As I’m sure is the case in most families, January is the ‘money’s tight’ month! It’s also one of the only months of the year that’ll you’ll spend most of it indoors.

And of course everybody knows that worrying over money and no outdoor time can lead to ill mental and physical health.

So I’d like to set a challenge to help us all combat this for the sake of ourselves and of course our Little Explorers!

The Johnny Magory ‘Fiver’ Challenge

So, you might think, where did this brainwave come from EJ?
Well, my sister was privy to a conversation between myself and my husband last week when we were having our weekly “What’ll we do with the kids this weekend” chat.

As a general rule we do something ‘outdoorsy’ every weekend with them as we both work full time and the evenings are still too dark to make the most of.

I was suggesting far flung places to go to and my husband noted that he had only filled the jeep with diesel and he would have to do it again if we went there.

It’s all money, money, money!

A conversation then pursued about my love for far away places and the money we must clock up on diesel getting there (defending personal note – I also LOVE staying around here but do have a tendency to want to go somewhere new and usually far away!)

So my sister noticed a fiver sitting on the kitchen counter and quipped, “how about you go somewhere that’ll only cost five euro; nothing more, nothing less!”

We all looked at each other and laughed out loud! Five euro in Ireland in 2019 doesn’t get you far but with that our competitive nature was stirred and the challenge was on!

What can you do for a fiver?

We started thinking about where and what we could do that we hadn’t done before or in a long time.

The five euro limit included diesel so our range was decided for us… It had to be close to home.

It also included food so we had to either pack a picnic or be very decisive in what we bought; no 3 course meals anyways! Click here for my blog on the perfect winter picnic.

It also included entrance fees… So basically it included everything.

Five euro, even Stevens!

So what did we do?

The challenge resulted in a fantastic day spent by the canal in Lowtown, Robertstown, Co. Kildare and coincidentally gave me inspiration for last week’s blog post on saving the old M52 Irish barge which you can read here. (There’s no such thing as a coincidence!)

We estimated around €3 in diesel getting there and back so it left us with €2. Obviously there’s no entrance fee to spend time at the canals so we used it to treat us all to a bag of crisps and a bag of jelly’s in the local shop after (it was a Sunday after all and sharing is caring!)

What did we get out of it?

There are so many things you can do for free, we got a 5k walk in, some serious exploring under the aqueducts, crossing the lough gates, under the bridges and hopping on and off the old barge.

And as we all know, the best things in life are free.

Fresh air, family time and exercise were the main benefits of the day.

So what will you do?

I’d love for you to rise to the challenge and let me know what you get up to.

Use the hashtag #JohnnyMagoryChallenge on social media so we can all get some inspiration.

Need a little inspiration?

  • Cycle to somewhere new and treat them to a little something from the shop.
  • Climb trees in your nearest forest, park or woods.
  • Feed your local ducks or swans.

Until next week, sin é.

Be good!

EJ

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