"Lowcostume" hunting in NYC

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I recently received an email from David Bukszpan regarding a Low-Cost Costume Swap Event organized by Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc.  He says "folks are encouraged to bring a bag of about $5 worth of slightly used clothes and hunt through what comes in to put together a low-cost costume (I prefer "lowcostume") of their own."

Here's some more info:

Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey is holding a Low-Cost Costume design competition online. To help people in the city get what they need for cheap, creative costumes, Goodwill is also throwing a Low-Cost Costume design/clothing swap at Boxcar Lounge Sunday, Oct 25th from 3pm-7pm, complete with crafters on-hand to help out with ideas. There'll be drink specials, good music, and tons of clothes for anyone and everyone to sort through - admission is either one bag of lightly-used, freshly-laundered clothes, or, if you don't have that, a $5 donation to Goodwill (and our community outreach services, work training programs, and recycling initiatives) - and you can leave with any clothes or crafts you want.

The Low-Cost Costume competition and swap is Goodwill's attempt to help to put creativity over consumerism one holiday a year. Why add to landfills with a generic plastic costume made by kids in sweatshops when you can come together with neighbors, learn a few crafting skills, and make a one-of-a-kind costume from stuff no one was wearing anymore anyways? The swap gives us all more options of just what lightly-used clothes to base our costumes from, and encourages people in the neighborhood to share their skills and fashion.

There is also an Online Low-Cost Costume Design Competition on their Facebook Page running from Friday, Oct 16 through Saturday, Oct 24.  Participants can put up photos of their own Low-Cost Costumes from years' past and the site will show off the most popular - and offer them a chance to guest blog as a Low-Cost Costume expert on the Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc. sites as Halloween nears.


EVENT: Online Low-Cost Costume Design Competition and Real-Life Costume Design Clothing Swap

WHERE:

• For Online Low-Cost Costume Design Competition details: http://goodwillnynj.wordpress.com
• Real-Life Costume Design Clothing Swap will be held at BOXCAR LOUNGE (168 Avenue B, between East 10 and East 11 Street, NYC)

WHEN:

• Online Low-Cost Costume Design Competition runs Friday, Oct 16 - Saturday, Oct 24
• Real-Life Costume Design Clothing Swap will be held Sunday, Oct 25 from 3pm-7pm

Thanks for sharing this helpful frugal information with us David.

Do you have frugal tips for FrugalNYC readers?  If so, contact us with your ideas or guest posts!

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Festival of Frugality

I've been included in the latest Festival of Frugality at the Go Frugal blog on Freeshipping.org. The festival includes some of the best tips on being frugal. Blogs which feature articles about Money Matters, Home repair and maintenance, Automotive savings, Vacations, Work, Weddings, Shopping, and other Frugal Goodness (that's where FrugalNYC is featured).

This post is full of great blogs and specific posts, it will keep you reading for days if not weeks. You may even find another great blog that you have not come across until now.

Hope you enjoy the festival and come back to FrugalNYC for more tips on living and enjoying NYC Frugally!

If you enjoyed my feature there, you may also enjoy these posts:
10 free places to visit in nyc today
facts of new york city you may not know
8 more free things to do in Queens

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

RetailMeNot Twitter Contest

RetailMeNot - the online coupon code site is running a contest from July 15, 2009 until the end of July 2009. Since I write about saving money and use their site from time to time, I figure it's worth notifying my readers about this contest. If you are a twitter user like I am, why not enter this contest with a tweet! :)

Here are the rules and prizes for the contest:

Starting at Midnight Eastern Time July 15, 2009, each time you tweet a money-saving tip and tag #retailmenot, you’ll be entered to win a $500 shopping spree at Macys.com. RetailMeNot.com will be giving away one $500 prize each day through the end of July and one $1000 grand prize at the end of the contest for the most original tip.

For example, you could tweet:

• Reuse shopping bags #retailmenot
• Check books out from the library #retailmenot
• Use coupons #retailmenot

You can enter as many times as you like, but you have to follow @retailmenot on Twitter to find out if you’ve won. I just followed ;)

Check their site for more information. Hopefully one of FrugalNYC's readers will win!

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

More Of NYC For Less With CityPass

If you have never visited the "Tourist Traps" of NYC, listed below, this deal might change your mind.

• Empire State Building Observatory
• American Museum of Natural History & Rose Center
• Guggenheim Museum
• The Museum of Modern Art
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters
• Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises OR Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island

You can get a CityPass and all the above places are part of that package. I used CityPass several years ago and had a great time as a tourist in my own city! I think I still have the remaining booklet / stub somewhere at home. You can buy the booklet via their website, or you can also buy the CityPass books when you get to any of the attractions. I purchased mine at the Empire State Building several years ago when we decided to visit some local places.

The pass is valid for 9 days from the first day of use. The current cost for each booklet is for $74 for adults and $54 for kids. If you were to visit all the attractions separately and paid full price, you would end up paying $134 for each adult. On April 1, CityPass prices will go up to reflect changes in 2009 attractions’ prices. The New York CityPass price will become $79 for adults and $59 for children.

If I were to visit any of the other cities for which CityPass has a package (New York, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Hollywood, Southern California, and Houston) I might think about picking up a CityPass.

