15 Ways to Save Money on Entertainment and Still Have Fun
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When you save money on entertainment while crawling out of debt, remember that’s important to maintain a certain quality of life. If you take away everything that brings you pleasure it’s going to be hard to stick with your saving plan.
If your goal is to pay off your credit card debt, your mortgage or maybe build up your savings, the first thing you need to do is find where your money is going and find ways to cut the spending.
When you’re in a need to trim your budget one of the first places to look is your entertainment expenses.
Entertainment is not a need but is one of the things that make us feel good and keeps us going.
So, when you trim your entertainment budget leave some room for fun. There are numerous ways to enjoy yourself and have fun while sticking to a realistic budget. You just need to be a little creative and for sure you’ll find free or affordable ways to have fun.
15 Ways to Save Money on Entertainment:
1. Cut the cable
We cut the cable a few years ago and never regretted it, we didn’t watch lots of TV anyways and we saved quite a little bit of money. The average cable bill is around $100 and research companies are saying that the prices are going to get higher. Since cutting the cord we saved around $1000 per year.
If it is hard to just cut the cable buy a digital antenna, that’s what we did. We opted for the antenna to make sure we still have a way to watch TV if we want to and now my kids watch it from time to time.
You can also look into having your bill cut, you just need to ask or give up your premium channels.
There are other cheaper alternatives to cable like Netflix. If you want to save even more share the membership with your roommate if you have one, a family member or a friend.
2. Lower internet speed
Lower your internet speed to reduce your bill. If you don’t need the internet for work there’s no reason you should have the highest internet speed.
3. Visit the library
The library is not only for those who love to read, you can find movies, TV shows, music, games, and magazines.
4. Free eBooks
If you don’t have time to go to the library, there are a lot of resources that offer free eBooks. I recommend you download the free Kindle App and sign up for the free trial of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. You’ll get 30 days to read any books for free.
5. Entertain your kids for free
Your children don’t need you to spend tons of money to entertain them, what they really need is your time and affection.
My kids have the time of their life playing with toilet paper rolls and empty medicine bottles.
You can entertain your kids for close to nothing and even for free.
6. Go outside and enjoy the nature
Put on your hiking boots and go outside. Go for a stroll and give yourself some time to reflect and enjoy nature. Take a well-deserved break from technology by going out to enjoy the great outdoors. There is nothing better than breathing clean and fresh air. It’s easy, inexpensive and is beneficial to your mind and body and the simplest way to save money on entertainment.
7. Eat out
Going to restaurants can significantly affect your budget, and if you are serious about cutting your spending you should limit how often you eat out.
Go to the restaurant for lunch instead of dinner when the prices are lower. You can have late lunches at some restaurants that serve lunch until 4 PM.
Find a restaurant that has special nights when the prices are lower or visit during happy hour.
Buy discounted gift cards on sites like Restaurant.com, Giftcardgranny, or go on Groupon.com to find a great coupon. Even better learn how to get free gift cards to reduce your entertainment expenses.
Eat something before you head out the door, it might seem to defy the purpose of having dinner out but it makes you feel more satisfied so it will allow you to skip the entrée and you will end up paying less.
8. Find cheap entertainment.
You can find lots of coupons on Groupon.com or Living Social. Scroll thru the list of coupons and you’ll definitely find something cheap and fun to do.
9. Invite your friends over instead of going out
Going out to have fun will only make you ruin your budget. A good way to save money on entertainment is to invite your friends over and ask them to pitch in for dinner. This way both you and your friends will save money.
Have a game night, light up a bone fire in your backyard if allowed or watch some great movies.
10. Play night
Don’t ever to forget to be a child, there is nothing better to keep you and make you feel young.
If you invest in entertainment make sure it has a good return. My husband loves to play board games and watch movies, so our go to at home entertainment is either or.
We see the board games as great investments, some of the ones we have are out of print and in a couple of years, their price tripled. On top of the financial benefits, we are also having fun and will be a great way for our sons to develop logic, reasoning skills and improve their critical thinking.
You don’t have to buy brand new games you can find used ones at your local thrift store for a couple of dollars.
11. Go to movies during the day
We love movies and we were going to the cinema once a week before having our babies. You can save money on tickets by going to matinees; they usually cost less than evening showings. If you can’t go to matinees then go when the theaters have a discount day, and that’s usually on Tuesday. Depending on the city you’re in and the cinema you can get close to 50% off the tickets.
Take advantage of cinema membership if your cinema has it. If you have a Costco membership you can buy bulk discounted tickets. You can also check Groupon and Living Social for deals on movie tickets.
12. Have a movie night at home
Even after we had our first son we still had our movie night only the cinema moved into our family room.
Make some popcorn grab a blanket and get comfortable in front of the TV.
13. Free local activities
Check your local newspaper or your cities website for free events around your town. No matter where you live there’s most likely a list of free events that you can find. Take advantage of fairs, farmers market, free concerts or a discounted fee or free entry days at museums, theaters, galleries or zoos. Campuses are another source of free and fun events.
14. Have a Spa day at home
In order to pamper yourself, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to do it. Have an at-home spa day, you can even call your girlfriends over and enjoy it together or even better have it with your significant other.
Create your own nourishing facial and hair mask with ingredients you already have in the pantry.
Soak your hands and feet and give yourself a mani-pedi.
Give yourself a foot massage or have your partner do it for you.
15. Make your hobby your business
If you have a hobby that you enjoy try to make money with it. If you are a crafter sell your crafts on Etsy. Whatever you enjoy doing I am 100% sure there is a way to make money out of it.
With a little bit of creativity, you will find a way to have fun for less or even for free. Have a contest with your family and see who can come up with the most inexpensive or free ways to have fun and then put them to the test.
What ways to save money on entertainment are you using to pay off your debt?
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