I’ve been wanting to see Fireproof for quite some time now.  I frugally resisted going to the theaters to see it and decided to wait until it was released to buy or rent the movie.  From the reviews I’ve read, I figured it was a movie worth buying, just like Facing the Giants.  I haven’t had a chance to look in the stores for the flick; after all I live 30 minutes from Wal-Mart! 

Sunday I decided to stop by the local Movie Gallery to rent it for my husband and me.  There was only one video left on the shelves.  I took it up to the front and almost croaked when she told me $5.11!!!!!!! 

Five dollars and eleven cents to rent a movie????  Are they insane?  The lady probably thought I was crazy because I thought $5.11 to rent a movie was an outrageous price.  She said, “Well, we’re cheaper than Blockbuster and you get to keep it until Friday.”  For $5, I should get to keep it for a month!

If I didn’t live 30 minutes from any decent stores, I would have bought it instead of renting it.  I just can’t get over how much movies cost to rent.   Apparently it has been a while since I’ve rented a movie.  

Do you rent movies often?  Do you have a membership such as Netflix?

I love movies.  I have a confession, when we didn’t have kids and had more money than we had sense, we used to go see movies every weekend.  Sometimes even 2 a night.  We were money wasters <shocked face>.  Now that we have to really watch every penny, movies are out for the most part.  We download movies and watch them on our laptops - totally legal and almost free.

But I recently got the opportunity to watch Open Season 2 and to tell you what I thought.  So here is my honest opinion.  I thought the movie was cute and relatively clean.  It wasn’t a movie that I would let my kids watch once they reach the age of understanding adult humor.  Sometimes, it was funny for adults but not for kids that you are trying to teach appropriate humor.

I realize some of you will think I am prudent but that is ok.  I want to protect my kids’ innocence as long as I can.  So for teenagers and adults, it’s a great movie, perfect for sleepovers and kid friendly activities.  I laughed several times and that is hard to get me to do.

On February 17, 2009 all television stations in the US will stop broadcasting in analog and will switch to digital broadcasting. 

What does this mean for you?

If you’re like me and you’re cutting costs by using an antenna, then you’ll need to do something so that you’re not stuck without channels.  You can purchase a tv with a digital tuner, connect to a paid service such as cable or satellite, or you can purchase a TV converter box. 

The TV converter box costs about $50, but the government is issuing $40 coupons to help with this purchase.  You can get up to 2 coupons per home.  There is a problem though . . . the coupon fund has reached its budget limits.  They are issuing new coupons as the unused ones expire.  You can still apply for a coupon and possibly receive one.  The coupons are issue on a first come first served basis, so the sooner you apply the better your chances.

To get the $40 TV converter coupon, go to dtv2009.gov or call 1-888-DTV-2009.

Saturday, September 27 is Museum Day.  This means that you and a guest can get into hundreds of museums and venues nationwide.  Just print out the admission card from the Smithsonian website.  The site will also tell you of places you can visit.  Have fun!

The air is getting crisp and things just seem a little more pleasant.  Well, in my opinion anyway.  You know what this means.  The county and state fairs are coming!!!!

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the words county fair I think of nauseating rides, weird smelling food, and money.  Of course, the reason I think of money is because you can really spend a lot of money at the fair. 

Here are some ways to help you keep from spending so much money at the fair:

1.  Set a budget and stick to it.  There’s nothing wrong with having fun, but there needs to be a limit.  Whether it be $20 or $75, you need to have a set amount that you won’t go over.  You don’t want to get wrapped up into spending more than you planned on some food that’s going to make you feel queasy anyway.

2.  Check to see if the fair has a free day or a time that’s free to get in.  When we lived in Virginia, the entry to the fair was free.  It was great because I only wanted to walk around anyway.  Some fairs offer free admission before a certain time.  It’s worth looking into, especially if you have a large family or are on a tight budget.

