I live in Ottawa, so that and this being an excellently written article made me want to be first here. I think I probably know the theater (Gloucester) and the Dairy Queen (Hemlock and St. Laurent) in question which is eery but adds to the read for sure.
I'll splurge on a movie if it seems like it's worth seeing on a big screen, but I generally keep my concessions down to the beer that I always sneak in. Europe wrecked me for no-alcohol movie trips.
I've got friends who go out every weekend for a regular restaurant night to unwind from the week. From their description it seems like a full appetizer, dessert, and drinks affair and must ring in at about $80-$100 per trip, and then they talk about how saving is so hard. Weird, you just spent $5000 a year on a restaurant. It's that kind of tilted logic that makes me want to scream out loud and also laugh because getting ahead is so much easier than most people make it out to be.
I wish I had more Mustachian friends around so that I would be forced to raise the bar on being awesome but people who save and take pleasure in simple, free things are very few and far between.