You love sitting with a big bag of popcorn and losing yourself in a movie. What you don’t love is how much your movie-watching habits cost you. What can you do to spend less on your viewing habits?
Skip the Movie Theater
Going to the movie theater is going to take a chunk out of your paycheck, especially when you go often. So, if you’re trying to save money, you should skip the theater and watch movies at home! You won’t have to pay for a ticket, and you certainly won’t spend as much on snacks and drinks.
Your average ticket will be about $11 a pop. Then, you will likely spend around $15 on snacks. And if you’re attending with one other person, you’re doubling those costs to $52. If you do this once a week, you’re spending over $200 a month and over $2400 by the end of the year. That’s a lot of money to save.
A Good Time to Skip the Theater
You don’t have to skip the movie theater forever. Just take a break from the habit for the season. This is the perfect time to stop these outings and have movie nights at home. Why? Most of the winter months are not known for providing the best movie experiences. January and February are sometimes called dump months when movie studios dump the movies they don’t anticipate will get great audience reception.
If you must go to the movie theater because you’re desperate to see a new release, go on a day when tickets are slightly cheaper (this is often Tuesdays and on weekends at matinee times). And, if you can manage it, forego the snacks at the concession stand.
Rent, Don’t Buy
Don’t purchase a movie from a streaming service like Amazon Prime unless you know for a fact that you’ll watch it multiple times. Renting the movie will cost less and, in some cases, will be free.
Use Your Library Card
Your library doesn’t just offer books and magazines to patrons. It offers movies in various formats. You can borrow DVDs from your local library, or you can stream movies online through services like Kanopy and Hoopla.
Share Your Streaming
If there’s a movie available on a streaming service that you don’t have, rethink signing up for it. That’ll be just another bill to add to your credit card statement. See whether one of your friends has signed up for it already and ask whether they are willing to share their password! You can offer to do the same for them with one of your streaming services.
Be wary of the streaming services that will punish you for sharing your password with another user who doesn’t have an account. For instance, Netflix is cracking down on password sharing, charging users an extra fee for disobeying. So, if you can’t get around that feature, don’t borrow the password. Set up a movie night with your friend instead! Go visit them and watch the flick on their couch. You can share in the viewing experience without breaching any password policies and collecting any extra fees.
A Fast Way to Save Money
Cutting entertainment costs may be one of the easiest ways to save money and do it quickly. Following these tips should help you collect a sizable amount of savings in a matter of months. Once you collect those savings, put them to good use. Pay down one of your credit cards or start building up an emergency fund. Both of these options can provide you with some financial security when a surprise expense falls into your lap. You’ll have enough credit or savings to cover the expense right away.
Without credit or savings, you might have to consider a different solution when facing an emergency. One option for this is an online personal loan. As long as you meet all of the qualifications, you can fill out an application and submit it. You just might get approved for it, meaning you can use borrowed funds to pay off your expenses quickly. All you have to do is follow a repayment plan afterward. Look at these tips to manage your repayment plan and complete it on time. It could come in handy later.
The savings that you get from dropping your entertainment costs can help you with this problem, too. Those savings could help you cover your repayment plan so that you never miss a bill.
You can sit back and enjoy movies without having to empty your entire wallet. Follow these simple tips and start saving money!