3.  Eat a meal before you go.  Then you’ll only need to buy that funnel cake you’ve been craving.

4. Check to see if you can purchase advance tickets at a local grocery store, bank, or at the fair’s website.  Sometimes you can save several dollars per ticket.

5.  Maximize the cost of your admission by staying the entire day.  Get there early and leave late.   

6.  Take a backpack with you.  We always carry a thermos of water with us or some bottled water.  It’s ok to buy some treats at the fair, but if you’ll be there for long, you’ll need to keep hydrated.  Drinks at the fair can cost a lot of money.

7.  Research different transportation options.  Some fairgrounds charge $10 or more for parking.  See if they offer a free lot to park in.  You’ll probably have to walk a little farther though. 

8.  While at the fair, scope out different food booths and then decide where you want to eat.  Otherwise, you might be disappointed with the choice you’ve made and you’ll find yourself buying from another booth.  This has happened to me before.

9.  Preplan your day.  Look at the schedule of events for that day.  Choose the activities you want to see and plan your route.  Better yet, check out the events for the week and choose the best day.  Get the most bang for your buck.  You can probably find the activities listed on the fair’s website.

10.   Look for freebies.  Most fairs have an exhibit hall where vendors can promote their products and many times you can find lots of freebies.

I know there are more ways to save money at the fair. What ways can you recommend?

The following is a guest post.

We love to watch movies and that includes new ones, however as a family it costs roughly $35 just to get tickets. This doesn’t include food and drinks. By the end of the movie we may have spent a whopping $60, but this only happens on a rare occasion. We’ve learned a few new tricks on having a thrifty movie night. These are tricks anyone can do, even when you have kids.

First, you can either rent movies or buy them and I’m not meaning buy the brand new ones that cost $20 or more. Go to the bargain movies, you know the ones in those bins that are marked for $1 or $5. Yes, these may be slightly old but it’ll be something new to you and your family. Pick out a few you’d like to watch as a family. Head over to the grocery aisle and pick up a box of popcorn, chips or whatever your snack of choice is and some beverages. In the end you’ve spent less money then you would buying tickets for the family.

My favorite place to get movies is the dollar rentals, which for me is something called the Redbox inside my local McDonald’s. You can rent any new dvd rentals that come out every Tuesday and return it the next day. I normally grab 2-3 of them and go to Wal-mart to get snacks. One box of popcorn can last for several movie nights and I also grab Kool-Aid for my kids and on rare occasions we’ll get the no name .60 2 liter bottle of soda.

As you can see it can be a thrifty movie night that the entire family will enjoy.

Eliza is a wife and stay-at-home mother to four children that range from 11 years to 1. When she isn’t busy playing video games with them or changing diapers, she enjoys blogging and reading books.  For a more personal view of her life, you can find her blogging about motherhood at Babylune or The Life of a Home Mom.

If you’re like me, then you really enjoy free entertainment!  Thanks to Regal Entertainment, you can see movies such as Happy Feet, Charlotte’s Web, Peter Pan, March of the Penguin, Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and more.  It’s all FREE!

To find a listing of the movies in your area, simply go to the Family Film Festival website and click on your state.  Enjoy!

Grab This Button

Before DH and I had kids, we used to go to the movies all the time.  But then again, the movies used to be cheaper.  So now the New Batman movie, The Dark Knight, comes out Friday night.  I really want to see it.  I was so sad when I heard that Heath Ledger had died just as he finished the movie.  I love the series and love Christian Bale.  I will miss Heath.  My favorite movie he did was A Knight’s Tale.  But now that it takes more than $7 per person to go to the movies, not including anything ot eat or drink, it isn’t worth it to go to the movies any more.  Granted, when we went, we used discount tickets from our credit union so that we never paid full price for any movie.  But still … who can afford to go see a movie any more?

The following is a guest post.

