Edit

How to Reduce Entertainment Expenses

Edited byEhowlunatic (see all) and 1 other

Article
Edit Discuss History

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American household spent a little more than $2,500 on entertainment in 2011. If you are one of the many who spend too much, here are some easy steps to help you reduce your entertainment expenses:

Edit Steps

  1. 1
    Take a good look at your food budget. Restaurants accounted for the largest portion of America's discretionary spending in 2009, eating up $392 billion, says Daily Finance. Oftentimes, a large part of what we spend on food is spent more for entertainment purposes than to stave off starvation. Instead of making “going out to dinner” a family activity, make cooking dinner together at home the entertainment for the evening. A meal prepared at home is much less expensive, and can be a lot more fun! Some entertaining ways to cook at home include:
     
    1. Baking and decorating cookies or a cake with younger children. Kids love to ice and decorate cookies and cakes. Buy plenty of sprinkles, colored icings, and small candies and let them go to work.
    2. Teaching older children a family recipe by preparing it together. Many older children are interested in learning how to prepare family favorites, and what a better way to learn, than by preparing them together?
    3. Making individual or personal pizzas. Using bagels, tortilla flours, French bread, or pizza dough, make a personal size pizza for each family member and allow everyone, even the young ones, to top their own pies.
    4. Experimenting with new things. Perhaps you have always been interested in Indian cuisine, using flavored vinegars in your cooking, finding new ways to prepare favorite vegetables, or just trying new recipes. Whatever your passion, explore it with your family preparing a meal or a snack.
  2. 2
    Evaluate your cable or satellite service. Many cable and satellite subscribers are paying for 100’s of channels they will never watch. Reduce your bill by ensuring your services are based on how you actually watch television. You may want to:  
    1. Determine what channels you watch, and switch to the least expensive package your cable or satellite company offers, which contains those channels.
    2. Shop around. You may be able to find the channels you want for a lower price with another provider. Make some phone calls or check other provider’s websites for packages and pricing.
    3. Consider subscribing to a streaming and/or DVD delivery service. Services such as Netflix and Blockbuster allow you to stream movies and television shows right to your computer or television, and receive DVD rentals by mail. If you watch mostly movies and/or the television shows you watch are available, one of these services may be much less expensive than cable or satellite.
    4. Look into watching all of your television online, free of charge. Many networks and cable stations offer free streaming of their most popular shows. Check your favorite station’s websites to determine if the shows you watch are available for streaming.
  3. 3
    Critique your phone service. Are you paying for a home phone you never use, spending too much on your cell phone bill, or paying for long distance calls? Perhaps it is time for a change. Consider these options:  
    1. Disconnecting your home phone. If everyone now has your cell number, you have plenty of minutes to spare each month, and you have not heard your home phone ring in months, unless it was a telephone solicitor, it may be time to cut off the landline, and cut out that monthly bill.
    2. Getting rid of your data pack. If you have e-mail and internet service on your phone, you may be paying anywhere from $10 to $50 extra dollars a month for your cell phone service. If you already have internet and email service at home and/or at work, consider dropping the data pack and saving a chunk of change.
    3. Switching your home phone service to an unlimited long distance plan. Almost all phone companies now offer unlimited long distances plans for a flat monthly rate. Do some comparison-shopping and stop paying for your long distance.
    4. Using free internet phone services. Internet phone software, such as Skype has made long distance charges and the need for a home phone a thing of the past. These software services allow users to place phone calls to other software users and landlines around the world for little to no cost.
  4. 4
    Assess your internet services. Consider how you use the internet and determine if there is a less expensive way of meeting your needs. You may be able to shut off your service and use the free wifi offered by many businesses, do your web browsing at the library, shop around for a better deal, or bundle your service with phone and cable to save money.
  5. 5
    Stop watching movies at the theatre. A trip for two to the movies can easily cost upwards of $30. Instead of watching movies in the theatre, consider:  
    1. Checking them out from the library. Many libraries now have VHS and DVD movies available for free check out, just like you would check out a book.
