memoirs of a cheapskate BY: Kate Moira Ryan

THE BLOG WILL RETURN

2009-02-11T10:01:00.002-05:00

I am on a Sundance Fellowship at the Ucross Foundation writing away. The blog will return (I promise) at the end of February with some exciting new features.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

OBAMA'S CALL TO SERVICE

2009-01-21T10:09:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, I was struck by this part of Obama's speech--

"We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

Taking Obama's words to heart means different things to different people. My mother sent me this email yesterday--"HOW GREAT was the inauguration!!!. Obama's speech was so awe inspiring. In fact I am starting my volunteer work at school tomorrow. How is that for accountability?"
I was struck by how Obama has inspired the three generations of Ryans. Last night, I kept looking at the television and I kept thinking, "We have a Black president." Now I grew up in Yonkers, New York. The NAACP was constantly taking Yonkers to court because the schools and neighborhoods were so segregated. But, the Catholic high school I went to was completely integrated. It was Black, Puerto Rican, Domincan, Portuguese, Italian, Polish and Irish. And we all got along. After I graduated I got a partial scholarship to Trinity College in Washington, DC. Trinity was and is a wonderful institution. When I went there it was mostly for wealthy Irish Catholic women. Now it it has reinvented itself as a college for the Black women of Northwest Washington, DC. Many of them are the first in their generation to go to college. When I was asked to join the alumnae board, I didn't hesitate. I always said as a scholarship girl I have more in common with the women now than I did then. Serving on Trinity's board is my call to service.

While it's important to save money and cut back on expenses. There are many things you can do to give back. Volunteering is free. It can change lives and reshape futures. We have to be more. We have been. Yesterday, Obama reminded all of us that,
"In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

Here are places you can volunteer---
NYC Cares
Volunteer Match
Volunteer gov
Volunteer Abroad
Americorps
Volunteers of America

There is nothing cheap about the act of giving.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

CUTTING CORNERS ON THE CELLPHONE/CABLE

2009-01-12T20:15:00.008-05:00

When I was a kid we had one phone in the house. It was in the kitchen. It was yellow, it was a rotary phone and it had a cord that was so twisted it couldn't be untangled. In those days, you couldn't just go to the store to buy a phone, you had to order one from the telephone company. When I shared the memory of the yellow wall phone with my mother she said, "I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. It was so old, they no longer had that department. We left it there when we moved."

Ah the joys of having only one phone. And what about cable? I was in my teens when cable arrived. It took awhile to convince my father to pay the monthly fee, but he caved after he discovered that he could now watch hockey 24/7 on our solitary black and white television set.

Chris, Deiredre and I were transfixed by cable. We watched the making of the HBO LOGO special over and over and over again (and I think that was the only thing on HBO back then) We watched our new cable channels so much so, that one morning my mother came storming into the livingroom and yelled, "Are you watching THAT ESCANOG CHANNEL?" We all looked at her. What was Escanog? There was no Escanog channel we knew all 25 channels by heart. Finally she said, "ESCANOG- the adult channel." Deirdre said, "Umh-IT'S NOT CALLED THE ESCANOG CHANNEL." How eight year old Deirdre knew which channel it was no one asked. But, doesn't it all harken back to such a technologically innocent time? One phone, no cable....no wonder we all fought so much.

There are ways you can cut back on your tech addictions. Check out this fabulous article I found in my hometown paper the New York Times MANY WAYS TO PLUG IN TO TECH SAVINGS . And let me know what other tips you have might have.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

BEYOND REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

2009-01-11T12:15:00.004-05:00

My hometown paper, THE NEW YORK TIMES just did an article about husbands who have lost their jobs and what impact that had on their families. (DADDY'S HOME A BIT LOST)
Now this is a scene being played over and over again around the country, but what startled me was the anger the wives had towards their husbands.
"One mother in Tribeca who is married for now, to a Wall Street executive put it rather bluntly, 'My job was to run the household and the children's lives. His job is to provide us with a nice lifestyle.' But his bonus disappeared and his annual pay dropped to $150,000 to $800,000 a year,'Let me just say I am still doing my job.'

My jaw dropped when I read this. Marriage the way I understand it, is a partnership. And if your husband was making $800,000 a year perhaps some more savings and less 'lifestyle' would have helped. And to be frank maybe it's time for the Tribeca housewife to stop being a heliocoptor mom and start looking at the want ads. As this article pointed out, women today are more educated than they have ever been and more marketable. And while staying home with kids has always been a worthy choice, sometimes you have the bite the bullet, adjust your expectations and do what is necessary to keep everyone's head above water.