Summer break is almost over. Are the kids getting restless? Or maybe the better question is whether the parents are getting restless. Keeping everyone busy on a budget can be a challenge anytime of the year, but especially during the summer. Here some tips to help you save on entertainment for the rest of the summer and throughout the year!

Research.
This doesn’t have to be a lot of work. I regularly check the event calendars on our state, state parks and library websites. These are full of free and low cost events for all ages. We also get a free paper that lists quite a few events.

If there is someplace you want to go, check their website first. You can find coupons or you may find days  that are discounted or even free. For example, by checking the website I found our local art museum is free on Tuesdays and offers free kids classes on Saturday. Another museum near us is free on Thursday nights.

Sometimes the website will have deals you can’t find anywhere else. I learned of a local theater’s free movie camp (kids movies in the AM) on the web site. I haven’t seen this advertised anywhere else, not even at the theater itself.

Go early. Go late. Don’t go on the weekends!
In other words go when it is not busy. Not only is it more enjoyable, (in my opinion!) it is cheaper. Movies offer matinées, restaurants have early bird specials, some museums and amusement parks offer after 5 specials. (and with little kids do you really want to spend the whole day at the amusement park?!) We used to have a minor league ball park near where we lived. They offered lots of family specials and discounted tickets during the week to try to fill the park.

During the week you can find great deals at restaurants Does going out to eat count as entertainment? In this house it does. We love to go out to eat. During the week there are often specials where kids eat free. There is a local Italian type restaurant here that offers Two for Tuesday, buy one pasta dish and get one free. Get to know the daily specials and what days kids’ eat free at your local restaurants.

Buy the Membership.
To the museum, to the zoo or other places your family loves. The cost of a membership or season pass often is paid for in two visits. Plus many memberships can be used at other like organizations all over the country.

What I really love about memberships is we can pick up and go whenever. We do not have to plan for it in the budget or even plan to spend a full day. We can go to the museum for an hour and not feel like we are not getting our money’s worth. We can go when the budget is tight and we have no cash. By the way, memberships are great family gifts to give and receive!

Pack a lunch!
If you are not taking advantage of cheap dining as mentioned above, save yourself a ton of cash and pack enough food and drinks for the day. The food at places like the zoo or amusement parks is so over priced! At the zoo we could easily spend more than our membership cost in food and drinks for the day.

So enjoy  the rest of the summer with the kids, but keep it in your budget.by researching, going early or late and during the week, buying the membership and packing your lunch!

Thanks to Stephanie for this article!  You can find her at Stop the Ride! where she writes about living simply and frugally and reducing debt by using online earning opportunities.

Everybody knows that as long as you remember to get the books back in time, libraries are a great place to save some money. The word has even started to get out that you can checkout videos and music for free or cheap. You might even already know that you can buy used books for cheap which is really nice for kids that read books faster than you can buy them.

Our library offers a bunch of other opportunities to save a few pennies.

• Classes for kids - Our library runs a ton of weekly classes that are normally about a half hour. Most of them are storytime based with an arts and craft project toward the end. But they also have more hip things such as Guitar Hero night.
• Computer use - Most libraries these days are practically littered with computers that allow you to use the internet which is a great opportunity for anybody who can’t afford a computer or internet service and for people when their computers are being repaired. We also get free Wi-Fi if you have your own laptop.
• Arts & Crafts for kids - Kids are allowed to do one free art project each day. Any additional projects are a dirt cheap 25 cents. You seriously can’t buy your own supplies for that cheap.
• Play area - Inside the library, there is a wing with all of the kid books. In that wing, there is a play area complete with play kitchen, puzzles, buckets and shelves full of toys. It is quite a popular place for people to bring their kids when the weather outside isn’t so great.

What type of perks and services do your libraries offer for cheap?

Thanks so much to Mike for today’s guest post.  He is the father of 5 year old twins and a new baby.  You can find him writing about IVF, raising children, raising a child with autism, and fatherhood.  I hope you’ll visit him at Be A Good Dad!