Last Updated on September 5, 2020 by Ellen Christian
As a mom of two teenagers, a good part of our family budget is taken up by what I will call entertainment. My son is 17 and my daughter is 20. Plus, my daughter’s boyfriend is living with us (just out of the army) until they can get on their feet. Like most modern families, we are fully connected and entertained by our technology.
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Save Money on Family Entertainment
So just what is in our entertainment category? For us, it’s books, magazines, video games, gaming, keeping in touch with friends, television, movies, etc. It’s all the ways we unwind and relax at the end of a long day. When you add it all up, entertainment can take a good sized bite out of your budget. I’ve discovered ways that saving money on family entertainment is not only possible but easy.
- Books – Everyone in the house loves reading except my son. To say that we have a lot of books would be an understatement. For space reasons, we read most of our books as ebooks. We just don’t have more room for physical books. The Kindle app is a great way to read books and there are a lot of free ebooks available. The Windows Store has several apps available that will list all the free ebooks for you. Great way to save money on books. The 8″ 1280×800 HD Screen on my Nextbook is the perfect size for reading.
- Magazines – I found a neat app in the Windows Store called Issuu that lets you explore over 15 million publications for free. This includes magazines and catalogs so it’s a great way to cut down on all that paper clutter. Flipping through quickly, I saw fashion, food, sports and a lot more.
- Video Games & Gaming – Everyone in the house loves video games and gaming. My husband likes Bejeweled and games like Age of Sparta. My son loves Grand Theft Auto and Assasins Creed. My daughter and her boyfriend play strategy games like Age of Empire and I love farm games and hidden object games. Most nights will find most of us playing some sort of video game. The Windows Store has all sorts of game apps and there are a bunch of XBox games as well that you can buy. My Nextbook is powered by an Intel Atom Processor so it’s perfect for gaming.
- Keeping in Touch with Friends – A lot of the time, the easiest way for me to keep in touch with friends is via Facebook chat or Skype. Everyone is connected today and the Skype app is super easy to use even for people who aren’t really technical. Using Skype, you can make audio calls for free.
- Television and Movies – There are so many apps in the Windows Store for watching television shows and movies. There is my favorite, Netflix, but also HuluPlus, Flixster, Roku, Comedy Central, Nick, GoPro Channel and even the Disney Channel and History Channel.
I love how versatile my Nextbook Windows 8.1 Tablet is. Not only does it have tons of amazing apps available from the Windows Store, it also has OneDrive, Office 365 and Internet Explorer! Of course, there are so many more things I can use it for besides entertainment. It has a bunch of weather apps, finance apps, apps for social media and photo editing and even music apps.
It has an 8″ 1280×800 HD resolution screen with Capacitive Multi-Touch Technology. It has an Intel Atom Processor (Z3735G), 2M cache and up to 1.83 GHZ. It has 1GB DDR3 Ram and 16GB internal storage with a MicroSD card slot expandable up to 64GB! It even has Bluetooth! Plus, it comes with a free one year subscription for Office 365 Personal that includes 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage and 60 Skype world minutes per month
With all this capability, I was expecting that the Nextbook Windows 8.1 Tablet would be on the expensive side but it’s only $99 and is available at SamsClub and Walmart. This is definitely a great way to save money on entertainment.
One of my readers will win their own Nextbook Windows 8.1 Tablet:
Product provided.
Ellen is a busy mom of a 24-year-old son and 29-year-old daughter. She owns six blogs and is addicted to social media. She believes that it doesn’t have to be difficult to lead a healthy life. She shares simple healthy living tips to show busy women how to lead fulfilling lives. If you’d like to work together, email info@confessionsofanover-workedmom.com to chat.
I would use it for emails.
I would use it to read, of course! I love books and have been planning to get a kindle for a while now 🙂
i would use it for social media.Â
Probably read some books after downloading the kindle app
I would first download and watch some shows on Netflix.
I would use it for catching up on the news.
Honestly, the first thing I will do is use it for learning French via downloading various language study tools.
We are getting ready to travel over the road for my husbands new trucking job. I would use this to stay in touch with family and friends back home.
I would love to use this tablet for checking my emails, music, videos, and games.
I would watch something on it! Either on Netflix or Amazon!
Stay in touch on social media
I would watch a movie on netflix.
I would check my email
My daughter would use this for her school work and for also reading. She loves books.
I would use it to watch videos on.
I’d download the Kindle app and let my husband use it for reading. He reads A LOT
I left my pin link in the comment entry. I commented on your Easter bunny towel craft.
I would use it to read News, blogs and social media.
I would check emails and watch a movie.
I would use it to check emails and play games on.
I would first use the Nextbook Windows 8.1 Tablet at the gym to read the newspaper and watch shows.
I would watch television shows on this tablet.
I would give it to my son to use in his college classes. Otherwise, I would use it to read some books.
I would use this tablet to watch movies at the gym.
I would check e-mails first and download apps.
I would download netflix and watch a movie
I would use it to check my email and go on Facebook and Twitter
I would use it to check my email and go on Facebook and Twitter
I would check e-mails first.
I would use it to read all my favorite blogs and websites- like TMZ…. and this one !:) 🙂
I would use it to read the newspaper-look at ads for stores, email my family and look at Facebook and yahoo!
I would like to watch videos
I would use it to watch tv shows and videos the most.
watch videos
Watching movies in bed at night! So much bigger than my phone!
I would use it to tutor the kids I tutor that struggle academically.
I would use it for emails and social media.
I would check my school email…after installing Chrome. 🙂
I;m gonna use it to watch videos!
i would give to my mom so she could do work on it
I’d use it to watch Netflix and scour Pinterest pins!
I Would Use The Nextbook Windows 8.1 Tablet For Emails And Connecting To Friends And Family On Social Media.
I would use this for social media!
I’d use this for genealogy research and recipe searches for my collection.
thank you
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I would download the Kindle App first. Â I love to read!
I would download some couponing apps like Ibotta and Snap.
First I would use it to check my emails!! Â Although there are so many terrific things to do!!
id give it to my son so he can have something to help him learn withÂ