A momentous day today in Toronto my friends: I opened up the moonroof on my car while driving! Yes, it’s true. The first time opening it this year, and I must say, it felt great! After dealing with extremely low temperatures at the beginning of the week (-15C), we’re certainly going to break a record today with a high of +16C! Can’t wait. Even the fact that it’s clouded over right now can’t dampen my mood. So in the spirit of almost-springtime, I bring you, The Five Signs That Spring Is In The Air:

1. It’s Roll Up the Rim to Win time at Tim Horton’s. The annual contest where you can win prizes ranging from free coffees to $25,000 to new vehicles is back. I normally don’t buy coffee outside of the house, but even I get sucked into this contest and have to buy the occasional coffee. So far I’m 0-for-2, but my fingers are crossed. I usually win at least one donut and a free coffee every year, so I’m hoping to keep the streak alive.
2. The streets are all dirty. Because all of the snowbanks have pretty much melted by now, all that’s left is all the dirt and gravel and everything else that gets caught up in the snow when they plow the streets. Pretty soon the city will be sending out the street sweepers to gather it all up, and things will be looking much more ship-shape.
3. My head has been killing me off and on over the last two weeks as the weather starts its roller-coaster trips. I suffer from weather-related headaches, so the wild fluctuations in barometric pressure do a number on my head. Thankfully caffeine is one way to help alleviate the headaches, so Fact #1 comes in handy right now.
4. The lineup at the car wash is HUGE! Most people don’t even bother to wash their cars in the winter time since they get dirty upon leaving the car wash, so there’s really no point. I might wash it once a month or so, just to get rid of the salt off the car. Don’t want it to eat into my paint job or anything, especially since I’ve got quite a few stone chips right now. A few went right down to the chassis, so I want to make sure those don’t rust. But still, I don’t wash it nearly as often as I do during the rest of the year. But today I caved. I was frugal though and only got the basic wash, so it didn’t cost me a million dollars or anything, so the car looks all spiffy.
5. The joggers are out. I live near a park, and usually it’s filled with joggers and other athletic-type people, but of course in the winter there’s only the die-hards and those training for marathons. But right now there are a whole whackload of people running around. In fact, I might be one of them too as I get off my duff and dust off the running shoes too. I think I’m going to start running again this year, so it’s time I get ready as well. Might enjoy the warm temperatures today with a nice leisurely jog in the park.

What signs of spring are you noticing around your neighbourhood? Anything getting you in the mood to end your winter hibernation?

This is an official post from Adventures in Debt.

Since I’m also trying to be a frugal person with respect to my exercising, that meant no joining the tennis club that I wanted to join, or recreational sports league. So what’s a frugal gal to do in an expensive city like Toronto? Take advantage of all the green space and free tennis courts. The Parks & Recreation department of Toronto does a good job with the free courts around the city, so that the nets were up several weeks ago, and the courts ready to go. They’ve even converted some of the free hockey rinks around the city to tennis courts, which is nice. Sure, they’re not the swanky courts I’ve played on in the past, but considering I’ve not played regularly in over 15 years, it’s not a huge issue. In fact, I would feel worse paying for a tennis club membership and then only going like 3 times all year. This is something I’ve actually done before, so I didn’t want to repeat that this summer.

One issue with the free tennis courts is that invariably there tends to be that group of men (and why is it always men?) who occupy the courts all day, not allowing any one else to play. You’re only supposed to play for 30 minutes at a time, and then if someone’s waiting, you cede the court to them, and then they play. But since there’s like usually 10 men or so hanging around, they just put up a racket on the pegs, leave it there permanently, and play all day. It can be rather intimidating to recreational players, you know? But the one thing I’ve noticed with the permanent players at the park near my house is that they only occupy one of the three courts permanently, so that they let others take the other two, and in fact, I’ve even seen them cede their court sometimes, which is nice. They’re still there watching, which can be added pressure to someone like me that’s supremely rusty, but at least they’re nice about letting others play while they take a break. Other groups at other courts around the city aren’t as nice, so that’s a good thing.

Another form of exercise I’m trying to do regularly is jogging. I rediscovered jogging about 8 years ago, and have been discovering all the green spaces in Toronto as I do it. I used to run through the Spadina extension, as well as Sunnybrooke Park, which are nice areas. Now that I live close to High Park, I’m exploring this area. It’s impressive that once you enter the park you don’t feel like you’re in a big city any more. Very nice.

So there are two activities I’ll be doing that are frugal and somewhat free this summer. What are you doing to get out and moving this summer?

This is an official post from Adventures in Debt.