Saving Money on Movies

The Coronavirus pandemic has hit the movie industry hard.  There are a few movie theaters that have re-opened with the easing of quarantine restrictions in certain pockets of the world, but for the most part, theaters have closed across the globe and that hot, buttery theater popcorn is just a memory of the past.

The good news is that streaming services like Netflix, Apple+, and Amazon have kept us entertained with films that have gone straight to video-on-demand.  The few films that are actually releasing in theaters are quickly going to streaming after only a few weeks, something that used to take many months.  Yay!

Film studios have tried to stay in production, but it’s definitely not the same anymore.  Well, nothing really is, right?  One thing that has also changed is how we budget for our entertainment.  Many of us used to spend money on gas to drive to the theater on the weekend, buy snacks at the concession, and pay a small fortune for tickets.  Because we’re now just watching flicks from the comfort of our home in our pajamas, you should have seen a drop in your entertainment expenditures.  Have you?  Do you even keep a budget and plan for entertainment? Do you know how much money you spend on movies each month?  Maybe you’re spending the same amount because you’ve switched over from buying movie tickets to paying for video-on-demand services.  Either way, you absolutely need to pay attention to entertainment expenses as part of your overall budget.

Americans spent a record $25.2 BILLION on streaming in 2019, according to DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.  We don’t have final numbers yet for 2020, but because of Covid-19, you can imagine how those numbers have skyrocketed this year!  Digital movie sales are also known as electronic sell-throughs or EST.  Consumers can access all kinds of movies and other entertainment on services like FandangoNow, Redbox on Demand, Vudu, Google Play, not to mention the “big boys” like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple+!

Are you still looking at me funny because you don’t have a budget?  I teach courses online for a university in which we talk about financial management, and I’m always surprised when grown adults tell me they’ve never created, nor lived by a budget.  Allow me to break it down for you with some super easy tools.

I found a fantastic budget planner for free at Pigly.com   They’ve done all the hard work for you and even have a cute logo.

Using their interactive tools and calculators, you’ll be able to see where you stand financially.  That’s especially important during this crazy Covid-19 economy when most of us are pinching our pennies.  The strained economy has extended to our own wallets, so we need to be smarter.  Their site also has tons of other tools like calculators that help you look at your savings, certificates of deposit, retirement, and assets.  If you have a business, you can track all kinds of stuff for that too.  The point is that you need to pay attention to where your money is going.  Gee, can you tell I really like the site?  I share it with my university students too.  They tell me their site calculators are super helpful figuring out their student loans.

Promise me you’ll create a budget and pay more attention to your money and then I’ll share with you a few websites where you can watch movies online for free!  Deal?  Deal.

Kanopy is powered by libraries and universities and features documentaries and educational content.

Libraries also sponsor Hoopla which, by the way, also allows you to check out audiobooks for free.  You need to have a library card though.

Crackle is one of the free channels offered on services like Roku and has all kinds of top Hollywood hits, but you have to be willing to watch a few commercials during the viewing.  By the way, I absolutely love Roku.  Many years ago, I met a guy who worked at Roku when the company was first starting.  I had never heard of a Roku and had no idea what he was talking about.  We met at a 2-day class we were both taking.  He had driven all the way to Las Vegas just to attend the class.  Since I live in Sin City, it was no sacrifice at all for me to get to the event.  Believe it or not, it actually started snowing at the end of the first day and I found out he was planning on sleeping in his car to save money that night.  Well, that was simply out of the question, so my family invited him to spend the night in our guest bedroom.  I don’t normally invite strangers over like that, but there was one of those unique friendship connections that made it feel safe, so we did.  He spent the night and we all traipsed back to the class the next day together.  To thank us, he said he was going to send us a Roku unit.  Honestly, because I still didn’t know what that was, it sat unopened in its box for months.  Finally, probably after getting my rising monthly bill from the satellite TV service I had been using, I wondered if or how the Roku could help me lower my entertainment expenses.  Bingo!  Once we realized the little gem we had, we canceled our satellite service immediately and have been streaming everything through that free device ever since!

But this isn’t a commercial for Roku.  You have plenty of other options too!

Vudu, Tubi, and Yidio generally offer fun flicks, Reality TV, and a variety of other entertainment offerings.

Crunchyroll features Anime and Popcornflix specializes in independent films.

There you go!  That’s a pretty good start, don’t you think?  I’ll share more with you on another post.

Who says you need to spend a bunch of money to watch a great movie?  Not me!

Enjoy!