Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment

Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment options are always the top of my list. This summer we have been busy taking advantage of all the free and near free events we can attend. It’s easy if you have many hobbies and interests so you can pick from various forms of entertainment. I am a huge automotive nut, mountain biking, hiking, music fan, movie fan, and doing anything where people gather in celebration for holidays or charity.

Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment That I Have Done June 1 – Aug 24

Ducky Derby-

Women’s Crisis Center Charitable Event – Donation of $5 per Duck released into the river race. There are prizes of which we did not win but with bands playing and many booths creating a big street fair it is a lot of fun and usually the first even of the summer.

4 Car/Hotrod Shows.

I participated in one where there was a $20 donation to the Veterans Memorial Fund and I attended the other 3 shows at no costs. I saw some awesome rides in some nice locales and met some great people.

4 Park Concerts.

These were spread out every couple of weeks. There was a 80s cover band, a Country Band, a Journey Cover Band, and a Jazz Concert. These were at a park that is walking distance to my home so we load up the wagon with our camp chairs and cooler. All free.

2 Town Concerts.

Both were really good events with Rock/Blues bands brought in where the main streets of town were closed. Both Free except for any concessions we wanted to buy.

2 Outdoor Movie nights.

Big inflatable screens are put up in town, grab your chairs and watch a movie. One was no cost and the other costs us $25 that went towards the Downtown Merchants Association for the two of us. The fee included a stainless steel martini glasses and fancy appetizers. Martinis were $7, beer $5. It was a date night event and their fund-raiser to be able to continue offering other free future events in town.

Taste of Douglas County (my county)

Restaurants come to the County Convention Center and give out tasty samples. Cost is $10 in advance, $20 at the door, but our cost was free. My wife got some free tickets from her bank. They were one of the sponsors.

Watched 2 Bicycle Races

There have also been 2 Bicycle Races I watched portions of and I have caught some musical acts at the local coffee shop/bar and biergarten. Sure I may buy a beverage but the price of one or two drinks is well worth the entertainment provided.

Take a Cooler

At other times when appropriate we take with us a small soft sided cooler to the events and always have a water bottle. We try to support the events but don’t spend a bunch of money on concessions. I always have my entertainment budget in mind.

Early Retiree Frugal EntertainmentI am sure I am missing some events we attended as I am just winging this but if the bullet item events above represented only one event per week it would be 14 weeks out of the 12 week period I am writing about. Obviously some weeks had multiple entertainment offerings where they occurred mid-week and weekends which is why I say we have been very busy this summer and very successful taking advantage of Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment opportunities.

How I Find My Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment

Even though being an early retiree means having more free time to investigate and plan for recreation and entertainment, for those still working and on their financial independence journey, having less time shouldn’t be too big of an obstacle. That is because it is fairly simple for anyone to find frugal entertainment options if just taking the time to seek them out and then keeping track of them.

Bulletin Boards

For local entertainment I find most of them by looking at the bulletin boards placed in the businesses I often go to. Most people walk right past them. Start taking the time to browse the boards to see if anything is there that strikes your interest. Coffee Shops, Banks, Grocery Stores, Auto Parts Stores, mechanic shops, etc. Some stick posters on their shop windows. If the business is a sponsoring business for an event or part of the organization sponsoring the event don’t be shy. If it’s a paid event ask if they have discount coupons or free tickets for their customers, i.e. YOU. We got free tickets to the “Taste Event” and a Buy One, Get One offer for the movie date night from our bank.

The Library

Go to the library and look through their community newspapers. Many entertainment events are advertised or are in there as announcements in the local community papers. It is not unusual for your Library to offer a chance for a little educational based entertainment too. Not that long ago I signed up for gardening classes at my library that was taught by a Master Gardner from a nearby nursery. It was free, informative, and I met some really cool new people in town. There was also a lot free giveaways like seeds and plants. Don’t forget to ask the librarian if they have any discount coupons or free tickets for local events.

Go On-Line and Check Community websites

Most counties, towns, and even subdivisions (neighborhoods/developments) will host free events and post them to their website. You will also find Chamber of Commerce and Merchant Associations associated to your community with websites to check. This is where I can find out about concerts in the park, concerts downtown, charity events, street fairs and sometimes even car shows. For bike races I look at our Parks and Recreation website. You should be able to find event calendars or lists of entertainment opportunities.

Facebook, Twitter, and email

sign-up with your favorite event sponsoring entities and get notifications when they are sponsoring an event. For example, I know our local biergarten and my favorite coffee-shop sponsors a few entertainment events each year. This way I get a notification when they start making their announcements. I get email alerts from my town and Facebook updates from the merchants association, etc.

Slow Down and Read the signs, hear the conversations

I think the biggest tip here is to slow down and pay attention to what is going on in your community. People will always mention things that is going on but you have to hear it to remember it. Pay attention and even ask people if they have heard of any new events coming.

Web Search your Favorite Locations

When you feel like going to the Zoo, Aquarium, Museum, etc., do a web search on them and find out when they have a free attendance day or if they offer a discounted time-frame. Being retired means you have time to go during off-peak attendance days or times and can get in for free or lower cost. Most movie theaters offer off-peak time movie ticket discounts so take advantage of them. You can also expand your search for all communities/cities near you by using a national event listing site called Eventbrite that I have found some fun frugal things to do.

In Closing

There are so many Frugal Entertainment opportunities that we have to pass on some of them. There is no reason to ever say money keeps us from having any fun. For my wife and myself, Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment is just a part of our lifestyle. We even seek frugal entertainment this way when we travel to find cool events to attend while on vacation.

Do you have some other ways to find frugal entertainment?

4 thoughts on “Early Retiree Frugal Entertainment

  1. We live close to the beach in Florida, so ours include going to the beach, free concerts in the small beach communities, and hanging out with friends. It’s cool to see how you find your activities.

    1. Thanks for the comment Steve. I bet there is a lot of free entertainment in the Beach communities near you. We hit the Southern CA beaches every fall and find what is going on for some free vacation time entertainment. I would love to trade our mountain lifestyle for a beach one some day but for now we are staying close to our Kids and grand-kids. I would hope that no matter were people live that there are frugal entertainment opportunities.
      Tommy

  2. Love it ,I always love learning more about the people writing the blogs I’m reading but I rarely click over to the About Me section for some reason.

    Wow ,way to go on nailing your savings rate. I feel like a slacker at 20-25%, but NYC is freaking expensive and production manager’s do not make a ton.

    Homesteading is awesome too. How terrific that you and your wife’s outlook on things changed at the same time and in the same way.

    1. Thanks for the comment Darell. I wouldn’t call your 20-25% savings rate slacking. My story starts out much lower than that percentage and when the money increased then so did my savings rate.
      Tommy

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