This has been a big factor in my cutting down on concerts, sporting events, and movies.

absolutely! by becoming as frugal as you can, you cut out enough fluff to invest in what matters over paying for your daily grind. you’re freeing up opportunity time/money.

Since I’ve pretty much written off that money, buying things with it becomes, not a question of asking “Should I or shouldn’t I?” but rather, “is this really worth $22 to me?” And I really like that psychological effect. I can buy D&D sourcebooks guilt-free, but I am strongly incentivized to look for the best price on them. Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because . . . hey, it’s my only fun-money, and I wont get any more until next month. May as well get two books instead of one. . .

It has the odd effect that I haven’t been to the movies in like five years. I could, any time I wanted to (and I did go, for Lord of the Rings…), but I mean . . . that’s $9 of fun-money! That’s like a whole discount D&D sourcebook, or half a hot-new-boardgame. Two hours of maybe-meh is worth about $1.25 in my current fun-money economy.

Some months, the competition for those $50 is pretty darn stiff. I’ve got like six things in the backlog, and come October, it’s gonna be a tough rumble. I like it that way. More competitions means I get to maximize my experiences more. But tough competition also means certain experiences rarely make the cut. Movies haven’t made it in . . . like . . . well, since I started doing this.

When our local grocery store runs those “Buy x, get free movie tickets” I do them. Always. I figured it out, and I spend (on average) $4 more than I otherwise would. For two tickets. Then we consistently use them at the same theater. They’re glad to have them, especially when six of us come in together.

We signed up for their movie watcher program. The passes credit just as if we’d paid full price. That gets us discounts on concessions, and the occasionally freebie. Then we buy one supersize popcorn and a supersize soda. They’re refillable. And the manager said as long as we’re not transferring them to other containers, it’s okay to share.

Last trip to movies for six people: $4 x 3 for the tickets, $8.50 for the popcorn; $5.50 for the soda, for a total of $26.

LOL! The overpriced fake food and sodas are what keep movie theaters in business, alas. I usually go with friends who do buy that stuff, and it’s really hard to resist a pop or a bag of 1000%-inflated popcorn with icky fake butter when everyone else is buying giant packages of it. How many times can I pretend to have an upset stomach or still to be full from lunch (six hours ago…) without triggering their suspicions that the real truth is I’m an unregenerate cheapskate?

Wait. They already know that.

But knowing the theater owner makes his living from selling that stuff, I can’t bring myself to cheat by sneaking in a bag of popcorn (with real butter!) in my purse. Less guilt-inducing to rent a movie (or get it free from the library) and enjoy wonderful fresh-popped corn (with real! butter!!) or some fresh-made chocolate chip cookies in the comfort of home.

Re frugality, I pay $600/month in rent in the Bay Area, drive a 10 year old car, bring lunch to work, and carry no credit card debt.

The end result: Roth and 401k are funded, I’ve got my emergency fund, and am saving for a down payment– hope to buy when the market tanks even further. There is no way I could have done this in the stock market… It is definitely possible to get places with hard work and a little luck.