While you're visiting NYC attractions perhaps you can fit in some Free Venues from my previous posts:

• 10 Frugal Things To Do This Winter In NYC
• 10 Free Places To Visit In NYC today!
• My Series on Central Park

And don't forget to pickup a souvenir with a special discount for being a FrugalNYC reader!
Have you visited or would like to visit any of the above NYC tourist Attractions? Have you used CityPass? Please share your ideas in the comments.

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Photo courtesy of 708718

Frugal Is Back

In the March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine I saw an article called Frugal is back. It is geared towards businesses and the article essentially boils down to six points

Systematic Savings - Don't skimp on the wrong things. Make sure you know how your business and employees function and do their work before cutting costs. Make sure costs cut will not decrease productivity, it should increase it.

Bartering - You've probably heard this a million times before, so I just make it simple. If you don't have the cash, exchange services with your business partners. It's a win-win.

Save by incentives - Giving your employees part of the cost savings can help encourage them to save your company money.

Don't get cheap on Coffee - If you don't give your people the right tools, in this case the right coffee, they will get it somewhere else. So know where to skimp, but don't skimp on the wrong things. Pay for good beans, use ceramic mugs (if paper is a must, visit freepapercups.com), and check out online deals.

• coffeecow.com
• coffeeforless.com
• coffeegiant.com
• coffeewhiz.com
• discountcoffee.com

Don't buy - Business is about Cash flow. So Lease, rent or borrow equipment. Less cash out means more cash to put to better income generating business activities.

Negotiate purchases - Buy cheaper goods by negotiating better deals. Negotiate yearly, if not more often. Establish upfront terms to negotiate regularly.

I think these tips are very helpful for a small business looking to grow and save cash. What about you? You can find the original article here.

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way, feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

9 Quick Money Saving Tips

Today I'm sharing a few Money Saving tips that I use. This will be the beginning of some quick posts I'll be doing from here on.

1. Use Coupons - No need to hunt them down, if you have them, use them.
   
2. Reuse Dryer sheets - Continue to use dryer sheets, after using three times, use it to remove dust from your furniture or other surfaces. They literally attract dust. Use them to wipe your TV or Computer monitor screens.
   
3. Reuse Paper Towels - If you clean a water spill and the towel is in good shape, let it dry and reuse it. Save trees and the environment.
   
4. Reuse Plastic Utensils - I've reused plastic forks and spoons time and again. I have about 5 forks that I have been using for well over several months now. I wash them with my dishes.
   
5. Visit Dollar stores - every so often I find great deals. Not everything is a great deal, so if you are the shopping type, don't visit too often. I recently picked up a pack of Dora the Explorer playing cards, great for young kids to learn numbers with as well.
   
6. Use Baking Soda as an all purpose cleaner. I've cleaned greasy pans successfully with this multi purpose cleanser. You can find 75 uses for it here.
   
7. Freeze your over ripe bananas and make your own Banana bread. Some great banana bread recipes here.
   
8. Buy Used - Most things depreciate very quickly, especially technology. If you can buy used, do so. You will save a lot of money this way.
   
9. Bring Your Own Lunch - If your job has the right facilities, bringing your lunch can save you a lot of money. Assuming you spend about $7 a lunch on average, after 300 days you will have saved over $2000. You can buy a nice TV with that money.

I hope you have found these tips helpful. What quick money saving tips do you have? Please share them in the comments.

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Photo by Refracted Moments

Ways To Make Your Car Last

I read an article about cars that last a million miles and was inspired to write a post on ways to make your existing car last longer. I hope this will be a good reminder to all the drivers out there as well as a checklist for myself and others to take better care of your car - it will take better care of you and your wallet!

• Read your owners manual (use the Kaizen method if you need to).
• Keep your tires properly inflated. I've seen some half inflated tires being driven.
  
• Change your oil every 3000 miles, or whatever your owners manual says.
• Drive slower, use the 80/20 rule, keep to around 60MPH when driving on highways. Just cruise.
• Avoid stop and go as much as possible, slow down if you can.
  
• Warm up your engine in the cold months. Let it idle in park for about 5 minutes (this number varies). I wait until the engine temperature gauge has moved a little bit.
• Never let anyone else drive your car. This assumes you are a safe and careful driver to begin with.
• Keep it simple - always purchase the most basic version of the car model. All the extras usually result in extra initial costs and extra maintenance costs.
• Find a good mechanic who you trust, someone other than the dealer you purchased from.
• Buy a manual stick shift - if you can drive a stick shift, it may last longer. Again, less to go wrong and repair.
  

If you have additional tips to make your current car last a little longer or to make it edge closer to the million mile mark, please let us know in the comments.

For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Photo by stevoarnold

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year 2009!

To all who celebrate Chinese New Year, I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. It is the year of the OX and depending on which records you look at (according to Wikipedia) it could be "Chinese Year" 4707, 4706, or 4646.

There are many Chinese New Year festivities going on today in NYC and you can find a good deal of information for what's going on in Flushing today on about.com. You can also find more festivities in Manhattan. Celebrations in China and many other countries who observe the Holiday is held from the first to the 15th of the Lunar New Year.

If you have online resources you would like to share with us, please leave a comment with the links. Happy Chinese New Year! For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.


Photo from Wikipedia

Winter Jam NYC 2009 - Free Skiing!

