Budget Saver Tip #13: Your Media

Here are some ideas to consider if you're someone who enjoys any of the media activities below (and most of us do) but are looking for ways to reduce your spending:

Books - I can't tell you the last time I bought a brand new book for myself because I honestly don't remember. But we love the library and go there weekly! And the awesome thing is that nowadays if you have a particular book in mind and your library doesn't have it, you can generally request it--all from the comfort of your home computer. (A great resource that I love for keeping my book lists straight is GoodReads. It's very helpful to this avid reader!)

Music - If you listen to CDs and prefer to own them, consider joining a music club such as YourMusic.com that will give you discounts and let you earn points toward free CDs. Of course, for specific songs there are sites such as iTunes that allow you to buy only the songs you want. And for those who simply want music to listen to in their preferred style/genre, the most frugal option (free) of all are sites like Pandora.com that allow you to shape the "station" you choose, as you listen.

Movies - My family rarely goes to a theater movie, and when we do, maybe once or twice a year, it is to the discount theaters (and we don't buy any theater snacks :)). We also don't often rent movies from video stores because we are usually able to find the movies we want--for free at the library. And since we like watching movies so much, we check them out often.

TV - We simply don't watch much TV at our house. There are so many other things to do we don't even think about it, except for a specific allotted time during which our children know they can in the afternoon while I am transcribing. I have a couple of friends who recently discontinued their cable to save money and were surprised by how much time it saves them too, and how easily they were able to break the habit of watching all their favorite cable shows.