I remember the recession in the seventies vividly-the long gas lines, the news programs showing 500 people lining up 50 available jobs. My father worked his full time job and then took on a second job consulting in the computer field and my mother was a substitute teacher who tried in vain to find full time work in an era of endless budget cuts. The point is they were a team. They were resilient. Resilency was drilled into my mother's head at a young age. A victim of Polio when she was four, my grandmother had told her over and over again, 'You need to get an education. You need to find a profession. You cannot rely on a man to take care of you.' So my mother became a teacher. And my mother told this to her two daughters. 'Get an education. Get a profession.' And from my father I learned, 'Be frugal. Save for a rainy day.'
That's why I am so troubled by this Tribeca housewife. She has no Plan B. And like that trapped wife in Richard Yates' book which was made into the recent film, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, she is the trapped housewife banging her head against the wall.

Check back on Wednesday for advice in cutting your cellphone, cable, housephone in half.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

BE YOUR OWN CLEANING LADY

2009-01-07T23:03:00.009-05:00

Be your own Cleaning Lady
I had the same cleaning lady for ten years. Every Thursday around four, Magda would show up. She had been an electrical engineer in Poland and had come to the United States in the early 1980’s, but had neglected to ever get a green card. I liked Magda. She liked my son. Admittedly, her habit of throwing him up in the air and then catching him while flipping him backwards shouting, “You are strong baby, yes.” made me a bit nervous. After I would grab the baby away from her, she would go after Brudda, my Yorkie /Jack Russell mix. Holding him high above her head, she would pretend that he was the little Russian Dog that was sent into space. “Look at you fly. Just like Laika. High past the moon. Swoosh.” Brudda wound up on Prozac soon after. It would sometimes occur to me when I would find Magda slowly turning the pages of The Romanov Family Album, weeping, that perhaps, just perhaps, she was supposed to be cleaning my house. When she did get around to it, she had two products she swore by –an exceedingly noxious tile cleaner, and a floor product that managed to strip wood. Finally, I’d had enough. Magda had broken too many things, destroyed too many surfaces. I was sad to say goodbye after ten years, but in the end I had to admit that the $90 a week that I paid her could be used to start a retirement account for myself instead of supporting her elderly mother in Poland.
How much money would you save a month if you let your cleaning lady go? I saved almost four hundred dollars a month by cleaning my own apartment. I also found that I showed up on time, and did a better job. This is not to say that cleaning is easy or even fun. You can argue that you don’t have the time. You do have the time, remember? You have bankable time. You have the time saved up after you cut back your TV watching and internet surfing. And if you withdraw 3 hours from your bankable time, you will have the time you need to clean.
After finding the time to clean, my biggest problem was the toxic smell left behind from the cleaning products Magda had used. After some research and experimentation, I came up with some simple formulas for cleaning products to make at home. They are much cheaper and I found them to be a lot less toxic. For about thirty dollars, you can have the cleaning supplies you need for a year.

When I started making my own supplies, Timothy who was 4 at the time, watched me and asked me what I was doing. He told me, “Mama they sell that stuff in the supermarket. I can take you there and show you.” I made him understand that I wanted to use something that didn’t smell so bad or make my eyes tear; he asked if he could help me make my own cleaning supplies and then volunteered, “We can take it to supermarket and sell it there.” I love my little green entrepreneur.

Shopping List•
5 large spray bottles
• A 12 lb bag of baking soda
• 1.32 gallon jug of white vinegar
• A small bottle of Dawn dishwashing detergent .
(Dawn is an excellent grease cutter.)
• 20 Microfiber towels (available for purchase at a warehouse club for under $11.)
• A bottle of mineral oil 10 oz.
• A bottle of hydrogen peroxide 16 fl oz.
• 1 indelible marker to label each spray bottle (Also write the ingredients for each cleaning solution directly on the bottle. It makes it easier to refill.)
• Feather duster
• Measuring cups, spoons and one funnel. (All can be bought at a dollar store.)

Window cleaner (spray bottle#1)
1/2 teaspoon of Dawn
3 tablespoons of vinegar
2 cups of water

All purpose cleaner (Spray bottle #2)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Squirt of dawn
2 cups hot water

This is fantastic solution to use on just about anything, but do not use any vinegar-based solutions on marble. It will stain it. The one below works wonderfully on my marble countertops.)

