Cheap and Free Entertainment

My husband and I love to watch movies. We will go to the theater when we can to catch a matinee, but we find it hard and expensive to go often. We have quite a large DVD library at home, but we are running out of space and videos ($) add up to over time as well. We are trying some new ways to watch movies. Maybe you are already using these services, or maybe one might help you save some money too.

1) Netflix-I purchased a 3 month subscription to Netflix for my husband for his birthday. He has gotten a lot of discs already. He is primarily watching old TV shows on DVD, and I am happy we are not buying the seasons to keep. The turn over time through the mail is very short, and we have been happy with this service. It saves us gas from having to drive to a video store, and the selection is great.

2) Redbox-We started getting DVDs from the Redbox machines at the grocery stores as well. The selection can be limited, but there are usually several movies in stock that we have not seen before. The rental is only $1.00 for a 24-hour period. It must be back though within the 24-hours to keep from having your credit card charged additional fees. We only rent from here if we know we are going to watch the video the same night. There are lots of sites online that have codes for free promotional codes listed as well, so we have gotten several DVDs for free. Even better!

3) On Demand-We have Comcast's On Demand service, so we can often find movies, TV shows, and concerts available for free through this service. Yes, we are technically paying for the service through our monthly cable bill, but we are still saving money by not paying a rental fee or gas to get to a store. There are newer movies available for a fee as well, and we have gotten them occasionally as well. The cost is about the same as going to a video rental store, but again there is no gas or time involved to get the video.

4) The Public Library-I have been checking out a lot of items recently at the library including books for me and B., audio books for my ride to and from work, CDs for all of us, and even a few videos. These are all free as long as they are all returned on time. The fines can be killer, if you don't stay on top of the due dates.

Cheap or free is one of the best ways to watch a movie.

-Denise