    2. Using movie rental boxes such as Redbox or Blockbuster. Movie rental boxes are now located in many pharmacies, groceries, and large chain stores and restaurants such as Wal-mart and McDonalds, and allow you to rent DVDs for just $1 a night.
    3. Watching them on pay per view. Many cable and satellite companies offer pay-per-view channels where you can ‘rent’ movies for 24 - 48 hours for even less than the local video store would charge.
    4. Subscribing to a streaming and/or DVD delivery service such as Netflix or Blockbuster. These services allow you to maintain a list of the DVDs you would like to view, and receive them one or two at a time by mail. The movies have no due date, and you may keep them as long as you like. When you are done viewing them, simply drop them in a pre-paid envelope and mail them back. Services start at as low as $8 a month.
  6. 6
    Stop purchasing new video games. Oftentimes a brand new $50 video game is left on the shelf to collect dust within a few weeks. Once the owner has beaten or simply tired of it. So, instead of purchasing video games as soon as they come out, consider only purchasing older, less expensive games, buying your games used at a local video store or website such as EBay, or renting them from a local store or online mail service.
  7. 7
    Watch the big game from home. Whether it is college or professional sports, basketball or football, the big game can almost certainly be viewed from home, a friend’s home, or a local bar or restaurant. Save the money, you would drop on tickets and high priced snacks, and watch the game on television.
  8. 8
    Stay out of bars. If you drink alcohol, you can save $100’s by drinking at home instead of at the bar.
  9. 9
    Cancel your subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. Most newspapers, news stations, and magazines maintain websites, which contain all of the same content it publishes or broadcasts. Check to see if you can get the information free online, and cancel the costly subscription if you can.
  10. 10
    Go easy on children’s entertainment expenses. There are many ways to entertain your kids for less.  
    1. Take a trip to the park. Parks and playgrounds are an endless source of free entertainment for young children. Bring a picnic and make it an afternoon.
    2. Visit the library. Not only can you check out great books and videos, but the kids can also all play online at the same time, participate in story time and crafts, and get help with their homework. Libraries offer many programs and activities for children to learn and play. Check with your local library for information on programs it offers.
    3. Bake together. Children, young and old, love to bake and decorate cookies, cakes, and pies. So, spend the afternoon in the kitchen and the evening snacking!
    4. Make a craft project. Children love to draw, color, paint, cut, and glue. Look online for children’s craft ideas and spend a low cost afternoon making crafts.
    5. Play a board or card game. Children of all ages enjoy board and card games, and many modern games are made so that both children and adults can have fun playing them.
  11. 11
    Think local. You can find quite a bit of low cost entertainment locally, if you know where to look. Some things to consider in the way of local entertainment:  
    1. Local musicians, comedians, and performers can be seen in parks, concert halls, outdoor theaters, community centers, and bars on almost any night of the week, and they cost less than half of what a concert or Broadway show does.
    2. County fairs and city carnivals offer close-to-home inexpensive entertainment through-out the summer.
    3. City and community activities such as ice cream socials, free concerts or shows in the park, and covered bridge festivals are offered by many small and large towns. Check your city’s website, or with City Hall for information on activities offered by your community.
    4. High school college games and events. Many high schools offer admission to games, band concerts, talent shows, and dance performances at little to no cost. Colleges and universities also offer plays, music concerts, and ball games tickets at inexpensive prices.
  12. 12
    Vacation frugally. Staying with friends, vacationing in the off-season, and visiting low cost locations like developing countries, are all easy ways to save on vacation expenses.


Edit Related wikiHows


Edit Sources and Citations

Articles for You to Write

Here is a list of suggested articles that have not yet been written. You can help by researching and writing one of these articles. To get started writing one of these articles, click on the red link of a title below.

Article Info

Last edited:
January 16, 2012 by Ttrimm

Categories:
Arts and Entertainment

Recent edits by: Ehowlunatic (see all)

Article Tools

Share this Article:

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 480 times.

Was this article accurate?

YesNo


x

Thank Our Volunteer Authors.

Give this article a +1.