Marble Cleaner (spray bottle #3)
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide

Furniture polish (spray bottle #4)
1/2 teaspoon of mineral oil
1/4 cup of vinegar
Add a squeeze of lemon or orange

Bath tub
This makes a creamy scrub and is far less noxious than what is on the market.
1/2 cup of baking soda
big squirt of liquid detergent

Add some water sponge scrub in tub, rinse and wipe down

Toilet bowl cleaner
1/4 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar

Put in bowl in order listed above. Let foam for three minutes and then scrub with a toilet brush and then flush.

Here are some more household tips that most effectively use your new non-toxic, less noxious solutions.

Microwave
Cut one lemon in half. Microwave on high for 2 minutes on a paper plate. Take lemon out. (Careful, it will be scorching.) Wipe down. This is great for splatter stains and getting that popcorn smell out.

Floors
For the wooden floors I use Hope’s Floor Revive. It costs around $6 per 16 fl oz. Two bottles will clean around 1,000 square feet. It’s expensive, but it saves the $4 per square foot of finishing cost of refinishing. This can be done every three months. I usually mop the floors every other week with plain water. This keeps the floors hydrated and doesn’t strip the finish.

Tip - Before you clean
Spend ten minutes in each room and put stuff away. In ten minutes, I emptied the dishwasher, cleaned up the pet toys, put Laurie’s clothes in the hamper where they belong, but somehow she cannot find, got the recycling ready for Timothy to do when he gets home for school

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

READ BESTSELLERS FOR FREE

2009-01-04T18:50:00.011-05:00

When I was a kid I loved to read anything I could get my hands on--these included books by V.C. Andrews -the Tolstoy for housewives. For those of you who don't know VC Andrews, she wrote this wonderful book called FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC about a woman who remarried and didn't want her new husband to know about her children so she kept them in the attic and well, when they hit puberty--love blossomed. Everyone in my family shared my addiction to books, and to feed our habit, we belonged to three libraries. Why three? Unfortunately, when each family member takes out fifteen books at a time, the late fines are going to add up. So depending on how much we owed, we would go from library to library until my father could come up with the cash to settle the fines and free up some more books. I would die of shame when Dad was confronted with late fines for the Secret Habits of Amphibians, The Memoirs of Winston Churchill, Amelia Earhart/Mystery Solved!, and Polly Counts to Three. I would stare at my beat up supermarket sneakers as Dad pulled out three dimes meant for the parking meter and say, “I don’t seem to have any cash on me.”
Would the surly librarian give us one more grace week? Sometimes she would take a long gander at me and my siblings. My brother, dirty butterfly net in one hand and a jar containing some strange creature with a twenty-six letter Latin name that only he could pronounce in the other; my four year old sister dressed in some cast off Rockette-like costume complete with fishnet stockings; and me, dressed like an eight year old cowboy who had been to Vietnam. After sizing us up, more often than not the librarian would say, “One more week, Mr. Ryan, but after that I’ll have to suspend your family’s library privileges.”
The next week, Chris and I would run out of the car with arms loaded and throw the volumes down the iron mouth of the book drop. Dad would floor the Volare and head off to yet another library in the next town to rack up some more fines. (The irony of this story is that after my father retired, he went back to school and became a librarian.)
The National Endowment for the Arts released the results of a survey called “Reading at Risk.” It stated that fewer than half of Americans read novels, short stories, plays or poetry. Well, perhaps it's time to change all that. And I know you're thinking, 'Hey books cost money. How am I going to read bestsellers for free?' It's simple all you have to do is go down to your local library and if you don't have one already get a library card. At the Brooklyn Public library, I recently reserved online and picked up the following books all for free.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (list price $14.95)
Compelling story about a couple of zookeepers in Warsaw who saved Jews by literally hiding them in the animal cages. Also, a fascinating look at the Nazi obsession with bringing back extinct breeds of animals. (A Mengele like zookeeper plays a minor, but devastating role.) All this set against a blow by blow account of the Warsaw Uprising.

Brooklyn Follies Paul Auster (list price $14.00)
A man reconnects with his family with interesting at times predictable results. Quick read.

Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
A suburban couple goad and drink themselves into 1950 oblivion. Makes John Cheever look upbeat. (list price 14.95)

Easter Parade Richard Yates (list price 14.00)
Two sisters choose one train wreck relationship after another and find comfort of the Southern kind. What is it with Yates and his literary affair with bourbon? He seems to like mad women and drunken scenes. It gets tiring to say the least.

