Comments on: Yes It Does Matter!

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:22:47 +0000

All right, all right! Uncle! I suppose I should have titled this post “it matters to me” – because as a lot of readers have pointed out, it’s a matter of opinion. For me, a movie ticket is a waste of money. But if you were to use the example of buying organic food, and asked me how much it costs, I would say that it doesn’t matter. I do know how much it costs, but it’s worth it to me, and the price doesn’t deter me from buying it. As Kara pointed out, if organic beets were all of a sudden $50 a bunch, I might reconsider. But for now, I don’t care at all if they are more expensive than the conventional ones.
And I promise not to rip on movie tickets again, as I can see that for a lot of people they are are really important and definitely worth the price

By: ginger

ginger — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:41:43 +0000

I have cut back in a lot of ways and consider myself frugal, but I absolutely will keep going to the movies. There really is nothing like seeing a great movie in the theater. I do free redbox mondays (and wednesdays occasionally) but to me, going to the movies is worth it. There are caveats–not all theaters are the same and it’s worth it to drive a little further to a nicer theater. The key is to get movie tickets for cheap or free. I redeem my credit card rewards for theater gift cards. Costco also sells discount tickets

By: GC

GC — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:17:33 +0000

movies are 6 bucks at my local theater on Sundays before noon so if I just HAVE to see it on the big screen, it’s a good deal

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:50:12 +0000

For the past two Christmases, my husband and I have each received movie theater tickets (for a movie of our choice, just not in the first two weeks of release) from my Grandma. That is a total of 4 movie dates for us. But since we have a one year old, and don’t generally go to the movies that often anyway, we still have three movie dates ahead of us at some point. We, like you, tend to only do things that involve our little one now. The exception is going out to dinner every now and then. We are fortunate that our babysitters are free and usually available for us to go out. We don’t get much time alone, so when we do have a date, we like to be able to talk, not sit next to each other quietly. We do watch a lot of movies at home, either on HBO or Starz (free promotion, I would never pay for a movie channel!). We record them and then watch them after our daughter goes to bed. We can watch in our jammies, make our own snacks, enjoy a glass of wine, and pause when we want to.
I actually have no idea how much a movie ticket costs in our area right now. Doesn’t matter…because we don’t go to movies. However, if going to movies was our preferred entertainment, it might not matter either. Everyone has an area where cost isn’t a prohibitive factor, and for some people it is movies. For others, it is organic food, or concerts, or a morning Starbucks. To some people, it seems silly to pay more in these areas, but to each their own.

By: Jennifer @ Joy of Frugal Living

Jennifer @ Joy of Frugal Living — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:07:34 +0000

I agree that the confusing part is him not being aware of what he is spending. We are fortunate to have a larger income, but the only way that will ever turn into lasting financial success is to know what we are spending.

So if movies are a worthwhile treat in his mind, that’s great. But I’m with you – no matter how much money we make, I want to know what I am spending!

(I agree with you too that with rare exceptions, movies are more fun at home anyway.)

By: Kara

Kara — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:48:58 +0000

Well knowing that he’d made a comment about wasting money prior to this makes a HUGE difference to the context of the whole conversation.

But even so … I wonder if the comment about not knowing how much the tickets cost is also being taken a little too seriously. If someone were to ask me “how much are movie tickets nowadays” my response would also be something along the lines of “I dunno … it doesn’t really matter”. Because it doesn’t. I know that they’re somewhere between $8 (a matinee) and $15 (if I go to the downtown theater) and really within that range, it actually doesn’t matter to me. It’s something that I choose to splurge on, and I’d choose to do so even if the tickets were $25 each. Maybe if it started costing me $50 a pop to go, I’d start reconsidering it.

Anyway … just another perspective here.

By: FrugalChick

FrugalChick — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:41:57 +0000

Wow, I do find that a bit amazing. Even though I love movies and going to the theater, I am *always* aware of much tickets cost and make sure I budget accordingly. Even if you live without a budget, how can you not even have a ballpark idea of what your movie tickets cost?

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:59:10 +0000

Kara,
That definitely was not my intention, so maybe I should clarify the point of my post. It’s not that he goes to the movies frequently that surprised us. It was the idea that he doesn’t know or care how much it costs. I’m a big fan of the idea that being frugal allows us to be able to spend money in areas we wouldn’t otherwise be able to. For example, we buy organic food – which we know is more expensive than conventional food – because it’s worth it to us. But we know how much it costs. Our friend had mentioned to us that he knows he “wastes a lot of money” (his words, not mine) earlier in the evening, and his comment that it doesn’t matter how much a movie ticket costs seemed to go along with that theme.

By: Kara

Kara — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:32:45 +0000

Not everyone has the same priorities and I have to say that you’re kinda coming across as condescending and a bit holier-than-thou in this post.

I go to movies in the theater once a week. Yes, I pay $12 per person to go to a theater. To me, the experience is worth it. Some movies are very much worth being seen on the big screen. I don’t care about the cost – like your friend.

OTOH, I drive a 14 year old car. I live in a 2 bedroom townhome (in an area where 4+ bedroom McMansions are more common). I grow most of my own veggies in the summer. I cook at home 9 nights out of 10 and I take my lunch to work with me rather than eating out. I (like your friends) have chosen not to have children.

I’m not a doctor or a lawyer either. And I don’t spend money wastefully. I just have different priorities. And for me, the purpose of living frugally in some areas is so that I am *ABLE* to indulge myself in others – like my love of movies, and my love of electronic gadgets.

Having those priorities is no more wrong than choosing to stay home and watch movies in your PJs (which is also fun and I do that as well).

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:27:43 +0000

Tee – Yup, we do sometimes get free rental codes. We typically work until pretty late in the evening on week days, so we normally only have a chance to watch movies on weekends. We watch some movies from the library, some from Redbox, but rarely spend more than two or three dollars per month for movies.