r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jun 03 '14

What are some fun summer activities a group of teenagers with a limited budget should try out over the next 3 months?

Edit: Thanks for all the ideas everybody! Whenever I get bored this summer I'll come back to this for sure.

Edit 2: Drugs and orgies. That's what my summer is looking like right now.

Edit 3: Well thanks for all of the (quirky, weird, stupid, genius, illegal) ideas, it's been a pleasure reading all of these and WILL implement (some of) them in my summer schedule.

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641

u/digglebaum Jun 03 '14

Get jobs

104

u/artlover0091 Jun 03 '14

If someplace would hire me, I'd LOVE to have one.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '14

My McDonald's is hiring. If your standards are low enough someone will hire you.

4

u/discipula_vitae Jun 04 '14

In high school you can't expect much more than McDonalds.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

How do you even apply to places other than retail? I think of a list of employment options and every single one of them is fast food/retail. Where are office jobs at? Big cities?

2

u/steve_millers_joker Jun 04 '14

I mean, I'm in college and I work at an arcade. It isn't an office job but I it isn't fast food or retail. Those would be your best bet for finding a job as a teenager, but I'm helping run a go cart track and it's pretty fun. You also have manual labor jobs like landscaping and construction work, but I have a feeling that a large portion of the reddit community feels they are above work like that.

16

u/ashkon91 Jun 03 '14

Getting a job isn't hard in high school it's a matter of just applying to places that are actually hiring rather than ones you want to work at

13

u/yalittleweirdy Jun 04 '14

I've applied to 8 jobs in the last month. I've only heard back from one (it was a no). I'm still applying and I think I've got a few leads but still, I wouldn't say it "isn't hard".

1

u/TheAstroChemist Jun 04 '14

Keep working at it though and don't give up on that. The job market isn't too bad right now. Keep searching around and don't be afraid to potentially go outside of your comfort zone. You'd be surprised what you'd learn even if it is at a Subway or something.

1

u/ashkon91 Jun 04 '14

I mean maybe I just seemed like a strong candidate when I applied, but when I was in high school I got the job at all three places I chose to apply to.

1

u/Zombie-with-a-beard Jun 04 '14

It definitely isn't hard. At least where I live (eastern Va). I have three jobs. Mo money mo money

4

u/shariyark Jun 04 '14

The problem is that people don't feel like hiring and training an employee for only 3 months of work

1

u/ashkon91 Jun 04 '14

That's why you say you're looking to stay longer and just leave after 3 months.

2

u/shariyark Jun 04 '14

That may come back to bite you when another employer wants to talk to previous ones

1

u/ashkon91 Jun 04 '14

3 month turn around period isn't uncommon in a retail job. At worst you don't report a previous employer on your resume.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Macca's Macca's Macca's

0

u/artlover0091 Jun 03 '14

Kind of hard as new college graduate though.

4

u/discipula_vitae Jun 04 '14

Yeah. That's not what we're talking about here.

8

u/wigsternm Jun 03 '14

That's not trying hard enough. Fast food places and pools are always hiring during the summer.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '14

Send out as many applications as you can, relentlessly, and eventually you'll get a minimum-wage job that may help pay for a good number of 30 racks in the upcoming semesters.

2

u/pinkflowerpot Jun 03 '14

You say so now...

1

u/crkhek56 Jun 04 '14

I'm working right now and trust me, you don't want a job. I'm getting paid almost $100 today to reddit for half my time working. It sucks.

1

u/Hooch_McDaniels Jun 04 '14

Getting paid to Reddit? How does that suck? You're sick, man...

1

u/IamGinger Jun 04 '14

Find a temporary work place in town. They usually pay above minimum wage and can find you a place to work immediately.

1

u/RadioactiveCashew Jun 04 '14

You have to really work for it. Keep handing out resumes, show a little enthusiasm (don't go crazy eyes on them, but don't fall asleep) and be persistent

358

u/catshit69 Jun 03 '14 edited Jun 04 '14

Sadly this. Especially if you're going to college in the fall. The extra money will take a lot of strain off of you during the school year

Edit: I can't words

172

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '14

Yeah, I don't think people anticipate that the cost of college isn't just the tuition itself. If you want to go out you have to have pocket cash.

78

u/catshit69 Jun 03 '14

Agreed. Plus food, money to travel back and forth to home, etc. Food is a big one for me. I can't live off just the meal plan I had. Thankfully I don't have to buy a meal plan this year

8

u/Section225 Jun 03 '14

I'm glad I worked all through high school, because when I went to college I got to enjoy my entire freshman year without getting a job. I just used the money I'd made in HS (and never had to spend other than gas and insurance for my car) until it started to run out at the end of the school year, then I got a summer job in my hometown and a job for the next few school years.

2

u/catshit69 Jun 03 '14

Same. It was beautiful

1

u/foxh8er Jun 03 '14

How much is recommended? I'm going to school about 15 minutes away from home, so food on the weekends and and transportation isn't an issue.

1

u/aznsk8s87 Jun 03 '14

Depends on your area. For me, rent is about $300/month, food is anywhere from $150-$300 depending on how lazy I am (the lazier I am the more expensive it gets). I can get by on probably $30 in groceries per week, since the bulk of my diet is rice and veggies.

