The goal of a careful budget isn’t to keep you from having fun or buying the things that you need. The goal of a careful budget is to stretch the dollars you do have as far as possible. This is why you spend time clipping coupons and looking for deals online. It’s why you learned to mend your clothing to help it last longer. There are lots of ways to stretch a budget. In this post, we’re going to share some of our favorite ways of getting as much entertainment as possible out of even the tiniest entertainment budgets.
Bundle Up
One of the best ways to keep your favorite channels isn’t to forego them in favor of their network websites. The best way to keep your television package hefty is to bundle it up with your Internet and your phone services. In the United States, for example, people can get DIRECTV + Internet for under $50 (that’s the equivalent of 46 euros). There are similar bundles available here in the UK. Find out which ones are available in your local area to help you stay current on your favorite programs and keep your Internet speeds fast at a much lower price than you would pay for each service separately.
Go Outside
Perhaps the cheapest and the best way to stretch your entertainment budget is to get away from your screens and go outside. You don’t necessarily have to go shopping or to the amusement park. Just explore your town and the areas surrounding it! There are a lot of fantastic spaces in the UK and exploring them costs virtually nothing. Plus, as you explore, you’ll likely come across a lot more cost-free or very inexpensive entertainment options than you would if you ran a simple Internet search. That said…
Use the Internet
One of the best ways to find out about free events–especially family-friendly events–is to sign up for local calendar sites. You would be amazed at how many specific sites are set up to let people know what’s happening around town. Some even cater to specific interests and cultures. Scour them for cost-free or inexpensive events. Story time at the local library or book shop, for example, is a great way to entertain your kids without spending any money. There are also a lot of great websites where you can get discount tickets and find great deals to events and attractions (like theme parks and zoos) that might eat up too much of your budget.
Double Up
Perhaps one of the best ways to entertain your whole family is to pair up with another family to do something fun. You can have everyone over for a day of games, or an afternoon of movies where each family provides one film to watch. You can set up the event to be a potluck so that no single family is responsible for the cost of feeding everyone (and the non-hosting family will take their servingware home, so that helps with the hosting family’s clean up duties).
Museums and Galleries
Most of the museums and galleries throughout the UK are absolutely free to visit. When you get restless at home, take the family out to experience some culture and history. A lot of the museums and galleries also offer top notch family-friendly programs and special events that are also budget friendly. And lest you think that our museums are all stuffy, there are plenty of museums and galleries devoted to contemporary interests like sports and pop culture. It isn’t all paintings from forever ago that you’re not allowed to touch!
The point is this: don’t think for a second that just because you don’t have a lot of money to spend on entertainment that you can’t still have a lot of fun and do a lot of things. You just have to get creative (and do some research in advance)!