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My entertainment budget used to be huge when I lived in a major city many years ago. Now, I no longer have an entertainment “budget” per se. I thought I would take an opportunity to share how I stay entertained without really spending on this part of my life. In reality, I am happier than I have been in years, despite recent challenges with my health. So, what the heck is going on with that?
My past big-budget lifestyle
Living downtown on the waterfront in a major Canadian city, the world was my oyster a decade ago. I was right at the center of the excitement, and I wanted to make sure I was taking advantage of it. I enjoyed attending countless arts events, including opera, ballet, art gallery shows, film festivals, and countless concerts and festivals.
What was expensive about all of these activities? People dressed up for them. I was no different. I had a huge wardrobe of beautiful and expensive clothing. Part of the big city excitement was also eating out. I had restaurants where I could walk and and the maître d’ knew my name. Eating out was part of the fun, either before or after the event. Even when I entertained at home, I spent a lot. At the time, it was part of my lifestyle. Now, my thinking is quite different.
Frugalite philosophy: what IS entertainment?
In researching this article, I reflected on the definition of entertainment from dictionary.com: something which offers “pleasure, diversion, or amusement.”
Notice that the definition of entertainment doesn’t include the requirement to spend money to get it! My big city life has now transformed into a rural lifestyle on my Half-Acre Homestead. With my financial priority being the completion of my eco-cabin, I don’t spend on anything I can live without.
I now live on a fraction of my big city income but feel much richer. Many of my big-city friendships have faded away. I have a small number of friends who appreciate me for who I am. One I’ve known for over 30 years. Another I met more recently, over four years ago. I define my entertainment now as activities that bring joy into my life and enhance my feelings of connection with people that I care about. Here is how I “entertain” myself according to my new values.
Visiting friends and family
Yes, life does get busy. No matter how busy I am, my top priority is connecting with the people I care about. Every Monday morning, I am usually starting my week by visiting my friend for a cup of his great coffee; he lives only minutes away. This morning when I called him to check in, he was on the road helping one of his sons. We’ll do this tomorrow or the next day, then.
This evening, I am getting together online with my other good friend of 30-plus years. I’ll also be texting a brand new friend to arrange a walk out in nature for this week. It’s also possible that another friend and her boyfriend and I will all be going fishing in her boat on our beautiful local lake. This Wednesday, I’ll do my weekly online meeting with my mother and sister, who both live in a distant city. After that, I’ll be online with my meditation group for our weekly meeting, one of my favorite times of the week. Virtually every day, I do something to maintain my connections to friends and family. This brings me joy, and I think it is actually good for my health!
Shared streaming account and other free options
Many years ago, one of my cousins offered me access to her movie streaming account. Although I have offered to pay, she has declined. When I want some “diversion,” it is nice to know I can log in and tune out. I am a huge science fiction fan and love seeing the latest ideas in new sci-fi features. (Please note that some streaming services are starting to disallow shared accounts.)
However, I often enjoy free options just as much as movie streaming or even more. For example, when my herbalist mentor Dr. Patrick Jones comes out with a new blog post, I stop everything I am doing, make a cup of herbal tea and sit down to watch it. I love the combination of his great sense of humor and the chance to learn something new about herbal medicine. Similarly, I find that they are so many high-quality options out there for content in topics I am interested in that I could honestly live without the streaming service if I had to!
Thrift shop/library reading
My reading tastes definitely tend toward non-fiction. I have a library of resource books on homesteading topics that I enjoy reading, even in short spurts. Our local church-run thrift shop has books for a fraction of what other profit-driven thrift shops charge. Between this low-cost resource and the books I can get free at our local libraries, I need never go without any knowledge that I seek. One of my highlights of this past spring was finally locating a resource that allowed me to definitively identify a particular cinquefoil plant that grows on my homestead. That gives you an idea of what I love!
Library resources and free events
I live in a gorgeous rural area with a provincial park nearby. The problem? Even driving into the park now costs around $15 per day. However, our library offers day passes for free to library card holders. This is just one example of the creative ways the library is supporting people to entertain themselves; others include local museum passes available for pickup as well.
I just checked the local township website and found a free concert to attend in August. Beautiful (free) music on the shore of a scenic lake. Now, that’s living! Our local fair has a ton of concerts included in the modest entry fee of $7. I plan to attend one evening for fun and check out the other displays at the fair that afternoon.
Entertainment is in the eye of the beholder
Entertainment is often associated with spending money, but I don’t think it has to be.
Could you see yourself trying any of the thrifty tips offered here? Do you have one you can share with us? How do you entertain yourself without spending money? Please tell us in the comments section!
About Colette
Colette is passionate about sharing her knowledge of thrifty living and self-sufficiency. She has developed her skills in self-reliance living in the suburbs, the city, and more recently, on her own Half-Acre Homestead. Colette lived five years completely off-grid and without running water in an eight by 24 foot tiny home while designing and building her own 18 by 24-foot eco-cabin. Her website, Half Acre Homestead is attracting followers from around the world who want to become more self-sufficient. Colette invites you to stop by the Homestead and check out all of the great resources including the practical How To Guides, A Tiny Home Resource Center and her organic gardening stories on her blog. She shares her wholistic model (body/mind/spirit) for achieving self-sufficiency in her Free Course, “Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture.” Stop by the Homestead today to register free of charge!
12 thoughts on “Entertainment on a Shoestring Budget”
Great article. I try to volunteer for some events. The fair is coming up and the admission price is ridiculous. I will do a two hour volunteer stint and get in for free. They usually give you a bottle of water and sometimes a drink voucher. In the past, they’ve also included parking.
Hi Denise, What a FANTASTIC idea! Community events are always grateful to have help; many, in fact, rely on volunteers for most tasks. You have shared a great way to give back to your community AND enjoy a day at the fair. Thanks so much. Wishing you the best with your entertainment this summer and beyond.
