How to Save Money on Home Entertainment

Are the costs of your cable and streaming services really adding up? Here are some tips on how to save money on home entertainment that will help you get these costs under control.

We tend to think it’s the entertainment outside our home that costs so much, but when you really look at it, we spend a lot at home with all the streaming services that are available. If you value having lots of entertainment options at home but are trying to figure out how to spend less on them, I have some great tips on how to save money on home entertainment for you. These tips have really been a game changer for me and others I know.

How to Save Money on Home Entertainment

Get discounts if you are a college student – Did you know you can get a new bundle from Spotify for less than $5 that includes Spotify Premium and Hulu? This bundle is only available to college students, but it’s an incredible deal. Additionally, Amazon Prime is half off for college students and includes streaming, free two-day shipping, and more. You can use this to save on textbook shipping and gro

Don’t be afraid to negotiate your terms – Haggling is something anyone can do. It does take some skill, and often a bit of extra politeness with cable companies, but you can negotiate your own terms sometimes with cable packages. Just call and ask for the retention department. They often have more power to make the changes you are wanting to see.

Use the library and all of its options – The public library has some awesome things you can borrow for free for home entertainment purposes. I like to check out DVDs, magazines and of course, books, but many libraries even offer lending of sewing machines and sports equipment for hobbies at home too. Some also offer electronics like tablets.

Watch your favorite shows online for free – Hulu used to have a free option, but they dropped that. Now Yahoo! offers a service called Yahoo! View that allows you watch all of your favorite shows a few days after the episode airs. You can also catch up on past episode. Additionally, try checking out your favorite network’s pages as many of them upload episodes shortly after they air.

Access tons of books and magazines with your Kindle for one low price or free – I have Kindle Unlimited. It is a service provided by Amazon that lets me ‘borrow’ books and magazines as often as I want for a monthly fee of $9.99. I stopped subscribing to as many magazines as I found they are available on this service and I can check out many books too. The service allows you to ‘borrow’ up to 10 items and then you can borrow more as you ‘return’ them. You also get access to audiobooks. You don’t even have to own a Kindle to use the service either – you can use KindleCloudReader online, or a Kindle app on your smartphone.

Take a good look at your internet and cable package and cut what you don’t need – I was way over-paying for my services through my cable provider. I had channels I didn’t watch as ad-ons and my internet speeds were overkill, even for as many devices we were usually running. If you are not ready to completely cut the cable cord, take a good look at what you have and realistically cut what you can. Keep in mind that Hulu and Amazon Prime offer some live TV options, including sports. If that is your biggest reason for keeping cable, now’s a good time to reconsider it.