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!
I know not everyone loves church, but my church has an open building day you can come and co-work or just read or sit and relax and chat or whatever, we put out good local coffee shop coffee and tea, and you can hang around as long as you want in an old building with beautiful stained glass windows and use the WiFi, etc. We were talking about how there’s not really anywhere much else you can do that without spending money, you can sit in the library but it’s not like you can heat up your leftover spaghetti and sit on a comfy couch. It’s really a nice way to spend a day.
Cities have a lot of free things like parks or such and even activities. Like they had weekly dancing in summer in parks in the evening or yoga in the morning. In addition in my city you could get passes to museums and zoos and such from the library for free if you are a resident. Oooh. The libraries are incredible to. Often there are groups that do interesting things to and universities are a good place to find some interesting things.
High-paying jobs come to cities, so a sizable number of people really are spending money for everything. Think of it like video game microtransactions.
Of course, to a small extent, it’s also nice that you’re not making car payments, including wear and tear, insurance, and gas.
Where I live, there are also city calendars that help you find the free festivals that cost less. These are often more scheduled rather than “all the time”, so they’re not convenient for tourists.
I think some people mistakenly think that being in a city means you have to go out a ton because there’s all these cool bars, museums, etc.
But to me, I think of it more like, it’s nice that if I want to do one of those things it doesn’t require much effort, but I still only do it if I want to
Scenarios:
- You want to drink a lot and have an energetic night - One of the coolest things about cities is how close and accessible bars are. This makes it super easy to meet up with your friends and pregame a ton. Then you can walk over to a bar or club already hammered, and you only have to buy one or two drinks to keep it going.
- You want a cozy night - Then just get together with friends at one of your places and play board games or watch a movie or something. Now, if every single one of your friends has a really small apartment, then I understand this might be less comfortable. Maybe the apartment building has a common space?
- Daytime events - Parks, community events, festivals, etc. There’s usually a few free events every day, check your local news
Fun is a Leftist conspiracy to distract you from producing more for your bosses at work
Other people already gave most of the answers, but
Parks. Go for a walk. Play a game with folks (Frisbee, soccer, whatever). Ride a bike. Read.
Meetups. I go to a tabletop RPG one. That’s not unique to cities, but I can walk to this one and there are probably more people attending than you’d find in a less populous area. I also used to go to a basic neighborhood hangout one. There are many others.
The library is free. Many books and other media to enjoy.
This city has beaches. It’s $3 for the subway ride there , or if I was really broke I could ride a bike.
There are free museums. I don’t go that often but they’re interesting.
But also
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 don’t think I accept this premise. I stay home in my one bedroom without any more trouble than when I lived in the suburbs. A computer full of games doesn’t need a lot of rooms. I have plenty of entertainment here. I don’t see what’s stifling about a one bedroom. Maybe a tiny studio I could see. But even so, when I lived in a whole house it’s not like I went skipping from room to room.
Broke Ass Stuart had a lot of stuff for this. Also Craigslist has (or had) a whole section of free events. I never had problems finding free entertainment for the 10 years I lived in SF.
Check your library for local events, and local museums for resident free days.
Go to every park.
Go to every gallery.
Go to every neighborhood you’ve never been to and be curious about it.
This is advice I’d agree with for London, UK as well.
I just look on Google Maps for big green areas near me. Yesterday my mate and I went to a park we haven’t properly been to in 20 or so years, and it’s now a nature reserve! Walked around for over two hours and it was lovely.
what do you think makes social media so addictive? it’s one of the few things people can afford
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.
This may surprise you, but it’s possible to buy housing (that is bigger than one bedroom), stuff for hobbies, and access to entertainment in a city. 🫨
Public parks, hanging at a friend’s pad, just walking around, campfire on the beach, house parties, bike trails, free days at museums, free public concerts, block parties, political rallies, people watching
Are you having trouble picturing this because you’ve never been poor, or because you’ve never lived in the city?
Most medium-large cities also have a few secondhand book stores. For a couple bucks you can get a book, go to a park, that’s an afternoon right there.
or do the same from a public library
Anime, series, internet, comics, manga, and ofc music. Some casual games and literature, sometimes.
Also helps having a hobby like music production or 3D modeling, this is, all done on the computer ofc, outside of the computer there’s no world, just a neverending roads and buildings and cars and stores and more of the same.
We live in so different citys and mine got bombed to the ground in ww2 and yet still is none of what you describe
I’m outside a big city. But there are tons of free things to do. Many places do free days for residents. We have lots of parks. There are street fairs you can go to, and while food and drinks cost money. You usually can walk around and listen to music for free.
We have beaches you can go to, libraries, friends houses.
Window shopping is always free.
Feed the ducks
While not free, I find a membership or two to be advantageous. There’s usually member swaps where you can get in another local location for free for a month. When we go on vacations our first stop is always a grocery store, and I usually try to get an extended stay hotel with a kitchen. Saves on eating out because we’ll pack for lunch and make dinner. We have an amusement park pass that works with other locations so parking and admission is included. Our museum membership works for hundreds of other out of state museums so we visit science and children’s museums included. Vacations are still expensive of course but this reduces costs significantly.
Other than that things like parks, beaches, library events. Meet up with friends at someone’s house.
Which state are you in, if you don’t mind answering?