Alice by Stacey A.Cordery (list price $18)
My God, I loved this book. A renegade who drove her father, Theodore Roosevelt over the bend--"I can either control the country or control Alice, I can't do both." Well into her nineties Alice Roosevelt Longworth truly was the politico hostess and player who ruled over Washington's elite. If you like books like this also check out

Emily Post By Laura Claridge (List price $30) Did you know the queen of manners was a divorced single mother? Great read about the gilded age.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
A fifteen year old boy sleeps with a former Nazi guard. He attends her trial. I found it a bit morally confusing. And truth be told was uncomfortable about the author drawing the Nazi guard so sympathetically. Not a fave. (List price $13.95)

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme
What a delightful memoir of post-War Paris. As soon as I finished I got out one of her French Chef cookbooks and made a Coq au vin. It took nearly three hours, by my God was it good. (List price 14.95)

The Tenth Muse by Judith Jones
Ms. Jones was Julia Child's editor of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I found her early recount of living in Paris compelling and was mystified how little she spent on her personal life. But, a good read still. (list price 14.95)

So I got well over $100 worth of books for free. The caveat is I usually have to wait at least two weeks for popular books to be returned by other readers. But, I am still the same wide eyed kid at the library complete with the fines.

Now if you'd like to buy the books check out Experienced Books. You can buy the books listed above for a fraction of the price and if you sign up for their emails--once a week you'll get an offer for 30% off.

Want some suggestions on what to read--check out goodreads.com. It's kind of like Facebook except with books.

Want to pick up free books at random places around the world? Check out Bookcrossing.com

Want to swap books for free? Do what my Mom does--go to paperbookswap.com

And please let me know what you're reading because I'm desperate for suggestions. I love biographies, fiction, non fiction, cookbooks, backs of cereal boxes....
And if you want to subscribe, scroll down and hit subscribe

Also, I'm back to posting three times a week--so check back Thursday and Friday.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

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HUGO MAN OF A THOUSAND DISGUISES

2008-12-18T12:23:00.007-05:00

I have been getting a bunch of emails--requesting I resume the blog and include one more heartwarming story of a typical Ryan family Christmas. So here's one to warm your frugal little hearts. I will start posting regularly again the week of Jan. But, faithful readers keep those comments coming!

Growing up, every Christmas I can remember we each got an excess of presents. I often wondered how my parents were able to provide such bountiful Christmases year after year, especially since money was so tight. When I asked, my Dad said, “Odd-Lot. All your presents were bought at Odd-Lot.” Aka land of recalled toys. This may explain one of my most beloved, but odd presents- “Hugo the Man of a Thousand Disguises”. Hugo was a bald man with no legs and a shirt that screamed gulag. He came with a toupee, a mustache, an eye patch and scar makeup kit. Why my parents wanted me to grow up to be a makeup artist to fugitives escapes me, but I spent hours tarting up this rubber convict--so much so that he could have been a featured player on the TV show 24. My toys may have looked different from those of our friends, but it didn’t mean they were any less beloved. And I guarantee you that January 1st, they were paid off in full.

The America's Cheapest family spends $90 on Christmas shopping. And while that not sound appealing to some, they have a good time finding bargains. Here's a link to the frugal holiday shopping about how this family supports itself on 44 k a year

THE LITTLE SILVER TACKY CHRISTMAS TREE

2008-12-15T21:57:00.006-05:00

PAID FOR WITH GREEN STAMPS
When I was a baby, my father left his incredibly lucrative and fulfilling job as a social worker in the South Bronx. (“I’d knock on the door and run Kathleen.”) We Ryans have always had a soft spot for civil service. My brother just retired after twenty years as a NYPD narcotics detective. (“I’d knock on the door and then break it down Kathleen”). A friend of my father’s told him that the US Navy was training college graduates to do computer programming. So with two children under the age of three, my father signed up, and we were all hauled off to New Jersey. While the program had a small allowance, my parents were pretty much broke. When Christmas rolled around my mother was despondent. They didn’t even have enough money to buy a Christmas tree. How would she provide Christmas for her family? But, ever resourceful, my mother gathered up all her green stamps and cashed it in for a tree made of silver foil. After she assembled it she cried. It looked cheap and ridiculous. My older cousin Jacquie who helped my mother out from time to time took one look at the tree. She went to the five and dime and bought white paper doilies. With a pair of scissors and some white lights, she transformed the tree into something to behold. And “Christmas was saved.”
Think back to that one special Hanuakah or Christmas. Was it all about the presents or about the specal rituals like playing dreidel with cousins or leaving a plate of cookies for Santas? You can cut back on all the presents and still make the holiday memorable. I told the story about how Cousin Jackie saved Christmas a couple of weeks ago at her brother's funeral. It was an incredibly horrible time, but as I told the story my parents lit up, my Aunt came over and Jackie smiled. She hadn't thought what was she did was anything special. And yet, family memories make the holidays. (Judging from the two pictures I found on the internet, I was not the only one with a silver xmas tree from Green Stamps.)

