How to Save Money in Your Family Room

Between entertainment costs and utilities, your family room affects your budget. Keep costs low with these tips on How to Save Money in Your Family Room.

It may not seem like your family room could cost money from your budget, but believe it or not it can be quite harmful if you’re not paying attention. Between entertainment costs, utility costs, and more, you need to be mindful of what and where you’re spending in order to lower the expenses your family room is costing you. Saving money in there isn’t too terribly hard to do so it will only take a small amount of effort on your part. Once you put these money saving methods into place, they will help you save time and time again. Here are 9 tips on How to Save Money in Your Family Room.

How to Save Money in Your Family Room

Limit electronic use. Electronics are most likely the biggest financial drain in your family room which means that limiting the time that they spend being used can save you significantly. Aside from the cost, your health and wellness will be much better off too. Limit how often the t.v. or video games can be turned on and your budget will be better for it.

Use auto shut off features. Your t.v. and most other electronics have auto shut off features that are great for saving you money. Set them to automatically shut off after 15 minutes of sitting idle. When you do, you’ll ensure that they aren’t running when no one is using or watching them.

Quit using the ceiling fan. Most people are under the impression that running your ceiling fans all of the time actually helps to cool the home, but the truth is that it doesn’t do anything unless you’re actually in the room with it. Make sure to shut them off when you leave the room and you could save up to $100/year on your power bill.

Shut the lights out. While you’re shutting the ceiling fans off, make certain that the lights are shut off too when no one is in the room. If you’re having trouble remembering, you can also put them on a timer. Outlet timers can be picked up for around $8.00 each and will save you much more than that. Set them for the hours when the lights can be turned on and when they are to go off and you won’t have to worry too much about them being left on when no one is in the room.

Use a surge protector. Your electronics don’t only draw power (and your spare pennies) when they’re turned on and being used. They also draw power when they’re not. This is called phantom electricity and the electronics that use it can be thought of as sort of an energy vampire. These energy vampires are sucking away your pennies. The solution is to unplug these items and an easy way to do that is by using a surge protector.

Utilize the library for rentals. For entertainment such as books and movies, put the library to work for your budget. Most libraries have quite a few different movies that can be rented for free. This saves you from buying them or paying to rent them.

Cut your cable contract. If you still have cable, ditch it. There is no reason to continue paying a high bill for television. Hulu Plus will cost you only $8.99 per month. Netflix is around the same. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can also access Prime Video for free. Amazon offers a free 30-day trial to Amazon Prime if you’re not a member. For around $20.00/mo, you can enjoy the same television that you do now for considerably less money.

Subscribe to a gaming service. If you find yourself spending a large portion of your budget on things like video games each month, consider subscribing to a game service. Companies like Gamefly run like Netflix. Rent a game, play it, send it back. Other services like X-Box Live and PlayStation Network offer free games to their members each month. It is worth it to pay the subscription expense over buying game after game.

Work to earn gift cards. Finally, when you’ve done everything you can to cut your expenses in your living room, work on paying them each month without cash. There are plenty of sites that you can earn free gift cards for Netflix, Hulu, and more to pay those bills for you. When you can pay that bill each month without taking cash out of your regular budget, you’ll free up money for use elsewhere.