Cutting Your Family's Entertainment Budget

You're probably not sitting around wondering how you can save some money this weekend. You're toiling through the work week and anticipating some hard-earned fun on your days off. The current economy, however, requires us all to use less of our discretionary income in the pursuit of happiness. It takes some thought and some effort and a desire for a different lifestyle to change our spending habits, but it can be done.

It's difficult to reduce our monthly bills as many of them are fixed. The entertainment category of our budget is the easiest area to cut as it involves simple choices we can make.

We love to go out to eat. We want to see the latest releases at the movie theater. We enjoy broadening our horizons through travel. We entertain ourselves with shopping trips to the mall. But in this current economy when credit has been crunched, our homes have lost value, companies are going bankrupt, and unemployment is at levels unseen since the Depression, we owe it to ourselves and our families to take another look at our leisure-time activities.

Going out for pizza is a common activity for families. For a family of four, two medium pizzas and four sodas can cost $30 or more. Your family can make pizza at home for about half the cost. Making pizza can be as simple as covering a store-bought crust with canned pizza sauce and layering different cheeses, meats and other ingredients on top. Even the youngest member of your family can take a turn at helping "make" the pizza. When the pizza's done, pop in a video and you have a real family event.

A common date-night for couples is going out to eat at a restaurant. Depending upon the restaurant, your check can total $40 to $100. Add in the cost of a babysitter, and it's a very expensive evening. Why not ask the couples you normally dine with to come to your home for a meal of lasagna or spaghetti instead? Take turns going to each others' home. Perhaps the guests could bring dessert or salads. Bring the kids along to play together and save the babysitter's fee, too.

Taking the family to the movies is an expensive proposition. The tickets alone can cost $32 for a family of four and then there's the movie food and drinks! Families often spend another $20 to $30 on refreshments. You can subscribe to Netflix and get three videos at a time for a fee of approximately $20 monthly. Public libraries also rent movie DVD's at no cost. Popcorn made at home is cheap and you can buy boxes of candy just like the ones at the theater for $1 at the grocery or dollar store. Make movie night at home a special occasion by gathering big pillows and blankets, turning off the lights and barring all other electronic devices from the room.

That brings us to travel. It's something I really enjoy so I don't want to tell you to just stay home and read about far away lands. Consider exploring areas close to home to save money on gas, airfare and lodging. Ask friends and co-workers for recommendations about nearby restaurants and attractions. You may be surprised by what you discover. If you absolutely, positively need to take a trip to a tropical island or another continent, set aside some money each month so the trip doesn't go on your credit card to be paid off over the next ten years with interest.

And last, but certainly not least, shopping is not a past time. Sticking to this rule can save your family more money than any other tip in this article. When you're in the mall entertaining yourself by shopping, you will find many interesting things that you didn't even know you needed. But do you need it or do you want it just because you saw it, and it's well marketed? Shopping is not a past time. Keep repeating this phrase to yourself until you get it. If you want to go to the mall to walk for exercise, that's great, but leave your wallet locked in the trunk to insure you are only window shopping as you stretch your legs. When you do need to go shopping, write a list first and stick to the list. Put only as much cash in your wallet as you will need for your planned purchases.

Of course it's more fun to spend money like it grows on trees, and it's certainly easier to keep everyone happy by throwing money around whenever the impulse strikes, but tomorrow always comes and reality sets in. We owe it to ourselves and our families to make the effort to find a way to have fun without busting the budget.