‘Date night’ on a budget
A delectable recipe for budget entertainment
Toronto-based author Gordon Stein drew on his personal finance expertise and his drive to help Canadians build wealth — and get out of debt — in writing Cashflow Cookbook.
His book offers 60 financial “recipes” and this month’s excerpt looks at less-expensive alternatives for date night that mix things up and help build wealth by investing the savings.
Thursday night was “date night” for Bruno and Jodi. For years they had gone to the movies, indulging in greasy popcorn washed down with 28 ounces of fizzing sugar.
It wasn’t doing their waistlines any favours, but it was a nice tradition.
One night in December, Bruno met Jodi for their date after her school board meeting. They jumped on the subway with no particular movie in mind.
As they strolled hand in hand, enjoying the festive lights and the tingle of fresh snow on their faces, they paused to look at the displays in the art gallery window.
Neither had set foot inside for decades. Their eyes met and they shared an unspoken “let’s check it out.”
Jodi pulled out her wallet at the admissions counter, but the clerk pointed to the “Free on Thursday” sign. Bonus!
They started in the Canadian gallery and learned about colour, style and meaning as used by artists they’d barely heard of.
They shared their reactions to the canvases and their ideas about what would work in their house.
At 7:30, they attended a session by a cellist who shared her compositions, the inspiration for her pieces and her journey to become a soloist.
As they walked back to the subway hours later, they realized they had forgotten about dinner. They found a hole-inthe-wall café and discussed the art and music over a low-cost meal.
Jodi grabbed her phone and they started a list of other fun, low-cost, healthy date night ideas, including the museum, concerts in the park, pay-what-you-can night at the local theatre and Groupon cooking classes.
The bill came and Jodi slid it to Bruno. He raised an eyebrow. “I got the art gallery,” she said, smiling.
Savings don’t show up only in mundane areas like car insurance, gas bills and groceries. Here’s a delectable, easy-to-execute recipe for budget entertainment: Ingredients For high-end, live entertain- ment consider the savings of subscriptions vs. individual tickets — or check sites like Groupon.com for deals.
For concerts, check for tickets on Kijiji. Be careful of scams.
Try BrownPaperTickets.com for reasonably priced local music, theatre and comedy, or watch for pay-by-donation nights and free preview performances.
Most movie theatre chains have a “cheap night,” and cinema loyalty points programs can save cash on admission and snacks.
For attractions, look at local sites like CityPass.com and provincial sites like AttractionsOntario.ca for coupons.
Do an online search for the name of the attraction you’re interested in and “coupons” before booking online. You might find a deal.
Check with Costco or other membership retailers to see if they offer discount vouchers.
Check with your employer, alumni association and automobile association for discounted tickets for events and attractions. Hearty serving for a family of five
Originally seeing five, highend theatre shows a year, two tickets at $130 each, or $1,300 annually.
Visiting family attractions (amusement parks, water parks, etc.) five times a year, for the equivalent of $125 monthly.
Bought theatre tickets to lessexpensive shows at BrownPaperTickets.com for $25 each, totalling $21 monthly.
Used Groupon passes to save 25 per cent on family attractions, for $94 monthly. New cost, $115 monthly. Savings, $118 monthly. Yield Monthly savings = $118. 10-year value x 173 = $20,414.