Budget for Entertainment - Give Yourself a Break

It's really important to have an Entertainment category in your budget. Even if you can allocate only $5 a week for entertainment, set aside that $5 to spend for fun. This creates a positive feeling about your budget, and gives you a break from working on all the debt you are trying to pay down.

If you are Living Poor, like me, you will have to make your entertainment dollars stretch, but that isn't too hard to do. Here are a few Ideas that we use to entertain ourselves on a slim budget.

• rent movies - some movie rental stores have deals like 5-for-5 where you can rent 5 (not new release) movies for 5 nights for $5. There are some great movies out there that you probably haven't seen yet.


• save until you have enough for a board game - my family enjoys playing Trouble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, and Yahtzee. Our next game will be Scrabble.
  


• go to the library for movies, and spend the money on popcorn and candy as though you were at the theatre.


• buy an extra $5 gas and go for a ride in the country, to a park, or just to some place in your neighborhood you haven't been before.


• buy ingredients to make a big batch of cookies and bring your entire family in to help make them.


• save until you have enough to take the family out for breakfast. You needn't go to a fancy restaurant. You can have fun going to Shoneys or even to McDonald's if you make an event.
  

However you decide to allocate your Entertainment money, have some fun with it. With all the hard work you are doing to get your spending under control and pay off debt, you should have some easy jobs like blowing a little pocket change.