How to Save Money

Save Money on Entertainment & Activities

When saving money and tightening the purse strings one of the first things to go is people's Entertainment Activities. This doesn't have to be the case as there are a number of practical things that you can do to still enjoy an active social life and keep all of the family entertained without spending a fortune.

It is important to spend quality time with your children and family when they are young as this creates a special bond between you. The activities for teens, early childhood learning activities and other family activities listed here have the added benefit of teaching your kids how to be creative when entertaining themselves and also helps them to form good financial habits, such as not having to spend a lot of money to have fun.

So whether you are a young couple, family with student aged kids, movie buff, fitness fanatic or simply enjoy going out socially then Ideas to Save Money has something for you. The wide selection of Free tips and ideas will provide you with plenty of things to do, but still allow you to Save Money on Entertainment Activities.

Educational Activities for Teenagers and Students

• A great educational activity for teens and students is to perform basic nature or science experiments with them. These experiments can be simple like growing carrot tops on wet cotton wool or more challenging chemistry and physics experiments like getting a hard boiled egg into a bottle. They will not only expand the students brains but will also help to create an interest in science within them.
• In this day and age the old fashioned art of writing a letter has disappeared. Take a little bit of time and get your teenagers or young children to write a paper letter to members of your family who live a long way away. This will not only be much appreciated by your relatives but will also teach the children grammar, written communication and handwriting skills.
• There are many knowledge based board games, such as 'trivial pursuit' or the 'scene it' DVD game that are not only a lot of fun for teenagers but are also educational. Create an enjoyable family activity and add an extra incentive for teenagers to learn by giving them the opportunity to beat mum and dad.
• You can download or buy some fun educational games for the computer. These computer games vary from early childhood learning activities right through to help with student studies like maths, science, history and geography.
• One of the best ways to increase early childhood learning of things like the multiplication tables is to stick a chart with all of the times tables on the back of the toilet door, so that the kids will be forced to look at it on a daily basis.
• Get students and teenagers to attend an interactive museum like scienceworks. Normal museums are boring and very hard to get kids to go to, but scienceworks interactive museum is full of fun activities for teens, students, kids and toddlers. They will be so busy having fun that they won't even know that they are learning at the same time.
• Teach your children a little bit about what you do at work. For example if you are a cook then teach them about cooking preparation or if you work with computers then teach them how to put together a computer.
• A very important skill that is not only useful in school but also later in life is to teach them how to organize their jobs or homework. If they learn from an early age to list what needs to be done and then how to prioritize them so that the most important jobs get done first then they will not only be better students but also more productive when it comes time to enter the workforce.
• Searching the internet for information can be useful for students doing school projects but you must be teach your children that not everything that they find on the internet is true. Also you should try to limit the amount of time spent searching the internet because the temptation to waste time searching for non school related information can sometimes be too great for students.

Save Money On Entertainment

• If you are under-utilising your gym membership consider your local parks as these have bars & other facilities for exercises. You will be motivated and have fun if you go with a friend.
• If you are a movie buff and love to go and see movies on the big screen, consider becoming a member at your favourite movie cinema as these generally offer cheaper tickets, and also be on the lookout for special offers, 2 for 1 deals and discount vouchers.
• To get more value for your entertainment dollar take you family to a matinee. Ticket prices for movies and plays during the early afternoon are usually much cheaper than if you go during the night time.
• When you are planning on going out to either the movies, ten pin bowling, tours, etc always check to see if they have days where they are offering special deals. Often if you go out during the week then you will get better value for money or cheaper entertainment.
• For a memorable, low budget holiday or weekend activity with the kids go camping, fishing or for a hike in the woods. Even teenagers like outdoor activities and they are not only fun and healthy but are also very inexpensive.
• Taking the family and kids to a museum is a wonderful way to teach them lots of useful information as well as save money. Most museums have free tours as well as regular days or evenings where admission is free or reduced, so check this out before you go.
• Read your local council newsletters and newspapers as these have important news and information about free local events, festivals and activities.
• Carpool with like minded people, whether it is going to work or out to dinner with friends. It is environmentally friendly, save petrol and also saves money.
• If possible, walk or use public transport to save on parking fees & petrol.
• When you go out to sporting events or outdoor performances take along your own food, snacks and drinks from home. Nothing is more overpriced and expensive than the food and drinks at sports stadiums or concerts.
• A fun and cheap family activity is to go to one of your local parks or gardens and have a picnic. Pack your own food and drinks as well as a football or bat and ball and get some exercise in the great outdoors.
• If you go out regularly then you should purchase a local Entertainment Book, which is filled with numerous restaurants, cinemas, DVD hire, entertainment venues and family activities offering special deals such as "buy 1, get 1 free" and "25% off" vouchers.
• Most cities will generally have a number of free museums and/or art galleries that will offer pleasant entertainment for parents and activities for teens.
• Local events and concerts are always looking for volunteers to help out, so if you volunteer your services you will not only be helping out the community but you will also be able to see a portion of the event for free.
• If your children like animals then you may be able to save money on entertainment by taking out a family zoo membership. This will allow you to visit either the same zoo many times during the year or sometimes even a range of zoos throughout the year.

