Saving money: rent movies instead of seeing them in the theater

Movies are one of America's cheapest past times, yet the price to go out to the movies climbs every year. But even with movie prices climbing, there are ways to save some green for your cash reserve. You can still see the block-buster hits without the theater price. Renting movies rather than seeing them in the theater is one more way to save money on your entertainment costs.

The average cost of a movie ticket is $7.50. The rental cost at Blockbuster for a new release is $3.99 and the price to rent an older film is $2.50 or 2 DVDs for $5. Some movie places will rent new releases and older movies for even less. It normally takes 4 - 6 months for a movie to come out on DVD to rent, so if you don't mind waiting a little while you can save quite a bit. A couple can see a movie in the theater for $15 if they don't buy drinks and popcorn, but usually they end up spending around $30 for a night at the movies. A family can spend the entire entertainment budget for the month on one night at the movies. If you wait and rent the movie at Blockbuster when it comes out rather than see it in the theater, you will save at least $10 every movie night for a couple, and if you're the popcorn and a drink kind of couple (or family), you can save $21 or more to put directly into your cash reserve. Popcorn, drinks and treats from the store are at least a third of the price as from the theater, around $4 versus $15. If you do movies every weekend, you can save $84 a month by renting movies rather than seeing them in the theater and bathroom breaks don't take nearly as long.

If you use a rental service like Red Box, your rentals are even cheaper and you save even more money for your cash reserve. Red Box rentals are $1 per night. Most movies you only keep for a night anyway so it's a $1 movie from Red Box plus popcorn, drinks, and treats which could come to about $5 altogether or you could spend $30 for a couple for the same experience at the theater and $60 for a family of four who likes their popcorn. How does 90% savings sound? If you rent from Red Box rather than see movies in the theater, you could put as much as $55 per movie night into your cash reserve, or $220 per month.

Some movie rental stores will give you an even greater discount on rentals if you buy a membership. Just $20 a month gets you unlimited rentals at Blockbuster. You could have movie night every night, both new releases and old favorites, and still save at least $10 over one night at the movies. If you still only stick with four movie nights a month, it would cost a family of four $30 x 4 nights which equals $120 a month without popcorn and drinks, so if you get a rental membership you could put at least $100 a month in your cash reserve.

If you see a movie in the theater once a month and rent all the other weekends, you'll still save at least $50 a month with a movie rental membership, $75 a month with Red Box rentals and treats, and $66 a month with a regular Blockbuster rental.