Best weekend plans vs the alternatives

I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019.

Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing.

There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks.