MOVIES

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Movie tickets cost Americans $9.5 billion in 2003, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners, a Washington, D.C.– based group that represents film houses. For a family of four, going just once a month — 48 tickets a year — can be a big expense. Cut your movie costs by buying corporate bulk tickets, like those offered by Regal Entertainment Group (www.regmovies.com), the biggest theater chain in the country. Regal sells blocks of 50 “VIP Super Saver” tickets that let you go to movies that have been showing for at least 12 days. At $5.50 each, these tickets are up to 40 percent less than regular tickets (depending on the region). You can also find price breaks through Working Advantage (www.workingadvantage.com), which offers discounts of up to 40 percent on movie tickets and DVD rentals through more than 4,000 companies and organizations, or through Entertainment (www.entertainment.com), which charges $25 to $45 for books of half-price coupons for movies and live events.

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE

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At up to $2.50 each, those calls to directory assistance can really inflate a telephone bill. In 2004 Americans called 411 an average of two times a month, says Kathleen Pierz, managing director of the Pierz Group, a directory-assistance consulting and research company based in Clarkston, Michigan. To stop throwing away money on the operator, try looking up numbers in the phone book (store a magnifying glass next to it if you have trouble reading the tiny type) or on free websites, such as WhitePages.com and SuperPages.com, that provide U.S. business and residential numbers. Not near a phone book or a computer? Both Google (www.google.com/sms) and UpSNAP (www.upsnap.com) offer free directory assistance that replies within a minute to a text-messaged request sent from a mobile phone.