Miscellaneous Ways to Save Money (continued)
Cable television. This can be tough to give up, but might be necessary if you're having trouble paying your debts. If you can't give up cable, at least get rid of the premium movie channels. Research has shown that the vast majority of people watch mostly network programming, which is available without cable service. With an antenna costing anywhere from $10 to $80, you might be able to access enough free television to give up your cable service. You could stream movies from NetFlix for less than $10 a month. Find out what shows are available in your area with just an antenna at antennaweb.org. If you’re determined to keep your cable service, consider bundling it with your Internet and phone service since it saves you about $50 a month. Get a streaming player, such as the Roku Streaming Player at Target for under $70, and connect your TV directly to the Internet to watch NetFlix and other TV programming free or at a reduced cost, saving you $40 to $70 each month on cable. Google has created its Chromecast device which enables one to watch television and movies on a TV without adding any sort of set top box to the system. The Google Chromecast costs less than $50 and is just a small device that plugs into a television’s HDMI port and one can stream content from NetFlix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. or access the internet from a laptop using Google Chrome.
Dry cleaning. Dry cleaning clothing is very expensive, and this expense is needless much of the time since most clothing does not actually have to be dry cleaned despite what the clothing tag recommends. It is estimated that about 25% of clothing tags that recommend dry cleaning can actually be hand or machine washed using either baby shampoo or a product like Woolite. The term often found on clothing tags “for best results, dry clean” means that you can wash the garment. To find out if a garment should definitely be dry cleaned, wet a cotton swab and apply it to an inconspicuous part of a garment to see if color comes off. If color does come off on the cotton swab, you should definitely have it dry cleaned. You can also save money by purchasing home dry cleaning products at supermarkets and doing it yourself. Clothing made of natural fibers and polyester can be hand-washed. Clothing that is lined should probably be dry cleaned. Don’t buy clothing that has elaborate detail, pleats, buttons and such as it costs significantly more to dry clean. Lots of clothing is permanently stained due to deodorant and cosmetics. With care, you can save money by avoiding these situations. Reduce the number of times a garment is taken to the dry cleaners by hanging up garments as soon as you take them off so they don’t wrinkle and allow them to air out. Find discount coupons for dry cleaning online at sites such as Valpak.com, in area circulars or even in the back of your phone book in the coupon section.
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Ways to Save Money
Movies and movie rentals. It costs an average of $30 for two people to go to the movies, but you can save about 30 percent if you order your tickets from BulkTix.com and get a gift card for discounted food at the concession stand. AARP and AAA members can get discounted tickets. Bulk tickets can be purchased at Costco and at some movie theaters. Although movie rentals are inexpensive and not that many movie rental stores are around anymore, you can still rent movies free at your local public library or at RedBox.com movie kiosks for $1 per day. But why go to the movies or rent movies at when you can wait a few months and watch it for just pennies on NetFlix? NetFlix.com is a very good deal, allowing subscribers to watch as many movies as they want every month for less than $10, and their selection is vast.
Concert tickets and Sporting Events. Buy your concert tickets at SeatGeek.com or FanSnap.com to get discounted concert tickets. Find the lowest price for sports tickets RazorGater.com, TicketsNow.com or StubHub.com, but be careful, the prices can vary significantly from site to site. Buy tickets for sporting events, concerts and Broadway shows up to 50 percent off at BroadwayBox.com and GoldStar.com
Bundle Cable, Internet and Phone. If you bundle your cable, internet and phone service with one company, they will give you a 33% discount over the cost of purchasing each service separately. The main drawback to this is that if there is ever a glitch with the service the company provides you lose all three services at the same time.
