NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - HSBC presents Week of Wimbledon

Activities include:

Complimentary Strawberries and Cream: Stop by our carts for a traditional Wimbledon treat distributed between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily.

For more info...

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - Free Yoga classes in Brooklyn

Every Monday night, from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, the YWCA of Brooklyn offers a free yoga class, with mats provided. What do you need to do?

1. Call Marie Guillaume to reserve your spot (718-875-1190 ext. 290);
2. Wear comfortable clothing; and
3. Arrive approximately 15 minutes before class stars.

Class is located at the YWCA of Brooklyn, on the 8th Floor of 30 Third Avenue (at State Street) in Downtown Brooklyn.

Free NYC Walking Tours

Free downloads of podcasts showcasing NYC sites that have been made famous in films and on TV are now available!

Courtesy of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, these hour-long podcast tours highlight the significance of each site & start downtown, in places like Tribeca, City Hall, and Battery Park. Click for more info and/or to download.

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - River to River Festival

Founded after September 11th in an effort to revitalize Lower Manhattan, the River to River Festival is now in its seventh year. The festival runs June through August, featuring free performing arts events at a number of locations downtown, including:

• Battery Park;
• Castle Clinton;
• The Elevated Acre at 55 Water Street;
• Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts;
• One New York Plaza;
• Rockefeller Park;
• Seaport;
• Wagner Park;
• the World Financial Center; and
  
• Zuccotti Park.

Sign up for alerts by email or text or check in frequently on the site calendar for upcoming performances of the spoken word, dance, play, and/or concert variety. From indie pop to Puccini, this is one festival you won't want to miss!

Bike Downtown Manhattan...For FREE!

Now through September 30th, the second annual Bike Around Downtown program is officially ON!

What this means: Registered members (it's free to join) can pick up a free rental bike at the Bike & Roll kiosk at the South Street Seaport for a free three-hour session, courtesy of the Downtown Alliance. Bikes can be returned back to the Seaport kiosk, or at Bike & Roll kiosks on Governors Island, Pier A in Battery Park or 12th Avenue and 43rd Street.

Why do they call it a "free rental," you ask? Because, when you register, you'll be asked for your credit card to leave a deposit. For more details on availability of helmets, wagons, and baby seats, read on!

Quamut

Every once in a while, I check quamut.com to see about the free how-to guide. They started out as a daily freebie, but have since changed to a weekly guide. Still, I've chanced upon a variety of topics, ranging from stargazing to bbq grilling (this week's topic, and just in time for Memorial Day!). And should you find a topic of interest to you, you can opt to read online and/or download the guide in pdf format. So nifty.

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - Central Park Summerstage 2008

Hit up my first Summer Stage outing of 2008 last night. Entitled "Comedy Central Park," the show featured popular comedians Stephen Lynch and Mike Birbiglia. Good times had by all. Check out upcoming Summer Stage dance, music, lit events!

Brooklyn Public Library's STEP

This one's for the NYC residents. Should you ever find yourself in need of a spot of career counseling, the Brooklyn Public Library has a program called Skills Training & Employment Program (STEP) that will set you up with a career advisor who can help you "develop a personalized career plan" as well as help you with:

• workshops in resume writing, interviewing and more;
• preparing for career placement tests; and
• improving your English.

Even niftier, STEP also offers:

• Career Cruising
  An interactive career guidance resource in English and in Spanish. Users can find help with occupational assessment, career exploration, educational planning, and portfolio development. (Available for use at the following locations: Central Library, Business Library, and the Marcy Branch.)
• Ferguson's Career Guidance Center
  A comprehensive career research database, organized by industry providing profiles of today's most popular jobs. It covers careers and career resources, as well as career preparation information, including scholarships, academic programs, non-academic programs, Web resources, and an employability skills checklist. (Available anywhere with an Internet connection and a library card.)
• Learning Express Library
  Test prep material and practice exams for the GRE, SAT, graduate school, civil service, technical and professional exams. (Available anywhere with an Internet connection and a library card.)

There are no residency restrictions listed for in the program description, and as I (a Brooklyn resident) can apply for a Manhattan library card, I presume that any NYC resident could apply for a Brooklyn library card. Or perhaps non-Brooklyn residents could call their local library to inquire about the availability of a comparable career-readiness program in his/her own borough!

Target First Saturdays @Brooklyn Museum

Every month, Target sponsors First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum. To start, visitors are greeted warmly in the sculpture garden by music that demands acknowledgement. Even if you're only comfortable swaying or tapping your foot, be assured: the music will move you. Literally.

Target First Saturdays offer a variety of quality programming, all for the price of standing in line at the Visitor's Center. (The suggested price of admission for the museum is $8, so contribute what you can to support the museum.) In June, planned First Saturday activities include artist discussions, Balinese music & dance, organic jewelry-making, and a showing of the movie, Singapore Dreaming. And, of course, the day closes in the parking lot with a First Saturday tradition: the dance party.

