Welcome, to Fun On a Dime! If your are on this page, it is because you want to know a little more about me! Well this may be more than you want, but here you go… =-)

My name is Michelle. I grew up the oldest of 5 children, my youngest sister is still in High School. I have been married to my hubby for almost 7 years and most of those years were spent in Utah while he was going to school. We have two children, a son – 5 and a daughter – 3. We just moved from Southern Utah (specifically, Cedar City, which we L.O.V.E.D!). I have almost 30 nieces and nephews (1 baking in the oven) and around 40 cousins my age all the way down to newborns, most who live in Arizona now (yup, I have Aunts and Uncles my age!). Between all these young bodies around, including my kiddos, I have lots of opportunities to try out new activities for lots of ages.  I am especially excited to be near my sister and my high school aged nieces so we can play some of my favorite group games that are just a little too complicated for my own kiddos!

This is my family and that is me in the front there. The “bigger girl”, as my daughter would put it…(cough)… just in case you couldn’t tell!

And just for kicks and giggles a fun little video…

COMING SOON!

More about Fun On A Dime

In The Beginning…

…there was a husband working hard to complete school and me at home with my 2 young kiddos in the middle of winter completely frustrated from being cooped up and my perception of a lack of funds and affordable entertainment in a small town. We had no real technology (other than Internet, of course). No T.V. No game players. As my husband had the car most of the time, we had no car to go anywhere and even if we did, it would hurt the piggy bank to spend $ whereeever we ended up. No bueno!

Then it hit me…”Hello, Silly! You have lots of experience doing fun things and not spending money.” It’s true. I have always been painfully frugal growing up and had tons of fun. I realized that I forgot the basics! There is a phrase: Those who have time spend money and those who don’t have money spend time. It is soooo true and the same is true for fun. And thus, I started to challenge myself to look for for more opportunities to teach, learn and have fun at home with my family spending as little as possible and use my resources and my own experiences from growing up.

If you popped on over to my blog’s about page  in January 2010, you would have seen this on my about page:

“I love to have fun and that is probably the main reason why I chose to get a degree in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership.  From my many years of working with children and now as a mom with 2 of my own children I have learned that fun does not have to cost a lot of money, which is great since we were were on a tight budget while my husband is finishing school. I am always on the lookout for fun and affordable activities for my family to do. I thought it would be great if I could have one place to gather all my findings and ideas and share them with others.”

How It Has Evolved…

If you had asked me why I wanted a Recreation Management and Youth Leadership degree 10+ years ago, I would my answer would not have been “So, I can make a site that shows families fun activities they can do togehter without having to break the bank.” I wanted to work with non-profits and now I am working with my own sort of non-profit, Families. Where payment is in smiles, giggles, with creative children who can entertain themselves at times and a better, stronger family relationship with eachother because we are spending quality time together.

We are now done with school and still on a tight budget while we try to save money for a new house and possibly, hopefully sometime, a second car. All the more motivation to keep up with the inexpensive fun because life doesn’t have to be stressful or boring!

What You Can Expect to see…

On Fun On A Dime you can definately expect to see a family friendly and family promoting environment. I try to keep a variety of ideas going for fun for all ages, like games, activities, kid friendly recipes, movie reviews, great family meal ideas, tips, family friendly product reviews, DIY projects, giveaways, guest posts and so much more. Every Friday you can come on over and share your latest and greatest “Hi-5 Moments”. I gaurentee you some of mine will be to just keep the kitchen clean during the week! lol

If you have any activities, games, recipes, etc. you like, Please Share! I would love to hear or see them! You can contact me HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and feel to follow Fun On a Dime on facebook or through Google Friend’s Connect to get fun ideas for your family.

Here’s a little bonus for anyone wanting to know more about Why I Blog and why You Inspire Me!