Thursday, July 17, 2008

Free Entertainment Is The Best Kind

So I'm pleased to report that Boyfriend is totally on board with being frugal and budgeting. I'm rather envious in fact because he has already set up a Travel Fund and an Electronics Fund in addition to his Downpayment Fund and Emergency Fund (more on that later - exciting news!).

It's nice to be able to talk about money together and our goals. One of the first things we decided together was to stop buying magazines. We love them. Actually he gets a lot for free by using his frequent flier points so he's lucky. I, on the other hand, used to be guilty of spending way too much money on books and magazines. The books I cut out years ago because I went back to school and had no time to read books for pleasure and no money to afford them and also because I lived within walking distance of an excellent city library.

The magazines, well, those have been a weakness for me. I'll be in the supermarket checkout aisle and they'll just call to me. Even though I can read most of that information online, something about those glossy pages, well you know how it is. I was inspired by Saving 4 Later who has pledged to go an entire YEAR without buying books or magazines (she's almost there!).


So, alas, I haven't bought a magazine in a while. That doesn't mean I don't still crave glossy pages however. But as luck would have it, a Freecycle message went out last week for 45 issues of Real Simple! This women had been saving them for years. I rarely get that one so I can safely say I hadn't read any of the articles but I already love it. Now I can give myself a free magazine any time the mood strikes me. [Note to others: Join a Freecyle group in your area, it's great!].

Also last night Boyfriend and I had a choice of two FREE nighttime activities: outdoor musical or outdoor concert? We chose the concert since it was a one-time thing and pledged to see the musical another night. A fun, free time was had (except for the $5 lemonade we shared - ouch!).


3 comments:

Keri said...

Do you have any other ideas for free fun??

Sallie's Niece said...

Plenty - I always pick up the free weekly alternative newspaper in my town and see what's going on it the area - museums, university lectures, art shows, etc. It depends what you're interested in. Also Jenga - best game ever!

Anonymous said...

A tip I read once was to put magazines in date order. That way each month you have articles that apply to that month. Read August issues in August, Sept. issues in Sept. and so forth. Even though the year is different most relevant stuff is month specific and not year specific.