HINT OF THE DAY
I found these coupon codes on youbemom.com. They should work for the last minute shopper in you. Lids - 15% off $40 (exclusions apply) - exp: 12/31 - code: COUPONCABIN15LIDS The Limited - $10 off $50, $20 off $60, $30 off $100 - exp. 12/31 - code 814, exp. 12/24 code 697 or 687 The Limited - 5 In-Store Printable The Limited Coupon - exp. 12/24 (50% off any Outfits, 50% off any pant or skirt, 40% off tops, $30 off dresses $60+, or BOGO Jewelry) LL Bean - $10 Gift Card Coupon (exclusions apply) - exp: 12/24 Lord & Taylor - 15% off most purchases - exp. 01/04/09 Lord & Taylor - Friends & Family: 25% most items - exp. 12/15 Lucky Brand Jeans - 30% off any single item (file type: pdf) - exp: 01/07/09 Macy's - Friends & Family 20% off most items - exp 12/15 Metrostyle - 25% off coupon - exp: 1/07/09 - code: MSMYCAB ModaQueen - 5% off $500 ack To Basics Toys - 15% off $75 coupon - exp: 12/17 - code: DEAL15 Carter's - $10 off $50 purchase - exp. 12/31 Childrens Place - 15% off coupon - exp: 12/23 - code: GGAC8 Crayola - 20% off coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: DECK8 Diapers.com - $10 off $49 & Free Shipping Coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: FREETODAY Disney Shopping - 15% off any purchase - exp: 12/24 eToys - $5 off $100 coupon (exclusions apply) - exp: 12/31 - code: CPNCABN8 GoToBaby - 10% off coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: xmas10 Kazzo Toys - 15% off $50 coupon - exp: 12/25 - code: CJ50B KB Toys - $5 off $40 coupon (exclusions apply) - exp: 12/31 - code: ETNLTR KB Toys - $5 off any purchase when you sign up LeapFrog - 25% off & Free Shipping Coupon - exp: 12/19 Leaps and Bounds - 15% off $100 coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: KIDS15P LEGO Shop - $5 off $20 coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: bscd27 One Step Ahead - 15% off $60 coupon - exp: 12/31 - code: 15PBABY Red Wagons - 5% off coupon (new customers only). - code: f

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

FRUGAL HOLIDAY GIFTS WITHOUT APPEARING CHEAP

2008-12-12T08:10:00.005-05:00

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Dear Ms. Kate,
I traditionally buy holiday gifts for my client base at this time of year. Usually Fruit/chocolate baskets from Harry and David or bottles of wine. Can you recommend a subtle way to cut down costs.

Sincerely
Ms. X Spender

Ah, Ms. X Spender you make my heart swoon with your frugality. Since you like to give baked goods and wine. This is what I would suggest. Go homemade! Make brownies and large chocolate chip cookies, put them in a container, tie with a bow and write a heartfelt note. For the price of one Harry and David basket you can make presents for everyone.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies have a special place in my heart. When I got married this summer at my reception, my friend and production stage manager for 25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER made homemade chocolate chip cookies. Along with bottles of Proseco wine, I had a swanky and fun reception.

Now I picked these two baked items because even the worst baker can bake these with success. Here is the classic TollHouse Recipe I found on Youtube.

For the Brownies buy box mix. Yes, do the box mix. Brownies need to be gooey and delish and the mix delivers.

Now for the packaging. Wrap each cookie in storebrand wax paper and put in Chinese food take out boxes. I found 50 for under five dollars on line at Papermart.com
For wine I am not an expert. But, I found a great cheap wine website
10dollarwine.com

http://10dollarwine.com/inexpensive_wine_reviews.htm

Hope this helps!

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

HINT OF THE DAY

Want to give unique handmade presents, but don't know how to knit, sew or do anything? Visit etsy.com. From handmade Superman capes to coffee tables, this website makes my heart sing.