This year Winter Jam NYC will be held on Saturday February 7, 2009 from 11 am - 4 pm at East River Park! Last year this event took place in Central Park. This event gives New York City's residents a chance to enjoy winter sports and other activities for FREE! So bring your kids and enjoy a day of free winter sports and other activities!

Activities include:

• Sledding
• A snowboarding competition
• Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing
• A snowman making contest
• Live music and many other activities

You can find out some additional details here.

Directions by Subway:

• Take the F or V to 2nd Avenue – Lower East Side, walk East on Houston, and cross the pedestrian bridge into East River Park.
• Or you can take the F, J, M, Z to Essex Street – Delancey Street, walk North on Essex, walk East on Houston, and cross pedestrian bridge into East River Park.

Hope you see you all there! If you were at last year's event, please share your experience in the comments. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Photo by Jenny Downing

7 Frugal Ideas For Winter Fun With Kids

New York City has had its share of snow this winter. The cold weather can keep kids indoors most of the winter, and kids can get restless. Below are some ideas to keep your pre-school kids busy during the winter time. I've used most of these to some success and the variety of activities should keep most young children entertained for a little while. Older children may or may not take to these activities, let me know how it works out for you. Spending time with your children can help build their self confidence levels. I hope you are all doing your part in building the confidence in our future generations.

Without further ado, here are the ideas:

1. Crafts - Sock puppets, paper bag puppets, origami, are just the beginning. Kids have wonderful imaginations, just give them a bunch of cups and spoons and they can play restaurant owner for hours!
2. Puzzle books - My daughter has borrowed several puzzle books from the library recently. She loves them! We also have a crafts book that contains lessons in the alphabet and related activities she can work on. These activities include cutting out shapes, gluing, coloring, connect the dots, among others.
3. Baking and Cooking- Recently I decided to try making some noodles from scratch. Of course my daughter wanted to get her hands on some dough as well. Giving her a handful of dough kept her busy while I worked on my noodle making skills :)
4. Snuggling - Kids love to have one and one time with their parents, at least mine do. I have a feeling your young children also likes to have one on one time with you as well. Snuggling, hugging, or any close contact sport with the little ones can keep them happy and engaged. You'll run out of energy before they do, so you may want to use one of the other activities.
5. Watching movies / TV Shows - I have found the best shows for a pre-K child are on PBS. I've had great success with shows like Arthur, Caillou, Clifford, Curious George, Dora, Maya and Miquel, Sasame Street and many others. You can get most of these free over the air, or via your cable. Search for your PBS show times here.
6. Paint, Draw and Color - My daughter loves Dora the Explorer and Nick Jr. has some printable items for free. You can purchase a coloring book for a dollar at your local dollar store or discount store. This is great for kids who love to doodle and draw. A cheaper alternative is to just give your kids your used paper, the blank side makes for great scribbling paper!
7. Blanket Forts (caves) - My daughter loves to get under the sheets and play hide and seek under the sheets. Share some "quality time" with your kids and play with them under the sheets, it may bring out the kid in you as well!

Some ideas came from ABC2News' article by Sara Noel. All these activities require you to spend time with your kids, which I hope all you parents out there are doing. For additional activities, you can check out this blog post on KidCity Blog for free things to do with your Kids this winter! Thanks for contacting me with that tweet @nyc_mom!

What are your favorite indoor activities for kids? Share them with us in the comments. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Photo by suneko

An Englishman In New York

This is a guest post by Chris from Lifestyle Project, a blog where he explores Productive Lifestyle Design. He may become a travel writer in the future, he thinks it would be pretty cool. You can subscribe to his feed here. Chris also runs Lists for Life, a blog of lists.

Arriving in to Newark Airport (it's cheaper to fly to Newark than JFK), bleary eyed but excited, I walk from where the plane has parked to collect our bags. Glancing to my left I am surprised to see the awesome New York skyline, which seems very close. New York is such a flat state (as I noticed from the air) that despite Newark being a distance from down town NYC, the skyline is a clear as day from the terminal building. Downstairs in the terminal building we easily locate the stand where we will catch the SuperShuttle. These blue mini-vans are a shared taxi system. At just $18 return per person from the airport to your hotel door, this is far cheaper than a taxi and much easier than navigating the buses or trains after a long flight.

Squashed into the back of the van (hey for that price you can't expect luxury) we head towards the world famous city, a big smile beams across my face. New York has been on my list of places to go for a long time and now that we are here it all seems a bit surreal. It's one of those places that you have seen so many times before in the movies or on TV that when you actually get there it feels as if you have been dropped into a postcard. The buildings tower above you, the bright yellow taxis pepper the streets all around you and the steam really does rise out of the ground (well it is November after all). The journey took about 40 minutes, but this did involve getting stuck in the tunnel for a while.

Four nights is a very short amount of time to visit New York. A very short time. There is so much to do and so many places to see. Our hotel was near to Times Square so once we had got checked in to our hotel we headed outside and in to Time Square. Wow! With its mesmerizing array of lights, sounds and people Time Square can literally take your breath away. Think about it how many places in the world are there with TV screens as big as buildings and dozens of them to boot?

