See the National's for less this season

This summer, see more Red for less green when going to a National's game.  With a little prior planning, it can be relatively inexpensive to see the National's this season.  Ticket prices can be as low as $5 for some games.

Discounted tickets

In addition to the family fun days that the National's offer, where one can get a ticket, hot dog, chips and soda for $14, merchants, such as Harris Teeter, offer discounts as well.  By joining the Junior Nationals club, kids can get discounted Nats tickets and other goodies.  Other discounted tickets are also periodically offered through event newsletters, like Goldstar.  Usually, these deals last for only a short period, first come, first serve, so snoozing and losing is the order of the day.

At National's park

Once at the park, or at least near it, for older kids, meaning adults, there are ways to save, too.  The relatively new Bull Pen is a lot of fun.  The Bull Pen has a beer tent, games, hot dogs, bands, and more.  Best of all, it's right outside the metro which means one can load up on food and beverages for less before going into the stadium.  Of course, the hot dog vendors still exist, too, which are even cheaper than the Bull Pen prices.  But, as National's park becomes move developed, don't expect street vendors to be there forever, though.

Bottom line

Seeing top quality entertainment, and your favorite National's players, can be just as affordable as it is fun.  Plan ahead and go out to the Park this summer for less.  It can be one of the least expensive entertainment options around that everyone can enjoy.

Alternatives to Cable Movie Channels and Netflix

If you are considering cutting back on your cable bill because of movie channels or other features you don't want, rest assured that there are lower cost alternatives that will allow you to still enjoy hit movies without paying for duds every month.  I try to avoid recurring charges, if possible.  Cable is a hold out in this department.


If you are ready to dump your movie channels or Netflix, consider using Redbox.  If you aren't familiar, it's a giant red box that you can find in grocery stores that dispenses movies for a $1 day (maybe higher in some places).  While it's almost a throwback in terms of going out and renting movies (like Blockbuster in its glory day), Redbox is really inexpensive and the movies are first rate.  Best of all, you can often find promotion codes that will give you free rentals.  Currently, the code BREAKROOM works, and I used it two weekends ago.  I rented "Angels and Demons" for nada.  Keep that code handy, but before you go, Google Redbox + promotion codes and see what you can find.  Write down any codes available and see what else might work as users have posted many codes.  And, if you sign up with Redbox, you will get a free coupon via email when you do.


After you view your movie, you can return it to any Redbox location, which is awesome.  So, it's almost like Blockbuster, but without the khaki pants.

How To Get Free Education

This November's issue of Money has a great feature on taking advantage of free educational materials, such as lectures, that are being offered by top universities, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.  There are a variety of subjects, ranging from technology to business to history, of which you can learn.  There are a lot of lecture materials available free from iTunes' store as well.  While you won't end up with a degree, and many would argue that there is no substitute, the knowledge you are gaining just might help you excel in your career field, and impress your friends at parties.


While on this topic, it's important to think about the down time that you might have during your normal commute to work in which you can partake in these lectures.  I am fortunate that I can slap on some headphones and listen away on the train to work.  For those who have to drive, consider free iTunes podcasts as a way to 1) pass the commuting time more easily; 2) learn something; 3) prevent brain rot that can happen with some morning radio shows.  If you think about it, in a working lifetime, if you spend 2 hours a day commuting, and you work at least 30 years, that's the equivalent of about 15,000 hours that you could be learning something.  (I used 50 weeks * 2 hours * 5 days to arrive at that figure.)  A two hour commute might be conservative for some, and given how our economy has become fragile, working 30 years is not realistic for many anymore.  But, you get the point.

Using my lesson from the other day about buying used electronics, it's worth the investment in your brain to purchase a portable Mp3 player and tote around some lessons from your favorite lecturers.  Your brain will thank you for it.

How To Get More Free Entertainment

I am just getting warmed up on discussing free activities in your local area. Today, the theme is "staycations." If you aren't familiar with a staycation, it's when one takes time off of work and just sort of stays put or stays local as opposed to heading out of town.  Since times are lean, this concept is growing in popularity. 

Well, I have news.  You don't have to just stay put because your wallet is not up for it.  Enjoy the great outdoors with the bonus benefit of not dealing with as many annoying tourists. A hint: when you come across other hikers/tourists in National Parks, they are typically among the friendliest, most considerate you can meet. There are exceptions of course. Yosemite, which is by far one of the top parks in the nation, does seem to attract a wide swath of tourists. They have many pedestrian accessible paths (and even a tram) that tends to attract loud folks that might be better off at the mall.

In DC, we had a nice weekend last Sunday before it got crappy here to do a local day hiking trip. I am pretty lucky that Rock Creek National Park is literally in my backyard. Awesome doesn't begin to describe it.  For those who haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?

For everyone else, I recently came across a very cool site that O'bama's people put together, RecData.gov. This site is basically a clearinghouse of National Park locations. While it may be a more fancy way of just packaging existing National Park Service information, I was impressed.  It's easy to find your local park by searching for it by state.

Now go out and get going!

How To Watch Free TV

These days, we can all look at ways to cut our bills.  Something that might go overlooked in your household is your cable bill.  While there are ways to reduce that, such as by decreasing the amount of HD extreme sports packages you have, losing that arcane foreign language station that looks better at the State Department cafeteria than in your own home, or simply negotiating with your provider for a better deal, there are alternatives.  iTunes has been around for a few years now and offers television shows and movies for rent or ownership and major television networks stream their shows for free.  Whatever your favorite show is, go to their network website and see if you can watch it online.  Chances are it does and the quality will surprise you.  While you will have to put up with a few ads, do you really need to buy that entire DVD collection about a show where people are on a stranded island trying to get home?  You may watch the whole thing once and spent all that cash.

Perhaps an even more efficient option is take advantage of one of the two (known) free, legal, legitimate, sanctioned online television and movie websites, Hulu or Fancast.  These sites will stream your current favorite shows for free, on-demand, 24/7.  They also have free movies, which tend to be about 5-10 years old (or more) but contain classic favorites, too.


Now, take the extreme measure, if you dare, by cutting back, or canceling your cable t.v. subscription altogether.  Chances are you only watch a couple of shows anyway.