312 loads of laundry for under 7 bucks

2008-12-10T22:22:00.004-05:00

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

After I started making my own cleaning supplies, I got to thinking about how much I spend on laundry detergent. Since I have an eight year old and I like clean underwear I do about about 8 loads a week. I spend about six dollars for a bottle of detergent and I usually go through two a month. And quite simply that's too much for this cheapskate to spend.
So I found a great website called THE SIMPLE DOLLAR. And on this website, I found out how to make my own laundy detergent. For seven dollars I made suds for an entire year. And I also saved myself from schlepping down to my local CVS in Cobble Hill to buy their store brand.

HINT OF THE DAY
Cash in your change jar and buy a toy to donate to TOYS FOR TOTS.

Friday is the QUESTION OF THE WEEK. And I need one! So please email me at katemoiraryan@aol.com.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

THE GIRL IN THE DOROTHEA LANGE PHOTO

2008-12-08T10:51:00.005-05:00

ARTICLE OF THE THE WEEK
Remember the 1930's Dorothea Lange photo of the two little girls hiding their faces in their mother's shoulders while she stared out blankly with her hand under her chin? The iconic picture told a million stories of poverty in one single image. Recently, CNN caught up with the girl in the photo who is now 77 years old. Katherine McIntosh recounted how ashamed she was for being poor. She learned some valuable lessons from being a symbol of the depression. 'Save your money and don't over-extend yourself.' A simple lesson yes, but sometimes the simplest lessons we learn in our childhood are the ones that stay with us forever.
I need the question of the week for Friday. So please email your frugal questions to katemoiraryan@hotmail.com

TIP OF THE DAY
Have someone who owns a turntable? Go to your local thrift store and purchase some records. You'll get them for around for a dollar a piece and I guarantee they'll be appreciated.

And your tips and comments are always appreciated.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

TIPPING THE STAFF

2008-12-05T11:59:00.006-05:00

QUESTION OF THE WEEK
My favorite movie is AUNTIE MAME. It tells the heartwarming story of young orphan, Patrick Dennis who goes to live with his Auntie Mame in a palatial apartment on Sutton Place. From her he learns life skills such as how to make a very dry martini for her bohemian friends. However, Patrick's life comes to a screeching halt when Mame loses all her money in the great stock market crash of 1929. But, even though she has to get a job at Macy's selling rollerskates, Mame still keeps her staff all of whom work for nothing.
Now many of us employ people in a variety of ways whether they are our personal trainers, colorists, nannies, cleaning ladies, but what to do about tipping in these tough times? Diana, one of our faithful readers asked this very question. How do you cut back without stiffing the people who help you?
This is what I am doing. When I needed to cut back my trainer to twice a week, I posted on my building's board that he was available and he picked up a once a week client to make up for my cut back. I am going to tip him what I did last year $100 and give him a nice tin of $3 cookies from Trader Joes. For my cleaning lady I am going to give the same amount with some nice $4 bath gel from Trader Joes. For the doorman, I am going to give each $50 with a tin of cookies. I don't have a nanny anymore, but when I did, I tipped her one month's pay. I think in this economic climate and if money is tight, I would tip one or two weeks pay telling your nanny times are tough (if they indeed are). With each tip be sure to include a personal gift especially if you are downsizing. For ten dollars you can make a huge batch of cookies that will supplement monetary tips. I do not tip and never have my colorist and stylist. I tip them all year long and do not feel that this is a necessary. I do not tip my trainer each time and that's why he gets a hundred dollars at Christmas. If you need to really halve or reduce your tips to staff, be blunt. "I lost my job or my husband or partner has lost their job and times are very tight. However, I wanted to give you something to to show you how much I appreciate your help this year." And give them the reduced tip with cookies. You know we're all in this downturn together and although they might disappointed by the reduction if you're honest I'll bet they'll understand. If they're nasty about it, well then maybe it's time to find someone else. You keep them employed and that's no small feat in this time.

Here is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Next week, what a little girl learned from the great depression.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

WAYS TO SURVIVE THE LAYOFFS

2008-12-03T21:53:00.002-05:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

So you're laid off and you're thinking what am I going to do now? How am I going to survive. When my mother was laid off from the Yonkers Public school system, she started her own nursery school which eventually grew to over 200 students. She made lemons out lemonade. Now I keep saying we have to be inventive to survive these uncertain times. Here is a great article one of our favorite cheapskates Mark sent me this morning. JOBLESS?, BROKE?, IDEAS FOR SURVIVAL. From medical care to applying for a new job, this article not only keeps your hopes up, but it also can reduce your electric bill while you're trying to find another job.