Save Money on Family Activities At Home

• Instead of going out, invite people over to your home and get everybody to bring something. It cuts out the cost of an expensive night out but still creates a fun environment with your friends or family.
• Rent DVDs, Blu-ray movies and computer games instead of going out to the movies. It is much cheaper, more convenient and creates a warm family atmosphere with kids and even teenagers.
• If you have young children then have a scavenger hunt or hide easter eggs in your backyard or around your house and then have the kids search for them. You can use normal household items or even painted hard boiled eggs to help save money on this kids holiday activity.
• You can make your own play dough for the kids and toddlers to enjoy at home. In a saucepan mix together, 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tablespoon baby oil, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar and food colouring if you want in to be a particular colour. The boil the mixture until thickened and allow to cool before giving it to the kids to play with.
• For a fun kids activity you can easily make your own fingerpaint. Simply mix 1 tablespoon of cornflour with a little water until you get a thick, milky paste. Pour on some boiling water whilst stirring quickly. Repeat quickly until the paste turns thick, clear and smooth. Add colour to the mixture with either some non-toxic dye or food colouring. Allow to cool before giving it to your children to use and a large scrap book.
• Keep an eye out for free competitions that you can enter which is a great source of cheap entertainment, and if you win something it will really make your day.
• Rather than buying magazines and newspapers you can nowadays read some or all of them online, which will save you money each week.

Cheap Entertainment Activities for the Kids

• For the busy parent who is sick and tired of their children saying 'I'm bored' then we have come up with a wide range of fun and cheap activities for teens and kids designed to not only keep them entertained but to also teach them creative life skills and new crafts. These activity ideas include:
• Get some butchers paper and water colour paints and learn to paint together. Alternatively, to avoid the mess, have a drawing competition amongst the children.
• Instead of watching TV get the board games out of the cupboard and have a family game. There are also hundreds of games that you can teach the kids to play with a single deck of cards.
• Let the kids help you to bake some cookies (and not just help you eating them).
• Bake a cake with the children and then get them to decorate it.
• Find a cheap musical instrument like a flute, harmonica, etc and learn to play music.
• Teach the children hand-eye coordination by learning how to juggle.
• Make some cool clothes for for teenagers with some old white T-shirts and permanent dye.
• If you have had a recent holiday of major event get the kids to make a scrapbook about it.
• You can perform some basic home renovations and keep the kids entertained by getting them to help you to paint or decorate the their own room.
• Go on a nature hunt in your own backyard by searching for interesting looking insects and other creatures.
• With digital cameras and camcorder you can teach the children about photography and movie making by taking some pictures of nature and then making a slide show or short movie on a computer.
• Get the children to make their own kites and then take them to a local park and learn to fly it.
• Create a cubby house or fort in your own living room out of blankets or large cardboard boxes.
• To teach the children about camping and nature pitch a tent in the backyard and sleep outside without electricity.
• Enjoy some relaxing time with the family with some nature activities like packing a picnic and going to either the park or beach at sunset.

Cheap Kids Birthday Party Activities

• Trying to keep a group of toddlers or kids happy, active and entertained at a birthday party can be a trying experience, but with a little bit of planning and forethought you can provide a variety of fun games that everyone will enjoy. Some of these kids games include:
• The good old traditional game of hide and seek is a fun family activity.
• Have a themed birthday party and have all of the children dress up in appropriately (ie: fairy dresses for a little girls birthday or super heroes for a boys birthday).
• Wrap up lots of little kids presents, bury them in shredded newspaper and have a lucky dip.
• A favourite game for children in 'simon says' where they all have to do what the adult says, but only if 'simon says' to do it.
• Playing a game of 'musical chairs' is lots of fun for kids and a real crowd favorite.
• A great toddlers activity at birthday parties is dancing to music.
• Nursery rhymes like 'ring a ring a roses' is ideal for toddlers and for small children as it keeps them active and entertained.
• You can make your own bubble mixture from water and washing detergent and this provides a fun, cheap activity for children not only at a birthday party but also during school holidays.

Activities for Teenagers and Kids in the Car

• There can be nothing more frustrating for parents travelling on a long road trip than a car full of bored children. So to try and alleviate this problem as much as possible we have a range of fun activities for teenagers and kids that will keep them entertained whilst they are in the car. These car activities include:
• Playing word games. A really good word game is to start with a topic (ie: countries) and then you all take it in turns to say a non-repeated country that begins with the letter that the previous person's word ended in. (ie: France => Ethiopia => Australia, etc). When the game finishes you can just start again with a different topic.
• Get the kids to play spotto, where they have to keep a lookout for a list of predefined objects and the first person to see the object gets to cross it off his or her list. Make up the list before you leave home and put things on it like orange car, post box, telephone box, etc. Try not to make the items to hard to find otherwise the kids may get bored.
• A good game for teenagers and kids when you are travelling on the open road and the traffic is few and far between is car cricket. The idea is that you have a predefined set of rules for scoring (ie: truck/bus = 6 runs, black car = 2 runs, blue car = 1 run, etc) and a common vehicle such as a white car meaning that you lose a wicket and are out. Then all you need is a piece of paper for writing down your scores and a keen eye. As each vehicle goes past you either score runs or you lose a wicket and when you have lost 10 wickets then you total up all of your runs. Then you swap players are the person with the highest runs total wins.
• Pack a CD full of the family's favourite songs or classic tunes and have a sing-a-long in the car. You may even want to try karaoke in the car where each person takes it in turn to sing a song by themselves.
• Take a stack of trivia questions with you from a board game or book and have a trivia contest contest amougst the car's passengers.
• If all else fails then you may have to resort to the ever faithful computer activities to perform the necessary distraction. Kids and teenagers will generally not even make a sound when they are playing a game on a Nintendo DS or other such gaming console. The only problem with this is that you need to make sure that each kid has their own game and that you have a sufficient supply of batteries with you in the car.