How Watching the Local News Can Save You Money

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Are you wondering how watching your local news can save you money? Does the idea seem a bit ridiculous or silly? I guess it would to me if I heard it, but it really is true. Let me show you how.

The interesting thing about being committed to living a frugal lifestyle is that you develop a kind of “spideysense” when it comes to being in tune with ways to save money. Things that may not occur to others seem to jump out at me at times, and as you focus on living frugally they will to you as well.

This is how I came to realize these savings as I watched my local news the other day while they were featuring a local business. As the featured business of the day, that business was offering a discount to those who came in and mentioned seeing their store on the news. And, I can recall numerous other times that this has happened as well.

This is only one way, however. Let me share with you five ways that watching your local news can save you money.

(this post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you)

Contests

Contests can seem kind of silly and trivial, but someone actually does win these contests. Why not you? I find that my local news stations often run contests around holidays, especially days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and they also seem more plentiful in the summer. Contests usually don’t take much effort on your part to enter, and like I said, someone has to win. If you watch a variety of local news stations or check their websites (most have a contest tab), you really could be one of the lucky winners at some point. Usually the prizes are quite amazing!

Events

Various news stations in my area run free events at different times, and many of these center around kids in the summer. The thing with these events is that they are usually free, involve some sort of goody bag or prize package just for coming, and they also quite commonly feature a free meal. With as many kids as I have, free fun and a free meal is usually worth driving a little bit just for the adventure. Many of these events offer a raffle or some other way of winning larger ticket items, which is really pretty cool. I have won a variety of things over the years.

Featured businesses

This is what I mentioned in the beginning introduction here. There are so many businesses that are featured on my local news channels. While some are businesses that I don’t need right now, like life insurance at the present moment, there are also restaurants, retail stores, and places to go that are often featured on the news. If you watch the whole segment, you will almost always hear of a coupon code or discount that is being offered.

Drawings

This is similar to a contest, but generally they are even easier to enter. Sometimes you have to like their Facebook page or something simple like that, but just like with contests, someone has to win.

Trends

This is one of those things where it can make a big difference in the family budget if you pay attention to your local news. Our news stations always let us know when gas is going up (Gas Buddy is also an awesome free app on your phone that sends alerts) and also when prices are changing on other things. You can find out about businesses that are going out of business and offering deep discounts in addition to job fairs, farmer’s markets, and other traveling opportunities to save money. Many attractions have “family days” when discounts are offered to events and activities, and the best way of hearing about these things is on the news. Just the other day I learned that as a library card holder I can get discounts to various events in my community…just by watching the news.

You may not have given it much thought before, but your local news networks have their finger on the pulse of your city. Who better to keep you informed of what’s going on and how best to do it?

Every penny counts these days, and since saving money is trendier than ever, your local news networks are often sharing different ways to do this in your community. Watching the local news really can save you money, and just like in most things, small savings add up to big savings over time.

By the way, we don’t have cable or dish, but this is how we watch the news and get a few channels. It has worked great for us for over two years!