When I first moved back to Australia after years living in Spain, I brought home an unexpected skill: how to hang out with friends without spending money.
Cash was tight while abroad, and most of my circle couldn’t afford regular fancy dinners or big nights out, so we learnt to get creative — and often had more fun.
For my latest ABC Lifestyle story, I detailed key ways I’ve kept those low-cost, high-fun habits alive for years, even after returning home to a city where socialising often seems to mean shelling out.
My ‘frugal hedonism’ approach to spending time with friends includes:
- A weekly dawn beach walk with my bestie, rain, hail or shine
- Music nights with three other friends on the last Wednesday of each month
- A free book club with eight friends, using library book sets, held every second month
- ‘Permabiltz’ gardening working bees
- Pot-luck dinners at home instead of restaurants
- Visits to free exhibitions, music and art installations
- Trips out of the city to forage edible weeds
- Rummage sessions at op shops and thrift stores
- Finding more ‘third spaces’ to spend time in — areas beyond work and home, such as public plazas, libraries and even street benches.
The key, I’ve found, is building a regular rhythm around shared interests. It reduces the mental load of planning new things and the tedium of finding space in someone’s already-packed schedule.
And the ultimate upshot of all this, beyond coin saved, is reduced consumerism and therefore a lower environmental impact. Win-win.
You may also enjoy The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland with Adam Grubb, which I think might just be my favourite book of all time.
This story is part of a regular column I write for the ABC, one of Australia’s most-read news websites. You can browse my full story archive here.
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About the Author: Koren Helbig
About the Author: Koren Helbig