If you've time and mind to explore the permanent collections, know that the Brooklyn Museum collection has unimaginable breadth, from the Sackler Center for Feminist Art, to...well, who can describe the museum best but the museum itself:

"...the permanent collections include world-famous objects of ancient Egyptian art; notable ancient Middle Eastern material; important European paintings and sculpture; one of the most comprehensive collections anywhere of American paintings; representative drawings, prints, and photographs; contemporary art; decorative arts, including twenty-six period rooms; wide-ranging Asian works embracing the arts of China, Korean, Japan, and South and Southeast Asia; a remarkable concentration of Islamic art; enormous holdings of the indigenous arts of North, Central, and South America; major objects from the Pacific Islands; and one of the largest and finest collections of African art in the United States."

The museum's website is quite impressive, and I am most intrigued by their 360-degree webtour of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party:

"an important icon of 1970s feminist art and a milestone in twentieth-century art, is presented as the centerpiece around which the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is organized...comprises a massive ceremonial banquet, arranged on a triangular table with a total of thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history."

You can also search a database for information about works found in the Luce Center for American Art's visible storage area. Not to mention the rather detailed summaries of other parts of the museum found here. And art students & fashion lovers take note: the Takashi Murakami exhibit will be at the Brooklyn Museum until July 13, 2008. Enjoy!

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - Walk the Museum Mile on June 3rd

Every year since 1978, one special June evening finds revelers celebrating the Museum Mile Festival. Dubbed "New York's biggest block party," the festival spans 5th Avenue, including renowned museums from the Met at 89th, to Cooper-Hewitt (on 91st), to El Museo del Barrio on 105th.

For three hours only, join children wielding street chalk, and professional musicians & dancers as they enliven the streets and museums, bringing together an assortment of revelers. From New Yorkers from all walks, to the tourists who have planned their vacations to coincide with the festivities, all enjoy the fun & free admission to the 9 museums on the Mile.

For a complete listing of museums, visit the Museum Mile Festival website.

Free Orman book from Oprah

Apparently, I'm a cat that got the cream. I was able to download Suze Orman's Women & Money for free on February 14th, courtesy of Oprah. Unfortunately, the download was only available for 2 seconds days, and what I've been hearing is that a number of people downloaded incomplete files...if they managed to download anything at all. How lovely. For Suze Orman, that is. Because the Midas Oprah touch has now virtually guaranteed that women will now run to the nearest bookshop or to half.com and BUY an Oprah-touted "personal finance read" that is, quite frankly, a huge waste of time for someone with a computer & internet access.

If you're interested in discovering the difference between checking & savings accounts, W&M is your book (see page 73). Otherwise, try a personal finance blog like Get Rich Slowly or My Money Blog. One tidbit of interest I did find in W&M was an offer from discount broker Ameritrade, where you can earn an extra $100 at the end of the year IF you:

• open a brokerage account in your name
• set up an automatic deposit of $50+ per month for 12 consecutive months
• sign up between 2/27/07 and 3/31/08.

But I haven't researched other Ameritrade offers, so I don't know how good this offer actually is. So if contacting me is easier than checking out page 85 of W&M, email me for more details about page 85 instead. (Likewise if you're interested in hearing about the "Action Plan" quiz/checklist available on www.suzeorman.com - to the readers: see password provided on page 59.)

If you're still considering buying W&M, here's my frugal suggestion: visit your local library or bookstore and skim the book. If you find it will help start you on your road to financial awareness, please use it. But do not pay $15+* for it.

*As of this writing, Women & Money was available on eBay, Half.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders for $6-$15.

Jane Austen on Masterpiece Classic

This Sunday past, on January 13, 2008, I was able to record the first of six film adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, Persuasion.

It's a story of second chances between Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins), the second and only sensible daughter of a spendthrift baronet, and Frederick Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones), the now-successful lover whom she was persuaded to spurn eight years prior.

PBS will be showing the "Complete Jane Austen," film adaptations of all Austen's completed novels - as well as a nostalgic biography - on Sundays through April (barring the first three fundraising weekends in March):

• Northanger Abbey*, Austen's parody of Gothic novels, is showing on Jan. 20 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Mansfield Park, Austen's most thematically-rich novel, is showing on Jan. 27 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Miss Austen Regrets, a dramatization of Austen's real-life courtships, is showing on Feb. 3 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Pride & Prejudice*, starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet & Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy, is showing in three parts on Feb. 10, 17 & 24 @9-11pm;
  
  
• Emma*, starring Kate Beckinsale as the eponymous lovable, but misguided matchmaker, is showing on Mar. 23 @9-11pm; and
  
  
• Sense & Sensibility*, the happily-ever-after stories of the eldest Dashwood sisters, will be shown in two parts on Mar. 30 & Apr. 6 @9-10:30pm.

* These films are adapted by Andrew Davies, a British screenwriter known to stay very faithful to his adaptations of classic works of literature.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time, so check pbs.org for showings in your local area. For more background info on Austen or Regency England, click here. And lastly, to brush up on your Austen, visit Bibliomania!

