Simple ways to spend less on entertainment

“The act of entertaining; something affording pleasure; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement.”

That’s the dictionary meaning of entertainment .

Entertainment is now a multi-billion business worldwide and consumers like us shell out thousands of dirhams per year to enjoy such ‘diversions’ from our daily routine.

But there are still plenty of cheaper ways in which we can keep our minds agreeably occupied or engage in our favourite hobbies, without indulging in some of the extravagant pursuits that some of our peers can afford to, or desire to.

If you are intent on conserving your cash, you can try the following few things to cut down on your hobbies/entertainment bills:

• What engages you?

Make a list of all the things that you enjoy and evaluate what you like about them. Question whether they really excite you emotionally or are pure indulgences, merely to keep up with your peers. Some people get entertained by being spectators to an activity, while others feel the urge to participate or perform. This realisation will influence your choices and spending habits on entertainment/ recreation.

• Create a library

Getting a library membership is an obvious and popular way of enjoying a variety of reading material at cheaper costs.

If there’s no library within your vicinity, you could perhaps create one with a group of friends. Exchange books that you already have among yourselves – you can also pool in money as a group and buy the titles of common interest. Then circulate the reading material among yourselves.

The UAE is a home to people from different nationalities, speaking different languages. People from similar cultural and linguistic background can also use this to order books from home and stay connected to their roots.

• Form a film club

This is similar to creating a book library. You could exchange the DVDs among your friends or perhaps host ‘movie nights’ at every member’s place by rotation, say once a month.

In addition to saving money, it’ll also be a great way of bonding with your friends or relatives.

And if you have friends from different nationalities, it can also give you a chance to watch movies from all over the world – from Hollywood action to French art house to Bollywood masala.

• Wait for movie reviews

If you have a big family, watching films at movie theatres can be a slightly expensive affair. From the price of tickets to the price of travel and eating out – it’s ‘your’ money that’s going to flow out.

Indeed, watching movies is purely a subjective experience and opinions about each movie vary with each person.  But movie promos are often misleading and the actual product offers sheer disappointment.

So if possible, be a bit patient and wait for box-office/critics’ reviews or feedback from friends/relatives before you hit the theatre. Also, movie tickets are often priced higher close to their release – so be sure the movie experience that you’re paying for is likely to be worth it.

• Watch programmes/ movies online

A lot of audio-visual material is legally available online for free – films that you need not pay for or TV channels that you need not subscribe to.

All prominent news channels upload their content on their websites; some even offer ‘live’ streaming videos (e.g. Al Jazeera English).

Others share parts of their previous shows/ episodes on their websites (Dubai One/ National Geographic/ Discovery Channel) or through channels on video sharing sites (Zee TV).
 
Besides this, you can enjoy a lot of original film content online – experimental films, animation films, documentary films, short films – made by upcoming movie-makers. (e.g: http://www.ukstudentfilms.co.uk/films.asp )
 
Besides, as I’ve mentioned in a previous article , watching content on laptop also consumes lesser power.

• Clean your closet

Cleaning your closets and shelves is a great way of pushing away boredom. There’s another important reason you should do this.

Deep buried under the stacks, you might find stuff you’d bought years ago, indulged in for a while, but the initial enthusiasm dwindled away and now such books, games, gadgets, instruments etc have become distant memory.

So instead of chasing some new expensive pursuits for entertainment, try to rekindle your enthusiasm for the stuff you already have. This also prevents you from buying things that you already own.

After note: Next week, we’ll discuss some more ideas in the second article of this two-part series on saving on your entertainment expenses.

The joy of owning a book or a DVD is unparalleled and so is the excitement of watching a movie on the first day, first show.

But saving money means making some hard choices in the present for a higher cause. It’s a prioritisation to ensure that you enjoy a dignified life even in your twilight years, it means giving yourself a choice to retire early, or travelling to that dream destination in some years or perhaps leaving behind a legacy through charity.

The Dr Finance series is not about miserly living – it’s about saving where you can but spending where you must. So if it’s about choosing between watching a movie like Avatar on a DVD or in a theatre equipped with the RealD 3D technology, the preference is always going to be obvious!

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