Remember the days (not that long ago) when pretty much the only choice you had for video rentals was to go to a video store and rent one? Then came Netflix. We did netflix for several years earlier in our marriage and it was a great frugal way to rent as many videos as we wanted for about 10 bucks a month.
However, when our son came along we noticed that we never exchanged our movies and were paying about $10 per rental. Not frugal. So we canceled it for that season in our lives. Then I heard about Red Box and how you could get cheap sometimes FREE movies, anytime and it was so convenient. The first time I checked out a movie I didn't realize it was a dollar per day and I ended up paying $12.00 for the movie. Not frugal, again. I have tried a few times since, but with having a baby and a packed schedule I couldn't make it to the red box often enough for it to be cheap or convenient.
After that we pretty much gave up on watching movies altogether, which for me hasn't been such a bad thing. Now that my son is 2 though (as of today) he is wanting to watch movies, so I started borrowing them from friends and family. There is one guy in particular that is like a human blockbuster (if you go to my church you know who I am talking about.) He has all kinds of movies and lots of family friendly options. We have been able to catch up on the past two years of children's films thanks to him and all for free.
I am sure we will enter another season of movie watching at some point in our lives, but for now this borrowing business is really working well for us. I am not suggesting that everyone should go find their own human blockbuster, but you have to find what works for you. Some people go to the library for their movies, some people love movies so much they just purchase them and watch them over and over. Being frugal is not a one size fits all kind of thing, and even on an individual level sometimes sizes change.
For more frugal tips for to Frugal Fridays at www.lifeasmom.com
2 comments:
I love RedBox!!! We rent from them every couple weeks - but you're right; the key is returning it the next day!
I've noticed that Blockbuster also has some $1 movies now.
Happy Birthday Zion!
We rarely rent movies...we have actually been to see a few in the theaters lately and are taking advantage of that ability to do so freely, since we are about to have a change that may prevent that from being so easy. We can't wait to meet our little Calli though :)
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