Money Saving Tip: Saving on Entertainment

Here's a way to cut back on your entertainment costs and have a great time as a family:

Replace going out to the movies with family game or movie nights at home.  Board games are just a few dollars at a local thrift store, and library movie rentals are a dollar or free. Movie outings can run $20 each -- $40 including a sitter -- so if you only replace three per year, you’ve saved $60 to $120.

I can remember 3 am game nights with my mom and (especially) my dad. We'd play Aggravation (all of us together) or Monopoly (just me and dad) until the wee hours of the morning. Almost every year of college I spent my Christmas break staying up every night playing games. It was a blast and created great memories -- and it cost almost nothing.

Now that I have my own family, we do the same thing (though not as late, of course). When the kids were young we had easy games like Toss Across (where you throw bean bags to make tic-tac-toe). Then as they got older it was Trouble. Our current game of choice is Uno. We even have a traveling trophy for the "champion" (my son at the current moment). I'm not sure what we'll adopt next, but the point is you can have lots of fun AND save a bundle over other entertainment alternatives.

Comments

[Brad Bailey]

If you and your spouse enjoy seeing a movie every once in a while...go to a matinee. The last matinee at our theater starts at about 5:00. Also, we don't buy any candy or drinks at the theater. You may think this unethical, but my wife has a large inexpensive purse that she uses just for going to the movies. On the way to the theater, we stop by the grocery store and pick up some candy and a couple of sodas...throw in an ice pack and were off. The entire outing costs 7 or 8 dollars per person as opposed to 13 or 14 dollars at a night show and a visit to the consession stand.