Goal: Review your entertainment budget and discover cost saving strategies. Update your budget to reflect this new spending plan.
Why it Matters: A conscious effort to reduce unnecessary spending on entertainment ensures your financial resources are directed toward experiences and activities that truly bring value to your life.
Completion Time: ~10-mins
22 Strategies to Reduce Your Entertainment Expenses: After reading this list, take a look at your spending and identify areas that you can improve.
Entertainment
Visit your local library. In addition to books, many local libraries offer free access to audiobooks, online resources like LinkedIn Learning, and movies. Plus, libraries often host free events which can be a great way to spend an evening.
Look for free entertainment options in your area. Many communities will host markets, summer festivals, concerts in the park, theater performances, movies, etc.
Delay expensive hobbies. This can be a tough subject for some people, because these hobbies might truly bring them a lot of joy in life. However, consider temporarily stopping expensive hobbies until you’ve reached certain milestones towards FI. Then, you can enjoy these hobbies without the financial stress.
Leave the gym. Instead of gym costs, try purchasing some home equipment or doing calisthenic workouts in the park.
Travel/Vacations
Consider cheaper housing options. Hostels, Airbnbs, campsites, and even negotiating hotel rates can be a great way to lower your accommodation costs when traveling
Set Google Flights price alerts. If you know the location and date ranges, you can set email alerts to be notified of price drops.
Choose destinations with favorable currency exchange rates. One way to make your money go further is to choose countries with cheaper costs or conversions.
Use cheap flight alert apps to find great deals. Different services like Scott’s Cheap Flights can provide notifications for cheap airfare.
Plan vacations during the off-season. Peak travel season causes all prices to rise. If you’re willing to enjoy an area during the off-season, it can be much cheaper.
Join travel loyalty programs. For many travel companies, you can join their loyalty program without needing to open a credit card. This is a great way to receive notifications about deals and discounts.
Book flights during the week or on holidays. These rates are usually much cheaper if you have a flexible schedule.
Utilize credit card rewards. This strategy is often called “Credit card hacking” and it typically involves people opening credit cards to receive the bonus or benefits. Before using this tip, make sure to understand the potential impacts and risks.
Free Night Out/Date Night Ideas
Go hiking and stargazing. You can also download apps to help you identify constellations, bring a blanket, and enjoy the view.
Plan a game night. There are so many games that you can play. Cards, board games, and video games are some of the classics, but you can get creative and make up games with things around your house.
Find local art shows. Many art exhibits are free to the public and even provide snacks. This can be a great way to support local artists.
Volunteer at an animal shelter. If you like playing with animals, this can be a great date idea and a meaningful way to give back to the community.
Check out local yard sales. You can join online groups for yard sales or just drive around town until you find some signs.
Try geocaching. All you have to do is download the app and start looking for hidden treasures in your area.
Explore antique and resale shops. You never know what you’ll find in some of these stores.
Host a karaoke night at home. Whether you like to sing or not, karaoke can be a fun way to spend an evening.
Find a local open mic. Sometimes open mics have a small cover, but that can sometimes be waived if you arrive early. This can be a great way to see a variety of live performances.
Look for free nights at museums, gardens, etc. Many of these places offer free nights or discounts for residents.
Your Turn: Now it’s time to modify your entertainment budget and free up more FI dollars to accelerate your plan. To view your spending and modify your budget in WizeFi, simply follow this tutorial.
Once you've reduced your entertainment expenses, make sure to apply those extra financial independence dollars towards your 4-step plan.
In this example, you can go the 4-step plan and apply an extra $100 towards your Emergency Savings each month.
This one change has allowed this person to reach financial independence over 2 years sooner!