We’ve gotten through the recent inflationary storm pretty well, in recent times we’ve faced a problem similar to the ones that other Americans face. Every month, we’ve come being a little short of higher expenses than income. To make up the difference we’ve had the need to tap into our emergency Save Money. I’ve made a decision to end this trend and increase our budget. One of the most effective ways to reduce your spending is to cut down on entertainment expenses.
Save Money on Entertainment Costs
Although we’re trying to make savings in this budget category, we’d like to be able to spend time with our children and create memories. Therefore, we’re trying to Save Money as little as we can while acknowledging that there are times when we need to make a decision to spend money in order to Save Money. Here are the strategies that we’re using.
Purchase an Museum Pass with Reciprocal Privileges
We purchased an annual membership at the local science museum at $90. The museum is part of the Association of Science and Technology Centers ( ASTC) Travel Passport Program, which allows us to go to any one of 350 museums participating throughout the nation for no cost or at reduced prices. We’ve already been to another museum that is 90 miles away and in the span of two trips (including one visit to the museum in our town) our membership is paid for. Other museums we go to this year that are part of the program won’t cost us anything.
Joining Thriftiness with Fun Exercises
We are planning to visit farms during the spring and summer months to pick strawberries and blueberries. The children enjoy picking the fruits likely because they enjoy eating fresh fruit from the tree.
We are also in a place that regularly hosts festivals, and we’re planning to go to a few.
In addition, our region has free movie screenings in the summer months, and we’ll go to a number of them.
Use Our Library Card
You read that right. Your library card can Save Money us costs on entertainment. Yes the library is free to use for books films, music, films and other presentations, but it’s better than this. Our library card provides discounts or admission for free to 19 local attractions. For instance, for every paid admission to the regional art gallery, we receive one entry free for another family member. Of course, we’ll look into the library’s perks provide whenever we decide to visit a local landmark.
Hiking
Our group of family members has gone going on hikes each weekend. We’ve invested into hiking footwear for each of us, however since then, we’ve never been required to pay for anything to go on the trails in our area. It’s an activity that the kids love and we’re planning to keep up all year long.
Final Thoughts
Through a bit of study We’ve realized that cutting down on entertainment expenses for our family doesn’t have to be difficult. Of course, we have to be flexible in our plans and activities however, this year we need to cut down on our entertainment expenses while making memories with our children. They get older so fast and there are only just a few more years before they enter college and, even with the tightest budget, we want to spend time with the kids.
