How a Home Cinema System Can Save You Money!

With everyone tightening their belts at the moment, and the prices of everything we need going up, many of us are keeping a closer eye on our bank accounts – and boy is it boring! But what if we could save money and still have fun? We have been tapping away at our calculators and found out just how you can SAVE money by investing in your own home cinema system!

Lets get things clear to start with – owning a home cinema system is a huge amount of fun. It brings enjoyment and satisfaction in bucket loads. Not only does it make the films we watch more enjoyable, but we als then tend to watch more of them, and hence get more enjoyment. When you add to that the health and mental benefits from the relaxation, escapism and the knowledge we gain, you have some pretty decent reasons for getting your own system.

But today we are putting our accountants hats on and looking at things from a purely fiscal point of view, and finding out what the bottom line is when it comes to a decent return (saving) from our investment.

Where You Can Save Money

  • No more trips to the cinema
    With your own home cinema system, as long as you can wait a few months for the DVD to come out, trips to the cinema will be a thing of the past. That’s right, no more queuing to see a film where you will have to sit in the very front row, next to someone eating the noisiest packet of sweets in existence or behind the only person in the cinema who is constantly talking to their mate. You will be able to sit on your warm comfortable sofa, pausing the film when you need a bathroom break and marvelling at your wonderful surround sound.
    And that’s without mentioning the money you’ve saved – tickets are at least £5 these days, popcorn and snacks another £5, £3 to drive and park, and another £3 for the obligatory post film pint. Assuming there is two of you, that’s about £29! Hardly a cheap night out and assuming you do it once a month, that’s a big saving.
    Saving per year: £348
  • Rent movies rather than buying them
    DVD and Blu-ray discs have massively come down in price – from the heady days when you were looking at £25 each, they now cost around £12 for a new release, down to about £3 for an older film. Whilst there are always films that we will want to watch and keep, there are even more where ‘one watch will do’, and that’s where online movie renting comes in. With deals starting at around £4 a month for 2 DVDs, it is substantially cheaper than purchasing. We reckon we purchase about two films a month at £10 each, that we won’t watch again, and could have rented instead.
    Saving per year: £192
  • Fewer trips to the pub/bar with the lads/girls.
    Its a week-night, and there is nothing to do – so you and your mates/girlfriends take a trip to the pub/bar for a few drinks. Why not have a regular film evening instead?! You take it in turns to choose a film, bring along a few of your favourite beverages and snacks, and enjoy a perfect boys/girls night in. Even taking the cost of your bought in food and drink into account you’ll still be saving around £4 a week.
    Saving per year: £208

    • Total saved per year: £748

    The Grand Total Savings

    So if we total all those figures up, we get a pretty healthy saving, but we’re not finished yet because an accountant would work out the savings over the lifetime of the equipment. So lets say the equipment lasts and remains good quality for 5 years before we need to upgrade or replace and work out the final figures:

    Total 5 year saving: £3740

    We think you’ll agree that’s quite a saving, and even if you are modest, that will still buy a damn good system. Even if you spend £500 on a Home Cinema Amplifier amplifier, £500 on a set of speakers a new LCD Television, and all the speaker and HDMI cables, you’ll still only spend about half of that amount. And as good home cinema systems can be bought for about £200 these days, you could save even more! So what are you waiting for?!

    Of course, if we followed all our own advice to the letter and never went out again, we would live pretty dull lives! But if anyone you know needs persuading that a home cinema is a good investment and can actually save you money – now you have the proof!

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    One Comment to “How a Home Cinema System Can Save You Money!”

    Navonil Mukherjee on June 8, 2009 said:

    One word for you guys. UNBELIEVABLE!

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