No matter how many bills and how much debt you have, you can’t deny that you don’t like getting out and having fun with friends and family. With summer gone, a lot of fun things like the beach, theme parks, and water parks are out of the question because it’s getting cold. I know I’m new to the Oshkosh area but below are some things that are fun, cheap, and great things to do when you’re on a tight budget around the Oshkosh/Appleton/Neenah area.

Bowling:

There are some great places around Oshkosh that have great deals on bowling. Shore View Lanes on Grove Street has $10 Techno Bowling Nights on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 pm until midnight. It includes the shoes, all you can bowl, music, and fun! This is an amazing deal and you can have three hours of amazing fun with friends. Click on the following link for more information: http://shoreviewoshkosh.com/open-bowling/

Movies:

Who doesn’t love movies and popcorn? Time Cinemas on Main Street offers the old time classic movies like Ghostbusters, Halloween III, Addams Family Values. The price is $3 at the door and when it’s a sponsored movie the price is FREE! This is an amazing price for movies when you’re on a cheap budget. Click on the following link for times and movies showings: http://www.timecommunitytheater.com

Museums:

There are a ton of museums around the Oshkosh/Appleton area including:

• The History Museum at the Castle - East College Avenue, Appleton
• The Building for Kids Children's Museum - W College Avenue, Appleton
• Bergstrom-Mahler Museum - North Park Avenue, Neenah
• EAA Air Venture Museum - Oshkosh
• Oshkosh Public Museum - Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh

Museums are a great thing for kids and even students to go to in order to learn about the history of culture as well as about certain times in history that had an impact on their area.

Walking:

Oshkosh has various parks and trails that you can walk along including the Wiowash Trail that spans through four counties and is 22 miles long. Part of it runs right by the river by UWO and goes under the 41 and onward to Lake de Butte. The main parking lot for the trail in Winnebago County is located off Westwind Road, near the intersection of Highway 41 and 45. Oshkosh also offers Farmers Markets every Saturday that produces, pun intended, 150 vendors for people to come and look at. The market is located on North Main Street Oshkosh. It is an outside farmers market but when the weather starts dropping it indoors.

There are plenty of things to do in your area that's free, active, and cheap for those people who are on a budget. I can attest to some of these and say that I have a had a lot of fun bowling and going to the theatres and museums. Not only do you save money with these great activities, but you also get out into the community, you get out of your house, and if you bring a friend along you can have a lot of fun together. So be bold, go do something this weekend and save money while you do it!