Free Writing Classes in NYC

If you've ever walked three to five city blocks in Manhattan, you may have noticed a yellow kiosk or two holding booklets for Gotham Writers' Workshop. GWW offers free hour-long classes at area bookshops - from Strand to McNally Robinson, to B&N - for writers of humor, fiction, and non-fiction.

For a free class near you, see their online schedule.

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do - Free Movies @BPL

presents...

Friday Night at the Movies

Every Friday night at 6pm, the Brooklyn Public Library offers a movie showing at the Central Library's Dweck Center. On the schedule so far:

January 11 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
January 18 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
January 25 - The Color Purple

February 8 - Cooley High
February 15 - Greased Lightening
February 22 - Carbon Copy
February 29 - Krush Groove

March 7 - Little Women
March 14 - Elizabeth (starring Cate Blanchett)
March 28 - Whale Rider

April 4 - Roxanne
April 11 - Sabrina

- & -

Saturday Family Movies

Every Saturday at 11am, the Brooklyn Public Library offers a movie showing in the Central Library's 2nd floor meeting room. On the schedule so far:

January 19 - Return to Neverland (a Peter Pan sequel)
January 26 - Meet the Robinsons

February 2 - Dumbo
February 9 - Aladdin
February 16 - The Great Mouse Detective
February 23 - The Fox & the Hound

For other goings-on at BPL, check this calendar of events online.

NYC on the Cheap: What to Do (Part 2)

My picks from NY Magazine's Top 25 NY Photo Op's:

1. Brooklyn Heights Promenade (BK)
   Sunset is a beautiful time to go; admire the architecture of the neighborhood before you head there, and go where the locals go for dinner or drinks after dark!
   
2. Grand Army Plaza (BK)
   The Soldiers & Sailors Arch is Brooklyn's version of the Arc de Triomphe. Also nearby: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, and Grand Army Plaza (the main branch of Brooklyn Public Library).
   
3. Gracie Mansion (Manh.)
   Tours on Wednesdays at 10am, 11am, 1pm, and 2pm; $7 for adults, free for students.
   
4. Fort Tryon Park (Manh.)
   ...for "panoramic views of the Hudson River...Upper Manhattan and the Bronx."
5. Wave Hill (Bronx)
   Free tours of grounds & greenhouse on Sundays at 2:15pm.

I wouldn't visit all in the same day, but all the same...wishing the shutterbugs clear skies!

Good riddance, I mean - Good-bye, TimesSelect!

Every time I saw an article written by that witty wordsmith, Maureen Dowd, I knew better than to click on the link. After all, I didn't have an ".edu" email, and I wasn't paying $50 a year for TimesSelect. You, dear reader, may have also noticed that pesky symbol: . Well, no more! Directly from NYtimes.com:

Effective Sept. 19, we are ending TimesSelect. All of our online readers will now be able to read Times columnists, access our archives back to 1987 and enjoy many other TimesSelect features that have been added over the last two years – free.

This means all NYT archive articles from 1851 thru 1922, and 1987 to present are accessible for free, including Op-Ed's, while articles from 1923 thru 1986 are available for purchase.

Now if we could just read the Wall Street Journal online for free too...

Calling all ING account holders...

ING Direct's Road to Happiness Contest starts today! Let ING know what your savings goal is & how you intend to achieve your goal and you could win one of 26 $10,000 prizes! See rules here.

Pennysaving: Free Stuff (Part 2)

I'd posted some time ago that when I go on trips, I bring sample packs of common items the TSA is now stricter about (e.g. lotions, shampoos, conditioners). By now, everyone probably knows about Walmart samples, but I just noticed that you can also request samples from Pathmark - it's really the simple things! =)

May 15 is New Flavor Day at Haagen Dazs!

On May 15, between the hours of 4-8pm, get a free 4 oz. scoop of any new Haagen Dazs flavor in a cup, sugar cone or cake cone!

New flavors are: Cinnamon Dulce de Leche, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

If you like your ice cream made from skim milk, you should try it! I know Haagen Dazs is my hands down favourite! See for yourself!

ISO: Free Financial Advice

I remember, during Financial Literacy Week last October, there were some free financial planning services available, but I didn't take advantage of those because I didn't have any clear investment goals pinned down at the time, or enough money to worry about (or so it seemed). However, I've since outlined and fleshed out my financial goals and, as an added bonus, I've saved enough $ now to feel that I may actually have assets requiring management! =)

I know that Charlotte Observer columnist, Amy Baldwin, is looking to trade a free financial makeover for a story, but I think I need less makeover, and more check-up & planning. I've also been to SCORE, and its focus seems to be on small businesses...definitely worth a look-see by the way.

I have a pretty simple financial picture - a few investment goals (both long- & short-term, with figures attached), no outstanding debt, a handful of retirement investments to date, and I recently find myself with a little extra $ to invest, SO...

Any ideas or leads on how/where I can find a financial planner to offer a free financial check-up? I wouldn't mind some guidance with future planning either.

Thanks in advance!

Update: For those in the Boston area on August 4th, there's a free financial planning clinic at the Sheraton Boston Hotel... plenty of time to get your numbers in order & the perfect time to see a planner!