Central Park. Photo by Chris

Just Walk
For the first few days we spent a lot of time just walking around, rather than taking the subway or taxis. I always feel that when I go on a city break that we spend a lot of time walking but it really is an excellent way to see a city. Think about it, where was the last time you took a walk around your local area that deviates from your normal route. Try it, it's amazing what you see when you aren't whizzing passed in a car. We walked from Century 21 (see below - next to the World Trade Center site) back to our hotel in Time Square via Chelsea, Little Italy, Flat Iron etc. I was a long walk but worth it as we saw so much. Cost of walking = $0.


Some Frugal Tips for tourists (and maybe even locals):

Frugal Shopping
One of the main things that my girlfriend wanted to do was some shopping. Frugal Tip - go shopping when there is a massive economic crisis and all the retailers are offering huge discounts! In Macy's if you hold a foreign passport you can go to customer services and get a card that gives you 11% off all purchases. I think they change the offer all of the time but it was 11% when I went. Check out TJ Maxx (which is called TK Maxx in the UK), Filene's Basement and Century 21. These shops offer huge discounts on designer gear. There stock moves fast and is replenished quickly. Be prepared to spend a bit of time rumaging to find some hidden gems.

View from the Top of the Rock. Photo by Chris

Attractions
Check which attractions you are visiting that offer combined tickets. We visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which has lots of Picasso and obviously the odd Andy Warhol, and the Rockafella centre on the same day. MoMA didn't advertised the fact that you could get combined tickets, had we gone to the Rockafella Centre first we would have noticed this and saved $10 each to visit both attractions. I suspect that the Rockafella centre is cheaper than the Empire State Building? We chose the Rock becasue it offers the view of the New York skyline with the most famous building in your sights. If you are standing on top of the Empire State Building you can't see it!

I put a call out on Twitter (and checked out tips on this blog) for free things to do. We visited the Apple Store (I have to I'm a geek) and took a couple of walks in Central Park. These are great things that just make New York a cool place to be.

Eating Out
A sensible tip that I heard (though we didn't do this) was that the many hotels with good restaurants struggle for lunchtime trade so you can get some great offers.

Not So Frugal
We were visiting New York as a birthday present from me to my girlfriend, so there were some extravagances (the whole point of being frugal in my opinion is so that you can have some money to indulge yourself occasionally). We stayed at the Westin Times Square which turned out to be an excellent choice of hotel. It's central location meant that it was great for getting to anywhere in the city, and the room was very spacious and surprisingly for a hotel has the most comfortable bed I have ever stayed in (their trademarked Heavenly Bed concept). Checking out reviews before we went we spotted a tip to request a high corner room, which we did and were pleased to have been allocated. This meant that we had a larger room with windows on two sides. Obviously this tip would apply to a lot of hotels but it is staying here that gave us the idea to ask for this in the future. For my girlfriends birthday we went to Buddha Bar in Meatpacking district. A cool place. Not sure if I was cool enough to be in there, but we had fun. We also saw the lengendary guitar inventor and recording artist Les Paul at Iridium Jazz Club on Time Square. Les Paul is 93 and plays two shows there every Monday. If you are a guitarist, this is a must see gig!

I had a great time in New York, it was just not long enough. I'm sure I'll be back soon!


Tipping (extra notes for Brits)
A few notes on tipping! This is a major leap for Brits, tipping in restaurants and maybe your barber is customary, but in America it's a whole new ball game. Firstly get hold of a load of dollar bills.

Tipping standards (or so I saw):

• Bell Boy - $1 per bag, $1 per taxi hailed.
• Restaurants - 18% apparently (obviously adjust for service quality, and watch out for those restaurants that already include a charge)
• Taxi - 15% is customary.
• Other - If I was supposed to give anyone else cash I must have missed them. I struggled understanding how much to give the concierge to book us a table at a couple of restaurants for example.
  

I was only there for four days so obviously only scratched the surface of all the great stuff New York has to offer. I will be back, what tips can you share in the comments for next time?

-------------

Now for a Frugal Friday tip! If you were using Quickcards for the PATH system, they are no longer available. Get yourself a SmartLink card and you will continue to pay the cheaper $1.35 fare instead of $1.75. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader
or Subscribe to FrugalNYC by Email.

Digital Photo Resources

I found some great digital photo resources when I was reading the December 2008 issue of Popular Photo magazine. Whether you are looking for applications, online services or ideas for photography, the list below may contain a resource you can find helpful. I compiled the original list on Saturday, Dec 13, 2008. I will continue to add any resource I find useful to this post.

• Photoshop Express - From the Makers of Photoshop, make some simple photo editing online, for FREE!
• Picasa 3 - This is one of my favorite photo management applications. It's made by Google and its FREE! Download your copy today. You can do simple to somewhat complex touch-ups with this. You can even add captions!
• Yodio - Add voice to your Photos, publish it for the world to see. All for free.
• Media College - Photography - Find some great Photography Tutorials. They are simple to the point and very well done!
• Photo Talk Radio - I can't really describe it better than what the title says. It's Talk Radio for Photography
• Pixia - This is a great piece of FREE Paint and retouch application. I discovered it years ago, but don't use it much since my drawing skills are not that great. Check out some great art galleries made with this software.
• Photoshop Support - Check this out for great Photoshop Tutorials
• America's Parks - Travel Planning tips and finding the best tips on taking photos of US Parks.
• Nature photo - Some of the world's best Nature Photographers.
• Flickr - This is the most popular Photo sharing site on the web, and you probably know about it already. Flickr is currently owned by Yahoo. You can make online edits as well. Thanks for Craig for pointing this out.
• JPG Magazine - Online magazine of both Amateurs and Pros. This company may be given a second life.
• Photography (9th Edition) (MyPhotographyKit Series)
  (This is an affiliate link to Amazon) - By far the most comprehensive and easy to digest text I have seen so far on photography.
• Digital Photography School - This is by far one of the best sites to learn about Photography.
  