Check back on Friday Diana, another cheapskate fan will ask the QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

A FRUGAL THANKSGIVING

2008-11-23T21:48:00.004-05:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

What makes a memorable Thanksgiving? It's the food. I remember I got a call from my mother a couple years back. She wasn't able to come to Thanksgiving because my grandmother was sick so she defrosted a turkey she had gotten free by spending a certain amount of money at her supermarket. Problem was Mom had frozen and defrosted the turkey before. And while, I admire her frugal impulse to wanting to cook the twice defrosted turkey, I gave her a quick course in botchulism and asked my cousins to swing by with some food.
But how can one save money during Thanksgiving? I found a great foodie website, that might be of help, THE FRUGAL FOODIE

TIP OF THE DAY

Fine grind your coffee beans. You'll get a get a richer flavor and you can use a third less.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

THE BLOG WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK

2008-11-19T09:19:00.002-05:00

My cousin Brian Hughes died tragically in a motorcycle crash in Florida. He leaves behind six kids. I have to go to Florida to be with my family.

Signed,

Cheap S. kate

CLOTHING SWAP THE FRUGSTYLE WAY

2008-11-16T21:18:00.004-05:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

Instead of being depressed about tightening our belts, why don't we go into this recession with a postive attitude. Let's be inventive. Let's find some joy in saving money. Let's be frugal with style. The glass from now on is half full. End of story.

Here's a great article I found on FRISKY.COM. It's called
Eat, Drink and Swap Your Clothes.

"Not only is a clothing swap a great excuse to organize your closets, get rid of stuff you no longer want, and gather a group of girlfriends for an afternoon or evening of cocktails and clothes, it's also an opportunity to score some totally free new-to-you outfits and accessories."

TIP OF THE DAY

Today at the Brooklyn Children's Museum we got in free because we belong to the transit museum. Check out reciprocal membership deals.

I need the question of the week. Please send me on at katemoiraryan@aol.com.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

THEM DUMPSTER DIVING FREEGANS

2008-11-13T21:58:00.003-05:00

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

What is a Freegan?
"The term Freegan is the marriage of two words - Free and Vegan. A vegan is someone who avoids all products that originate from an animal; and I believe that with some vegans, it goes as far as insects as well, including honey. Freegans take things a step further. They are people who limit the amount they participate in purchasing and selling and strive to consume as few resources as possible. They live their lives based on progressive principles and oppose materialism, conformity and greed."

Or as my grandmother would say dirty commie hippies. But, heck if you're going to cook from Grapes of Wrath Cookbook, well then you need food and one of their favorite tips is dumpster diving. Now I can hear my mother yell, "Kathleen, I am not dumpster diving." But you know Mom, if Dad holds your ankles you can get some free groceries.
Look if you're broke and you're hungry and a bit of a foodie here is where to find your local dumpster to dive.
For Brooklyn
And for my friend Barbara here is where you can go Dumpster diving in Manhattan (There's even a location you can scout out some free food for Zorro)
Manhattan

And what to do with all that expired food? Checkout FREEGAN KITCHEN where you can learn how to cook gourmet meals from your expired food.

TIP OF THE DAY

Need something? Don't buy it freecyle it. Go to freecycle.org and get what you need or want for free.

Please post your comments. I love them and it gets the dialogue going. Also, if you want to subscribe, scroll down and and hit subscribe. Please foward this website to friends and family.

See you on Monday! Also, I need the question of the week for Monday--please email me your questions at katemoiraryan@aol.com. Thanks!

Signed,
Cheap S. Kate

DISHWASHER LASGANA

2008-11-11T22:41:00.004-05:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

I think a cheapskate website should be informative and amusing. So let's say you're too broke to pay the gas bill. (Now most of us rent or own and the gas is included)-but let's just say it wasn't and you couldn't pay the man for the gas. Or someone installed a spice rack and ruptured the gas line- and it took forever to get it fixed. (Yup, true story and wasn't me.)
Well...here is how to make lasagna in the dishwasher. Bizarre yes, but go with me. It's fun. Dishwasher Lasagna

Hint of the Day

Wine slushies. Leftover wine? Freeze in a Ziploc and use for recipes.

