Think outside the video store

Hi!

 

We were just reading today’s article regarding The Way We Spend.  We noticed that the Lepp’s have an envelope set aside with $60 in it for movie rentals.  Our suggestion is that they get their movies – dvd or blueray – from the library and that $60 can go toward something else.

 

Valley Park Library staff

A similar letter from a Sherwood staff member:

The family featured yesterday spends $60 a month on movie rentals (or ($720 a year).  You can get a library card for FREE and borrow DVD's for FREE at your local library.  I work at the Sherwood Library (Hamilton Public Library) and we have thousands of movies available for FREE.  We have all of the new releases as soon as they are released.

 

You could do a whole column on the books, CD's, DVD's, computer/internet use, Playaways, etc.  that the public can use for FREE.

 

Have I emphasized the FREE part enough?

 

- Alison

This is a super idea. One of our other families, John Butler and Diane Morris were spending about $360 a month on entertainment with a big chunk in movie rentals. The two don't have cable as John watches TV all day for work (he's an on-air technical director for a Toronto TV station) so felt justified in the expense. Until they saw it in black and white. So they took a walk to the local library and between renting movies and TV show packages there plus cutting back on eating out, they've cut their spending on entertainment by more than half. Wow. They've also started exchanging movies or borrowing movies with friends - great way to shuffle those DVDs around.

- Lisa Grace Marr

Comments

[Marion]

I've been doing that ever since I came to Canada. The Ottawa library has an excellent selection of DVDs and VHSs. I've never paid for a movie rental since I moved here. I find they are far too expensive. If you wait a few months, most movies can also be bought at the cheap bins in department stores.

[have gone vegan]

I noticed the $60 too, and was surprised as I've been borrowing DVD's from the library for years. The $150 for eating out raised my eyebrow as well. That equals $1800 a year, which frankly I'd rather put into something other than my stomach. ;)