If you have photography links and sites you would like to contribute, please let us know in the comments section. Check back often for additions to this list. Thanks for reading. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader. You can help support FrugalNYC by visiting sponsored links and ads.

Photo by Steph Carter

DTV - The End Of Television As We Know It

Before I get into the title post, I wanted to take a moment and thank my regular readers for your continued readership, comments and encouragement. Whether you do this via Twitter, email, or blog comments, I appreciate your participation and continued support.

I recently wrote about alternate side parking, I hope you have found it useful. I just used the post as a reference yesterday, to check to see if there was a holiday this week, if there was, I would have parked in the spot where the street cleaning took place during the holiday and thus save myself one quick trip. Hope my posts are as useful to you as they are to myself. My aim is to make FrugalNYC a destination for you to find all sorts of resources that help you in your day to day life, in any city. Now on to the post topic.

In September 2008 I wrote a post titled Free DTV, this post is a follow-up and reminder to that post. Starting February 17, 2009, analog television broadcasts in the United States will end. Are you ready for this change? If you still have an old TV like I do, and would like to stretch the life and usefulness of your old TV, you need to purchase a digital converter box. You can buy it at most electronics stores, there are many brands available and they pretty much all do the same thing. I have found the Best Buy Insignia model NS-DXA1-APT (SKU 8854527) to be very good, not to mention the remote can be programmed to control your old TV as well.

If you have cable or satellite, most likely, you are already using the proper hardware that's necessary for the transition. If you receive your TV signal via a rooftop antenna or a set-top antenna you need to purchase a digital to analog converter box. High Definition TV sets get a nice boost with DTV, because the signals are not compressed like many cable providers do. So you may get a better and clearer picture using over the air signals than you do with cable.

A friend of mine requested the $40 dollar coupon after reading my post in September, but he let it expire. Don't let that happen to you. So if you still have one of these coupons, use it soon, and save yourself $40 in the process. If you have not requested the coupon, there is now a waiting list, all coupons alloted have been given out and new ones will only be sent out as old and unused coupons expire. You can request your coupons from DTV2009.

From my tests using a mix of two TVs, two Converter boxes, and two set-top antennas, I have concluded that some converter boxes are better, and the antenna used can make a difference too. The Philips PHDTV1 Silver Sensor UHF/HDTV Digital Indoor TV Antenna is pretty well rated on Amazon. I know of some people who are using the Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna for Off-Air HDTV Reception, and have heard good things about it with HDTV reception. I used my existing TV antennas and they received digital SDTV signals crystal clear! You can pick up a $2 antenna like I did for my secondary TV and it will work fine in most neighborhoods.

Here are two DTV related links I have found, the first is Funny, and the from Wisebread is informative and also goes into watching TV via the web. Thanks for reading. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader.

photo courtesy of videocrab

Where Does Your Recycled Items Go?

I dropped off two expired cell phone batteries at CVS this morning, they had a collection box for old cell phone batteries. It makes me wonder where this e-waste actually goes after it's dropped off. I'm glad they are lending a helping hand and are doing the collections, but where does this actually end up?

I try to be environmentally conscious. I reuse plastic utencils, takeout containers, plastic cups and anything that can be reused with a quick clean and rinse. I try and use durable goods as much as possible, anything that does not go in a landfill can effectively reduce the junk that goes into our landfills.

I encourage you all to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle whatever you can. If each of you uses one less plastic fork a day and spread the message and ask others to do the same, together we can make a big impact. I'm not an environmentalist nor am I asking anyone to become an environmentalist, though I do respect environmentalists and their ideals. I'm just sharing my thought on one small step we can all take to improve our environment and the planet we live on. There are many other steps we can take to reduce waste and make this a better world for ourselves and our future generations, and I may go into that in a future post.

If you know where CVS, Best Buy, Target, Walmart or any other chain store sends their collected e-waste, let us know in the comments. I'm always interested in learning a little more. Thanks for reading. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader.

Photo courtesy of Gaetan Lee

Save Time - Alternate Side Parking 2009

Every year, I print out a copy of the alternate side parking schedule for NYC, to save myself some time. If you live in NYC, and park your car in the streets, knowing the schedule may save you some time as well. You can find the 2009 Alternate Side Parking schedule here, you will find it in both HTML and PDF formats. The schedule will not change unless there is weather or another critical emergency.

For those visiting and driving to NYC, and planning to park in the streets, this schedule may help you as well. I hope this time saving tip helps you out this year. If you have other parking tips for NYC, please let us know in the comments. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add FrugalNYC to your RSS reader.

Photo courtesy Katie Tegtmeyer

Wrapping Up 2008 And Plans For 2009

I want to do two things on this post, wrap up 2008 and share my blog plans for 2009.

