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Where do you spend your entertainment dollar?

Posted at 9:14 AM on December 16, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (4 Comments)

Conversations around the christmas tree* brought us to the understanding that we are strange. I should have known that egg nog was not required for me to come to this revalation, but I thought I would note that food is not the center of our locavore lifestyle. Yes, local food is important and is one piece of the puzzle, but it is not our primary focus. We look at every bill to see how more of that money can be spent to support the wonderful place that we live.

You see, I think that many Minnesotans have gotten complacent about the high quality of life here. I am sure you know many who grew up here, went to school here and then started a family. The problem with that is that you take for granted all that makes Minnesota great. You don't see that other people do have it hard, that taxes do go to pay for worthwhile causes, that everyone isn't always so beautiful. I am exaggerating, but I do describe Minnesota as the land of 70 percent-ers. Everything is above average, enough so that we are comfortable but not so far above average that it becomes intimidating.

Anyway - this is a long discussion for another time. The point of bringing it up is that Minnesota is great. Let's support the people who are doing the work to keep it that way. One of the bills we chose to reappropriate was the cable bill. If we ditched that bill we had about $700 to spend on local entertainment options. It can be done!

Here is the break down for us:
- Preview tickets to the Children's theater - we even had these before we had kids, maybe we are easily entertained? We have six shows
-Preview tickets to the Guthrie Theater - added this year, they have been great. We have 4 shows.
-Inside the Classics at the Minnesota Orchestra - a little music, a little music theory - perfect for some know-it-all types to build up their knowledge of a great subject. We have 3 shows.
-St. Paul Chamber Orchestra tickets. Do you know of their 20/30 club? You should! $10 Tickets to any show if you are 20 or 30. Get to it! We have 4 tickets.
-MN Swarm Lacrosse tickets. High scoring, high action and some information presented for us non-lacrosse types to again, build knowledge. We have a full season, 10 games.
-Flex 40 package to the MN Twins. Cheap seats, a good way to get some AC on those really Hot days. Have I mentioned I am cheap? 40 tickets.
-3 Random performances at the MN Orchestra. With the aforementioned season tickets, you get a discount on other tickets. We did some A Capella, comedy, Jazz and Opera to round out our performances for the year.
-Live shows - about $200 is saved for live shows throughout the year. It is usually my job to just win these tickets from the Current, but with the new voip phones at work, the dialing is slower so I fear I may never win again.
-Target free family concerts at both MN Orchestra and SPCO are things we try to win also, that is at least two more performances a year
-Museum Adventure passes at the Libraries. Do you use these? Free passes to local museums. We certainly do. They are part of our entertainment "budget" because they were previously things we had to pay for.

As many of you know, we don't have unlimited funds. What I have found is that making the commitment to the organizations when you do have money means that you get to have fun even in the times that you don't have money. We have entertainment stretching out as far as June of 2009. A lot of the items on the list are also things we have gotten as gifts in place of a more traditional toaster, or whatever people are giving this year.

Get creative. Fill all of those seats in the city. Keep everything local.

*we don't actually have a Christmas tree - more on that later

Comments (4)

Hi Sareen,
Thanks for being an inspiration to me this year. My mind's eye really enjoys imagining all the fun your little family has together (and all the yummy meals you create). You're just who Garrison Keillor is talking about when he sings Minnesota's praises. Keep up the good work.
Happy holidays,
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | December 17, 2008 8:07 AM

It is funny how much life does resemble what he is talking about. Yes - all fantasy and what not - but somedays up here it all seems just as he tells it!

A person does have to travel the world a bit though, to get perspective on how nice we have it and how to incorporate some what is going on outside of those there minnesota borders dontcha know? (said with my heaviest minnesota accent)

Posted by sareen | December 17, 2008 9:30 AM

Sareen,

I couldn't agree more. I have lived in North Dakota, Houston Texas, Barstow California, Salinas California, Portland Oregon and Harrison New York, (a suburb of NYC). And Minneapolis/Saint Paul are by far the best of all these places to live. My sister has also lived in various places across the country and we are both so very happy to be back here.

We congratulate ourselves weekly on all the splendid things about Minnesota. Where our taxes are actually used to support the community. Our thriving arts community is special. I admire the way you budget your entertainment. It is an inspiration and I am making plans for the next year. I have used the free museum passes. What a great program.

Merry Christmas

Posted by Diane | December 24, 2008 9:23 AM

Thanks for the inspiration. There are times when we are visiting others that we think MMMmm cable TV. In fact, baseball season really hurts. I love to watch. But alas. Our house has a speaker system that runs throughout the house. It was nice when we had TV so you knew when the commercial break was over, but even better now because we can listen to all MPR all the time.

Posted by sareen | December 24, 2008 11:09 AM