I’ve found a radio station that plays classical music which is enjoyable when I’m working on my craft projects. The local Friends of the Library has a used book store that is open several days a week with books classified according to theme, making it easy to find something I’d like to read. I’ve found several books by favorite authors almost every time I’ve visited there. I’m only 2 thousand or so feet from a large pond where I can watch geese and ducks swimming and playing. There is a nearby park where I’ve walked or just enjoyed nature. Not everyone enjoys watching Little League sports, but I do. Then there are the college and pro teams that can sometimes be accessed on the internet free. There are other things such as shopping without taking money or credit cards—in other words looking without the danger of buying! Then there are phone calls with out of town friends or relatives. When I need entertainment, I can always find something!
Hi Mary, I enjoyed reading your comment. I especially smiled when I read that you like to watch the little league sports. That does sound like fun. Watching the birds on the pond is something that I also do, as there is one just across the way from me. That’s a great tip to shop without money or cards…..no temptation then! Thanks so much for sharing these. I think there will be many Frugalites who will enjoy your ideas about how to enjoy yourself. Wishing you the best!
Of the various things I’ve enjoyed over the years … playing piano was one that I could always resume without it costing me a cent. Many years ago in the pre-internet and pre-cell-phone era my high school music teachers surprised me by choosing me to represent the school at the district music performance competition. I had both the sheet music and a vinyl record of the great pianist Jose Iturbi performing the “Ritual Fire Dance.” Unknown to me my piano teacher was very upset that her son (who she was grooming to become a professional music performer) had not been chosen instead for that district competition.
In the spirit of “no good deed shall go unpunished” I didn’t learn until a couple of decades later when my mother explained that after that district competition my piano teacher had phoned my mother to say that she would no longer be willing to keep teaching me piano. Since I’ve outlived all of the above there’s no risk of offending anyone with this bit of history. Of course YouTube didn’t exist back then, but an old film version of the skill that Jose Iturbi displayed (that I modeled from his record) was uploaded to YouTube a very few years ago. So here is a great example of his skill that I had for a teaching standard — which I also thought was great fun:
Jose Iturbi plays Manuel de Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance”
in this 3:43 minute video, from blueeagle8066 on Oct 12, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9cOO-DMNI&t=138s
–Lewis
Hi Lewis, WOWEE! I didn’t recognize the piece by name, but when he began to play, I realized it was familiar. Those closing chords are WHOPPERS and so dramatic. To play something that complicated in public was truly an accomplishment. I played the piano for many years. I am basically quite a shy person and found public performance quite challenging. These days, although I choose not to own a piano, I enjoy my Irish flute and ukulele for musical entertainment. Thanks so much for sharing your musical memories. That was an interesting story. Kind regards, Colette
Great post! I am such a homebody that spending time on my back patio with my veg and flowers is all the entertainment I need lol! But when I was much younger, I lived 15 minutes from a major outdoor music venue and tix were only 5 bucks for the outdoor seats. (Yeah I am that old lol) We saw a wide variety of musical acts back then.
Hi Grammyprepper, ha ha! I’ll meet you out back on the patio with the flowers and veg, OK? Yes, I used to love live concerts and now I live a quieter life, too. The local fair has a tribute band playing, but it is a wet and somewhat cool day, so I think my homebody instincts will prevail tonight. Thanks so much for sharing. Wishing you the best!
Growing up, my family spent very, very little on entertainment. There was the occasional drive-in movie, but mostly it was playing cards or dominoes. Those were the days of pre-cable television, but even now, we don’t have satellite, cable or pay for streaming services. In fact, we don’t even have an antenna for local stations.
Back then, church and school played a big role in our extracurricular activities: Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. Fall and Spring revival meetings. Vacation Bible School in the summer and Christmas programs every December, as well as church dinners, baby and wedding showers. At school there were basketball games, Halloween Carnival, Open House, Christmas programs, spring concert, class parties and end of the year field trips.
We no longer have grandchildren at the local school, but there are still free activities with the band concerts and baseball games.
As to music, my husband has really enriched our lives with his piano playing. WRR, the Dallas classical music station has an online arts calendar, which lists current and up-coming local events, some of which are free. The U.S. Army Band travels around the country giving free concerts and are some of the best musicians I’ve ever heard.
Several years ago, my husband and I joined a writer’s group at a local library, then went with a group that split off from them. It was really interesting and something I looked forward to every month.
Good topic, Collette.
Hi Carla, I enjoyed the first part of your comment, as it was like a walk down memory lane of my own childhood years. Thanks so much for sharing it with all of that detail. It really brought the memories alive. That is so lovely that you can enjoy an interest like writing with your husband. Writing is such a passion and it would be wonderful to share that with a spouse, I think. I have one close friend who also writes and we enjoy sharing our challenges and supporting each other on the journey to a final draft. Wishing you all the best with your writing, Carla!
When I was young, one of the things we did together quite often was read to one another as a family. My mother would read to my father and me, or my father would read to my mother and me. We whiled away quite a few hours that way. Now my spouse and I do one on one table top role playing, which is incredibly engaging to the mind. We do that a lot more than watch shows or movies.
Many of our favorite things to watch are lessons or other types of things on YouTube. Some of our favorites are YouTube Art School by Marc Brunet, woodworking shows, The Why Files (modern mysteries and such, impeccably researched) and Onboard Lifestyle, which is the real life story of a cruising family. All free. Great fun.
Hi Redbranch, Reading aloud is such a lovely idea. Those memories with your parents sound precious to me. You’ve provided many excellent examples of the high quality learning opportunities You Tube has to offer. I hope other Frugalites will check some of these out. Thanks so much. Wishing you a great rest of your summer!