FrugalNYC 2008

I started blogging regularly in 2008. Much of my motivation had to do with changes in my perspectives and inspiration found from other blogs. I've made two changes to my FrugalNYC blog layout in 2008. The first time on August 19, 2008 and the current format took place on November 12, 2008. I've also joined Twitter, after some hesistation, I joined and have found it very useful (and also time consuming - as I thought). I added an additional blog, FrugalTech, to hold content for all tech related posts I write about.

I've found that the more I write about something the more I understand it. It's like teaching, the more you teach the more you will learn. I will continue to be a student of life and learn from every aspect of my life. I will share lessons I've learned on this blog. I've learned numerous lessons since I started blogging. I have gained a fair amount of readership on my blog along the way, Thank You!. I hope you will continue to spread word of FrugalNYC and what I write about. For an archival record, the most viewed FrugalNYC posts in 2008 are below.

FrugalNYC's Top 10 Popular Posts For 2008

1. Souvenir From The Big Apple
2. How to talk yourself out of any Purchase
3. 10 Free Blackberry Games
4. 10 Free Places To Visit In NYC Today
5. Our Visit To The Queens Zoo
6. Governor's Island
7. Symptoms Of Cold and Flu Season
8. Mandarin Radio
9. Life Lessons Learned From Digging Out A Car
10. Six Random Things About Me

FrugalNYC in 2009

Some of my goals for 2009 for this blog are listed below. Above all else, I want to make sure I provide content that you and my future audience will enjoy. Please continue to spread word about FrugalNYC and please continue to provide me great feedback for improvements and for what you would like to see. My goals for 2009 are:

1. Keep my posts short and to the point - focus on Simplicity.
2. Better utilize Twitter to spread word of FrugalNYC. Please Tweet about FrugalNYC!
   
3. Provide useful content on productivity, motivation, frugality, frugal living in NYC, frugal activities in NYC, and other interest to myself and my audience.
   
4. Continue writing and improve my Central Park Series posts, among other series I will be working on. Possible series include NYC libraries, zoos, NYC shops, restaurants and more.
5. Last but not least, turn pro, and make this income producing - so I can dedicate myself to providing you all with more interesting and helpful tips!
   

I have a lot of work ahead of me, thank you for coming along for the ride and for spreading word of my blog. For additional links to frugal tips and tricks follow me on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to FrugalNYC in any way (guest posts, articles, ideas, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else), feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add this to your RSS reader.

Frugal Friday Tip! Save $2 per call to 411 by using 1800-FREE411 for directory assistance. It will also give you MaqQuest directions to anywhere in the US for free. You just have to listen to a short 12 second ad.

Photo courtesy of ronnie44052

Five Awesome Tips To Putting Your Credit Card On A Diet

Photo courtesy of _neona_

Credit cards have been a major contributor to the current economic crisis. Currently, there has been a great deal of media coverage focused on the investment houses along with the savings and loans sector. The auto industry has jumped on the bailout bandwagon and wants a chunk of money as well. Credit card problems have taken a back seat in the major media outlets. I believe this will be a major issue after the dust settles on the current hot economic issues. This also affects each one of us directly.

There are many ways to properly use a credit card. Credit cards can help you make purchases and to enhance your finances. I will review five tips for making your credit cards more useful. Just as food diets are guidelines to make your body healthier, a credit card diet is a set of guidelines to help you keep your finances healthier. These are not rules that you must follow, and you should take your current financial circumstances into consideration to properly use all these tips.

1. Set A Budget

Above all else, knowing how much income you bring in, versus the expenses you pay out, is the most important point I want to make. Credit card limits are helpful by limiting how much you can charge. Whatever your credit limit is, you should never max out your credit cards. Doing so is bad for your credit history, not to mention your savings account. Knowing how much you can spend ahead of time will help you make proper purchasing decisions. If you come across a new gadget that you want, you should ask yourself if it's within your current budget. If not, perhaps its time to save up some money for the item, which is something you should be doing.

2. Buy Only What You Can Afford

I've been wanting to buy a large flat-panel LCD television for some time now. I'm thinking about a Sharp, Samsung, or a Sony flat-panel, but I still have not bought it. Though I can afford to buy the item now, I often ask myself if it is the best time to buy it and due to the current economy, I think I will hold off. Buying only what you can afford may sound easy, but many people do not practice this when they use a credit card. If you knew what your savings are and tracked your expenses properly, you will know if you can afford something right now or if you need to wait another month. As much as everyone wants an iPhone the day it comes out, it pays to wait a month or two. Many people found out this lesson the hard way during the previous iPhone release. Waiting for the product you want to come down in price, and saving up for it during that waiting period is a great lesson we should all teach our kids. The best way to teach our kids or anyone for that matter, is to practice it on a regular basis and make it into a healthy habit. If this is not a problem for you, I'm glad you have a good habit of saving up for your purchases.

3. Track Your Spending

I used to track all my spending, religiously. This was after reading some tips about how it can make your finances better. All it did for me was just create more work. That's because I was not doing it with a goal in mind. Today I track only my credit card purchases, and the goal is to match it up with the monthly statements. Once I do this, I start fresh for the next month. One great thing about some credit card companies is the way they send you a year-end summary. This summary helps you track your spending during the previous year and it helps you set up a new budget. Aside from the yearly budget, you should always check your monthly statements. It is very helpful to track your purchasing patterns and to use it to adjust your spending habits accordingly. Above all else, when tracking your spending - have a goal in mind, doing so without a goal is futile.

