/10 "2012-04-22T22:25:03Z")
When I was a kid, I’d ride my bike all over town. Now, I like to sit on the veranda and smoke a cigar and sip a martini late into the night. Very low tech, unless I bring my netbook out there with me. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/11 "2012-04-22T23:28:03Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Maybe in some but mostly there are designated camping areas which is fine by me. While I love nature and all its beauty, I like regular showers as well. Fair enough 🙂 I just got my SO a really good new tent for Xmas, excited to give it proper test run! Another thing I thought of: games. Lots I don’t like (I’m not competitive at all) but one of my all-time favourite things is Call my Bluff by the fire. And charades. And Who Am I? Game time, dog lying by the fire, friends and wine… ---
**Author:** ![slightly\_askew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@slightly\_askew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slightly_askew)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/12 "2012-04-22T23:35:52Z")
I get techied out at work too. Spend most of my day staring at a computer screen. I like to do stuff with my hands at home. Knitting, sketching, baking… anything tactile that doesn’t require a keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/13 "2012-04-22T23:39:47Z")
Going to parks, going hiking, the library. Talking to people I like is great too. Riding the public transit in a large city (lets you sight see on the cheap, plus none of the stress of driving in a large city). ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/14 "2012-04-22T23:49:24Z")
Time-tripping ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/15 "2012-04-23T00:03:01Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > During the summer, I love to go to a local state park and just walk for hours. I have a dream vacation where I take a month off in May or June and drive to all the different state parks in Minnesota, set up camp and stay for a day or two with lots of hikes, pack everything up and head to a new park and do it all over again. That would be a dream vacation for me, too. I’d throw in hiking the Superior Hiking Trail as a bonus. I love rock hunting or fossil hunting. I can sit for hours on a rock beach along the river picking through pebbles and not even notice the passage of time. My husband and I also spend some time every summer excavating our own yard. So far we’ve found a snowblower, a cast iron sink, an 1876 quarter, a stash of bottles dating to the 1920s, and enough limestone to build a really fancy outhouse. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/16 "2012-04-23T00:05:11Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Float down a river on an innertube. This. Holy Hannah but the 3 or 4 times I’ve innertubed on a river are some of my favorite memories with my family. Even the inevitable losing of the innertube and trying to chase it 40 feet downriver. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/17 "2012-04-23T00:26:52Z")
For me, especially since I moved out of the ghetto, it’s just hanging out on my front porch. It’s entirely shaded after noon and there’s birds galore, hummingbirds occasionally, my little container garden and honeysuckle that smells awesome right now. Even in the summer, it’s a nice place to escape from the freezing (yeah!) air conditioner for a few minutes. I have neighbors but they no longer walk through the streets shirtless, talking to themselves but mostly just wave and then mind their own business. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/18 "2012-04-23T01:09:47Z")
with my three best friends (my husband and two friends who are married to each other) we can play _Taboo_ or _Apples to Apples_ for hours. Though both cost about $30, so there is an initial start up investment. I can also spend hours building drip castles anyplace that has sand and water, even a sandbox. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/19 "2012-04-23T01:14:29Z")
Three ideas that never fail: 1. Small fire 2. Big fire 3. Bonfire No tech has beat those yet in my book. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629/20 "2012-04-23T01:42:54Z")
Brushing my cat, who is long-haired, shedding his winter coat, and generally enjoys it, especially under the chin. We then play a little game where I trot from one room to the next and he trots after me, meowing for me to stand still, dammit! so he can rub against my ankles! Hey, it’s surprisingly good exercise for both of us! Reading the Sunday newspaper, clipping out coupons I’ll probably never use, tearing out pictures of things I want from the store ads, but will probably never buy, making note of movies, concerts, and things of interest I will probably never go to, studying recipes for meals I probably will never make, and of course compiling a long grocery list of foods I will buy only a fraction of. For an hour every afternoon, I have a fun, interesting week planned that seldom comes about. Going out on the deck at midnight (checking for skunks first!) in any weather and looking up at the night sky, a little creepy and awesome, trying to identify the planets the astronomer guy on TV was so fired up about. Venus has been SO bright this month! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-free-cheap-non-tech-pleasures/619629.md?page=2)