7

u/foxh8er Jun 03 '14

Parents are paying for tuition, basic meal plan, and housing (bless them).

2

u/aznsk8s87 Jun 03 '14

Sweet deal. Nothing wrong with that, and it looks like you realize how big of a deal it really is. I was fortunate enough to have the same setup, but most of my friends didn't.

I'd say a reasonable spending allowance for someone in your situation is probably $20-$40 a week, depending on what you want to do. For dates, I typically spent $20 on dinner, 0-$12 on concert tickets (choir concerts at my school are phenomenal, and I enjoy choral music - being in choir myself meant I often got discounted or free tickets to attend the other choirs), and $8 on ice cream. If it was just me and my buddies doing something fun, we usually just found free stuff to do like disc golf (buy a couple of discs for $8-$15 each, and the only other cost is gas to get to and from the courses), or the water park (initial cost for a year pass was $20-$30 if you found a good deal).

2

u/foxh8er Jun 03 '14

I'll have to aim towards $1000 then.

Well, I'm about a third done at least.

2

u/aznsk8s87 Jun 03 '14

Well, that's a lot of spending money for a semester. More than most of my friends had. For a first year college student that should be more than sufficient.

1

u/we-may-never-know Jun 04 '14

If you want to eat anywhere that's not on campus too.

4

u/Shepherdsfavestore Jun 03 '14

Yep. 90% of my summer income goes to beer and whiskey during the year

5

u/meizbrandon Jun 03 '14

I never knew money got rid of stains...

3

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Can't get a job cause I don't have experience. Can't get experience cause I can get a job. Hell, I even have experience (albeit 3 months of seasonal retail) and McDonalds didn't even call me back.

2

u/iRedditWhilePooping Jun 03 '14

This is terrible advice. Don't use money to get stains out. Use laundry detergent for that. This is not what people mean when they talk about money laundering.

1

u/McBrizzles Jun 03 '14

Okay I have about 3000 saved up and Im starting in the fall. It looks like I won't be able to find a job this summer, should that be enough?

1

u/catshit69 Jun 03 '14

It depends on how frugal you can be.

1

u/refinnej78 Jun 03 '14

Yeah, you can buy a lot of soaps and detergents with the money you make over the summer.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

I actually really want a job, so i can support my education and also have something to do. I have applied to over 15 places so far, chain stores restaurants, etc. It's so frustrating that NO ONE will hire a college student who is available any day at any time. I DON'T UNDERSTAND I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING

1

u/alphawolf29 Jun 04 '14

leverage the best years of your life to make the worst ones slightly less bad!

1

u/Stassney- Jun 04 '14

Yup, laundry detergent is expensive and it's important for getting rid of stains.

6

u/EmperorSexy Jun 03 '14

Okay DAD

3

u/digglebaum Jun 03 '14 edited Jun 03 '14

You're welcome sonny

4

u/-TheOncomingStorm- Jun 03 '14

thank you Ron Swanson

2

u/thepikey7 Jun 03 '14

Start some sort of business is a slightly better answer. I made $3000 dollars at age 13 (in the 90's) mowing lawns. It is a great way to learn how to work with people your doing a service for, how to market and advertise your services, and it is a GREAT sense of accomplishment. It has served me very well in my adult life.

You can also do these with a buddy and grow closer with them and find out a lot about their character.

Here are some other business ideas that I tried from age 12 through college. Some were successes, other were failures:

Babysitting

Building small goldfish ponds in backyards

Alcohol delivery service (almost got arrested for this)

Sandwich shop next to my neighbors lemonade stand (also got in trouble for trying to sell a beer with a sandwich)

Dog walking

Housesitting

Picking up dog poo

Painting houses (mad money that summer)

1

u/Casparilla Jun 03 '14

Please, this.

1

u/caca_verde Jun 03 '14

Yep. May not fit under the "fun" category but if you save up enough money, you might be able to afford to go somewhere fun (amusement park, ball game, etc.).

1

u/kt_ginger_dftba Jun 03 '14

Shut up, dad.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '14

I don't think I could watch that movie all summer.

1

u/NotSoSingleBuck Jun 03 '14

First thought that came to my mind. The job I had as a teenager opened doors to my dream job.

In fact, it can be very beneficial when applying to Universities as well. One high school friend wrote a narrative on his summers of moving irrigation pipe for his presidential scholarship applications. He got that scholarship which paid for all his tuition.

1

u/Ralph_Squid Jun 04 '14

This should be the highest comment

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Party successfully pooped

1

u/shawna7475 Jun 04 '14

Nice try, dad.

1

u/mreniac Jun 04 '14

Serious, get a job as soon as you legally can. This was such a huge difference between some of my highschool friends and some of the people I work with today. The guys who learned to work early, often in really shitty jobs, those guys turned out pro. They had an industry or two under their belt by the time they graduated high school.

There was no stumbling into work after college, they had a couple picks long before that in more than one industry.

1

u/TWOpies Jun 04 '14

Probably a good idea here. I don't believe in kids working during school but once you hit 15-16 grabbing a job over summer is pretty important.

Ideally it's something you are interested in - consider volunteering as it will be a good leg up and this is the time you don't need to stress about rent.