4. Know What You Need To Buy

When I head out shopping or if I do so online, I usually get it done faster if I know exactly what I need to buy. If I head to the supermarket, I make a grocery list. If I am heading to Best Buy, I make a list of electronics, DVDs, software or anything else I want to look at or evaluate. Without that list, I will end up spending hours at a time, and usually end up with something I don't like or something I didn't want to buy initially. The same can be said when shopping online. As I mentioned in my previous post, how to talk yourself out of any purchase, you should ask yourself the proper questions before you make a purchase. My best advice on this is to make a list and check it twice, like santa does!

5. Lower Your Credit Limits

For many people, having a credit card is like being given a genie. It grants your every wish, well almost every wish. You have a limit to what you can wish for, which is established by your credit limit. Knowing this fact, it's a good idea to lower your credit limit if you have a problem with using your credit cards above what you can afford. It's easy to lower your limit, just call your card company and ask them to do so. Setting this limit to your monthly budget should help you get into a good habit of buying what you can afford.

I hope you will put my tips above to use and improve your finances and credit card habits. Above all else remember to set a budget, buy only what you can afford, track your spending, know what you need to buy, and lower your credit limits. Having said all this, I'm sure many of you have your own tips and tricks to using credit cards to enhance your finances. Please share your thoughts in the comments. I hope you have enjoyed this post. Thanks for visiting. Follow me on Twitter for additional links to Frugal tips and tricks. If you would like to contribute to Frugal NYC in any way, articles, ideas, posts, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else, feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add this to your RSS reader.

Five Great Reasons To Start Walking Today

Photo courtesy of Nattu

I'm still recovering from my cold. Thank you to all those who have wished me well and to Julie Cohen, from Vicks, who saw my post and sent me DayQuil and NyQuil! While I'm recovering from this cold, I started to think about walking and its many benefits. I walk for many reasons, among them are: to keep healthy, lower my travel costs, photography and numerous others. I walk about 5 to 10 miles on a weekly basis, which includes my weekly commute to and from work (I take mass transit). Sometimes I walk much more than this. Even doing the minimum 5 miles a week adds up to 260 miles walked yearly. By my estimates, I walk closer to 500 miles a year. Even if I only walked 260 miles yearly, it is still more than what the average American does. In a recent study about obesity rates, it has been found that countries with active commuters (walking, biking and mass transit) tend to have lower obesity rates. I think this is another reason why we should all take up walking.

To give you all the reasons why you should start walking, it would take a book, even a volume of books. So I will list five reasons to get you started.

Walk for your Health

Walking is a great way to start your excercise routine. Brisk walking can get your blood circulating and is a great way to warm up your muscle before other more strenuous excercises. How much you should walk depends on your current health status. Before starting any excercise regimen, you should check with your doctor, especially if you are concerned about your health. If you consider yourself healthy, start small and add more distance on a regular basis. On a recent post, I wrote about how I do brisk walking, about 8 times around a track field. This is nothing to those of you who are more fit, and this may be too much for those who are not used to walking regularly. The key is to start walking and keep at it. Like all good habits, be it for health or other aspects of your life, the key to success is starting and keeping at it.


Walk To Save On Travel Costs

Another great reason to walk, is to save money on your travel costs. If you are used to walking regularly, then walking five or ten blocks to your local supermarket or drugstore is not a problem. If you are not used to walking, perhaps it's time to get started on a healthy and more economical habit. Walking will save wear and tear on your automobile and any monetary costs associated with maintaining it. If you take public transportation to get to destinations under half a mile away, perhaps you can think about walking instead. In some circumstances, it may be faster than public transportation.


Walk To Reach Your Destination Faster

I've had occasions when I waited for a bus for half an hour. This is in my NYC neighborhood, usually on a weekend or late in the evenings. If you just missed a bus and need to get only a few blocks away, it is usually faster to walk. I've seen people who use the bus to get to the subway station during rush hour. They live only 2 blocks from the subway station, yet they wait for packed bus after bus, to take them to the subway station. I would just walk the two blocks and get to my destination faster.


Walk To Improve Your Relationships

In the movie "Click
", Adam Sandler plays a your typical guy who wants to skip through the inconveniences of life. When he gets sick, he fast forwards, when he gets into an argument he pushes the fast forward button. At the end of the movie, he realizes he has skipped through some of the best parts of his life. Don't be like his character in Click! Many people talk about lack of time to spend with their loved ones. We are a modern society that makes work number one and family often comes second. We should do everything we can to improve our relationships and walking is one of the best ways this can be done. Instead of jumping in a car or waiting in line for a bus, walk! Walking with a friend or family and having a meaningful conversation, or even just a relaxing one, is one of the best ways to improve your relationships. Often you will get to your destination before you know it, time flies when you are in the middle of a good conversation. When was the last time you walked for 20 minutes with your husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend? This may even give the two of you time to relax and forget about everything else. It doesn't matter if you are walking to exercise or walking to get to a common destination, having company during your walk is sure to improve and strengthen your walking habits, not to mention your relationships. So why don't you take half an hour this weekend and walk with your husband/wife?


