Hi onewithnoname! Something new? Hm. You just did. You tried our forum :) I'm female, so my answers may lean to that side of things

New hairstyles, as an example. How many men change their hairstyles? I guess sometimes.

New ways to exercise, like walking, running, bicycling, instead of yoga, swimming and tennis. but you choose for you.

New music. Something you'd never pick! Like I'd pick salsa instead of jazz. I did this exact thing one day and I found out I love salsa, for instance! I still do!

Getting up 30 minutes earlier for a week. Sound odd? The time will add up and you may find yourself doing things you've never done before.

Similar-organizing one room a day, each day, rotate it-that is-for a month.

Take a picture (with your phone or a camera) of something you normally don't look at twice, in many different ways. Get really close. Really far. Go around the object...

I'm sure there are millions of ideas, but those are some I like to rekindle every now and again. It's just fun for me to do.

Go to the library and check out a book in a genre you never considered before, it don't get any cheaper.

Hi, onewithnoname, welcome to the Garden Party. Suggestions that are very budget friendly are simply to smile more, think that the glass is always half full, and lend a helping hand to someone, whenever possible. Happy New Year!

Do what ever improves life for you and those you come in contact with.

Welcome to Garden Party. Please drop in often :)

New foods? No way to know what's new to you ~ may be same-old for us! Take your time when you next visit the produce department ~ if there's a fruit or veggie you've never tried, well there's your "new"; otherwise find one or two that you haven't eaten in a while and then go on-line to get a recipe or serving idea. Try to stay with whatever is seasonal for your locale; it sometimes surprises me how few people realize that there are seasonal foods even in January. Try kale, korean [or oriental] cabbage, parsnips, or yams. Try a week of no-meat meals ~ unless you are already a vegetarian, this effort should provide some meals you've never had before. My favorite resource for new recipes is allrecipes.com; I've liked everything with 5 stars, and almost everything with 4 1/2 stars ~ this is especially helpful when you are staring at a raw food you've never met before :)

I wholeheartedly concur in visiting your local library. Try a book from any section you don't usually go to. Lots of variety is available in non-fiction; biography can give you an insight into someone's culture that may otherwise be overlooked; crafts can offer a how-to for something never before tried from potlifters to birdhouses to mosaic steppping stones. Unless you've some experience in the technique, check the youth section for basic directions. Or ask the librarian for his/her recommendation of interesting books.

Take a walk instead of sitting around the next time you visit a friend or relative. People seem to talk even more freely while their legs are moving.

Go to your local elementary school and see if they would like a volunteer reader. An hour a week is easy to do, free, thrills the kids, and give your day variety. If you are comfortable with children, most schools have a great need for one-on-one tutors.

For 24 hours, try to never use the words "I", "me", "my" or "mine".

cheap food ideas...

hmmmmmm

2 tomato plants in LARGE containers, make sure they get enough but not too much fertilizer, sun, water...

Get ONE bottle of bacos, and mix 2 tablespoon with your mayonnaise or salad dressing... (some bacon is $7 lb these days) I always use very thin sliced onion too. Yyummy, low callory, and quicker than frying bacon.

use the mayo/bacos mix as you would mayonnaise on your typical tomato and lettuce samich. Lunches all summer and no one gets tired of BOT...

Walmart puts large bright yellow orange tags on meat that has reached its use of freeze date. Sometimes its 30% off... other stores do it too. Grab it and take it home to freeze immediately, or cook it and put that in the freezer.

Freezer cartons... make sure you have some. ALWAYS buy and cook in 'bulk', and put some away for another meal later.

Ham n beans, beef n noodles, speghetti, chicken and noodles,
serve them all with a salad of lettuce finely chopped, diced
onion, dressed with 1/4 cup each vegetable oil and vinegar, with 2-3 packages of sugar substitute, a shake of salt and pepper.

Store brand breads - like Kroger, sell loaves of several different kinds of bread for $1.

Store brand milk - like Kroger, sometimes mark half gallons down to .90 cents. Buy what you have freezer space for, Pour 1 cup out of each one for
expansion and freeze them until you need them.

Portabella mushrooms make wonderful vegetable samiches... fry them like you would hamburger in a bit of olive oil,
add onion and tomato and lettuce.

If you have a food processor, use it to grind up lean meat you find on sale to make your own ground beef.

Do as much as you can from scratch... everything someone else has done for you costs you money that has nothing to do with the value of what you eat.

This is a great thread with lots of interesing suggestions and good ideas.

Shilty's $1 bread reminded me: most bread companies have an outlet store in a nearby suburb; if you are within a reasonable driving distance buy as much as you can freeze; locally, prices range from 1/2 to about 1/4th of grocery stores.

Better yet, learn to make your own. If you have a real liking for store-type white bread: buy a large bag of KingArthur bread flour and follow their recipe on the package (add 2T potato flakes to extend freshness-life). That recipe also makes very good hamburger rolls. Use "white whole-wheat flour" for healthier bread. The last time I computed cost, it was about 37 cents per recipe plus the cost of gas to bake. Most people are confounded by how long to knead and what is meant by "elastic": reliable test is to knead about 8 minutes (for those with strong wrists) or 10 minutes (the rest of us), then tear off a wad about the size of a small walnut-in-shell, flatten the wad and then hold the edges and pull gently apart so that you see a very thin section [if it reminds you of ready-to-blow bubblegum, that's good); if it won't stretch but rips, then knead another minute or two and test again.

Take a new route to work, or wherever you go regularly. Nice change of scenery and you might just get lucky - I did this and was rewarded by spying bags of iris bulbs left on the curb for free!