Walk To Improve Your Photography

Taking life at a slower pace can make it more enjoyable, this can show in the results of your photography. Whether you are taking up photography as a hobby or if it is your profession, you will end up with better photos if you take the time to notice the details. Focusing on your subject and studying it before snapping the photo can do wonders to improve your photography. This is especially true for novice photographers, such as myself. Take the time to walk and study your surroundings, you will develop your photographic eye as you walk and study your subject from various angles.

There you have it, five great reasons to start walking today! I'm sure many of you have your own great reasons to start walking. Please share your thoughts in the comments. I hope you have enjoyed this post. Thanks for visiting. Follow me on Twitter for additional links to Frugal tips and tricks. If you would like to contribute to Frugal NYC in any way, articles, ideas, posts, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else, feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add this to your RSS reader.

Souvenir From The Big Apple

Photo courtesy of 708718

New York City is no doubt one of the most visited cities in the world. You visit New York City and you will probably visit the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Broadway shows, Carnegie Hall, and whatever strikes your fancy. Hopefully you have made use of my blog and picked out some free venues to visit as well! If you have not, you might want to head over to check out my visit to the Queens zoo, Free Ice Skating, Governor's Island, or any post labeled NYC, or Central Park. Most visitors to New York City aka The Big Apple, tend to leave with a souvenir from their trip. Whether its a t-shirt, mug, pen, keychain, or thousands of other items that will remind you of your trip in New York City - how do you do so frugally? If you're reading my blog, I know you want to save a buck!

Frugal Souvenirs

There are the free options: pictures, videos, artistic finds from street vendors and many other creative ways I'm sure your children (if you have them) could think of. If you're not married with children, then depending on the clubs, bars, and other venues you may have attended, you have probably ended up with some type of souvenir as well. Most people do want to take something back as a tourist, plus visiting the New York City souvenir shops is an experience on its own!

Discounts!

If you like to haggle and ask for discounts, you can try doing so at many of the souvenir shops anywhere in the city. Though you may get some snide remarks or dirty looks if you low-ball or dig too deep into their sometimes slim profits. After-all, real-estate in New York City is one of the most expensive in the world, and the shops do have pretty big overhead. There are thousands of souvenir shops in New York City, most people shop around for a bargain or just visit the stores near their hotel. In an effort to make my blog more useful to my readers, I've contacted my cousin, Peter, who is a manager at Big Apple Souvenirs and Gifts.



The Deal And Directions

Its been some time since I've paid a visit to the store, but I know anytime I do visit, I'm always greeted warmly by the staff and I always find something new. Whether its a new t-shirt, bobble-head, or some nifty knickknacks with a New York City theme, I am never bored when I visit. After talking to Peter he has agreed to help my audience. Readers of my blog will get a discount from Big Apple Souvenir and Gifts located at 840 7th Avenue New York, NY 10019 at the corner of 54th Street and 7th Avenue. It's conveniently located in midtown and is very close to Central Park and many of the Broadway Theatres. You can reach Big Apple Souvenir and Gifts by taking the N,R,Q,W trains to 57th Street station or E,B,D trains to the 7th Avenue station. Peter was kind enough to offer a 10% discount to all my blog readers. Just print out this blog post and bring it with you during your visit to NYC and Big apple Souvenir and Gifts. While you're there, say hi to Peter for me!

I know several people from my blog audience have visited New York City recently. I wish I could have gotten this done sooner so they could have benefitted, but if you should come visiting again, you have this deal waiting for you! For the rest of you, let me know how this works out if you should happen to shop for souvenirs at Big Apple Souvenirs and Gifts in New York City! If this works out well, I'll work on getting additional shops involved! I hope this post has been helpful to you!

Here's your Frugal Friday tip! Get your credit report via annualcreditreport.com if you have not done so this year. It's free and doing so will save you a ton of headache later on! It only takes about 10 minutes to get all three reports. I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for visiting. Follow me on Twitter for additional links to Frugal tips and tricks. If you would like to contribute to Frugal NYC in any way, articles, ideas, posts, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else, feel free to contact me via email. Click here to add this to your RSS reader.

5 Ways To Reuse That Chinese Takeout Soup Container

Photo courtesy of Ned Raggett


5 Ways To Reuse That Chinese Takeout Soup Container

I'm a bit of a pack rat and tend to save things that have potential use to them. One such item is the soup container. There are numerous potential uses for these containers and they don't take up too much space to store. Since you can stack them up inside each other there is minimal storage that's needed for these containers. I have quite a few of these containers at home and we tend to put leftovers in them. They are very sturdy and can be used for many things aside from holding soup and left overs. I'll give you some ideas on what other purposes these containers I use them for.

1. Use them as molding bins for building sandcastles at playgrounds and the beach
2. Store sugar in them for the short term, instead of leaving your sugar in the original paper bag.
3. Store leftovers after a meal
4. Use them to scoop water into bigger pails, buckets, pots and pans.
5. Use them as bath toys for young kids. Kids love to scoop water around during a bath and the containers play well with the rubber duckies.

What uses do you have for your Chinese soup containers? Let us know in the comments. Follow me on Twitter for additional links to tips and tricks. If you would like to contribute to Frugal NYC in any way, articles, ideas, posts, interesting links, advice, financial assistance, or anything else, feel free to contact me via email.