Please post your comments. I love them and it gets the dialogue going. Also, if you want to subscribe, scroll down and and hit subscribe. Please foward this website to friends and family.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

2008-11-09T20:01:00.004-05:00

Hello fellow frugal friends! Once a week we'll have the question of the week. This one comes from my dear old friend Jacquie whose partner just had their second baby.

Dear Cheap S. Kate,
Where can I buy diapers that won't break the piggy bank?
Thanks!
Jacquie

CHEAP DIAPERS AND WHY NOT TO DO PULL UPS

Dear Jacquie,

My rule of thumb on toilet training is to do it before 3, but not before 2. Girls usually can be trained a couple months after 2, boys can be trained at 2 ½. There’s no scientific proof to this, it’s just from watching my family and friends go through this process. Diapers cost around 30-35 dollars a month. So I have to tell you it was a happy moment when we decided to toilet train Timothy. We didn’t buy a book, or put a doll on a potty or buy a video. We bought a plain potty. We asked him if he wanted to wear big boy underwear. They weren’t pull-ups, they were 100% cotton underwear with some giant cartoon character on the front. When he said yes. We explained that he’d have to go in the potty, not in his pants. For the first couple of days, we asked him about fifty times a day if he had to go to the bathroom. Every time he did, we’d make a fuss. We never gave him treats or bribes. We clapped our hands and jumped up and down and praised him lavishly. At night we put down a long cotton rubber mat that we got from Martha Stewart baby collection at Kmart. (He never needed it, but it’s less expensive than a new mattress.) We made sure he did not have anything to eat or drink an hour before bedtime. In one week with a couple of accidents here and there he was completely trained. My rule of thumb is not to use pull-ups. They are an invention of the diaper industry to keep you coming back for more. I have known children as old 9 still in pull-ups at night and while for some that might be medically necessary in terms of chronic bed wetting, it makes me wonder if the diaper industry is playing us for the saps that we are. Odds are if you start training with pull-ups, it is more than likely you’ll be using them at least until the age of four. A bag of name brand pull ups costs $13.00 for 21 diapers. That means you’ll buy a bag and half every month averaging out to 20 bucks a month. And the diaper companies have you exactly where they want you why else would pull-ups go up to size 45 plus pounds? Think about it.

Where to get Cheap Diapers

1800 Diapers
Orders arrive in 1-4 days. For orders over $50 it's free and for orders under it's $4.99. They also carry wipes and formula so you might want to combine these orders this way.

The brands they carry Huggies, Luvs, Pampers, Seventh Generation and Tushies

A box of Huggies Baby Shaped Diapers Jr. Value pack
Size 4 costs 30.99. 120 are in the box and this averages out .26 cents per item.

Amazon.com
Huggies Baby-Shaped Fit Diapers,
Size 4 (22-37 Lbs), Disney, Pack of 126 Diapers costs 32.69 and it's free with super saver shipping so it comes out cheaper than 1-800 diapers. And if you do something called-subscribe and save--which means you'll be getting the product and specified intervals (i.e. -once or twice month) you'll save even more. With this particular order you'll get the diapers for $26.15 plus free shipping which means you'll be saving almost $10 over 1-800 diapers.

Cloth Diapers (the cheapest alternative)
The best website I found for cloth diapers is cottonbabies.com

Bum Genius are the cloth diapers I like the best. They have stretch to fit tabs so you can use the diapers from size 1-4 and you can use these without a diaper cover. A twelve pack costs $203.40 and there's free shipping with orders over $78.

The downside with these diapers is that you have to wash them. But for a more informed choice go to their Bum Genius Faq Page.

Cotton Babies suggests that you order 24 diapers which would be $407 which if you do use them until age 3, it comes out to a $136 per year.

With disposable diapers you're averaging about 5 a day which is around $475 a year. Using cloth diapers comes out to a full third cheaper. Let me know what you think-

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate
Posted by Kate Moira Ryan at 12:16 PM

Tip of the day

It's a cheap one- going to Starbucks? Pay by credit card. You'll be less likely to dump your change in the tip jar.

Remember I post Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please subscribe by scrolling down and hitting post.

Keep those comments and hints coming.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

P.S. And for all of you wondering, that's our new president as a baby with his mother.

THE WALLET DIET

2008-10-30T22:22:00.005-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

The article of the day comes from KIPLINGER and it "shows you four steps to take to protect your household from falling into debt during low financial times."
HOW TO LIVE DEBT FREE

I think the most important thing about these shaky times is to take stock, figure out a plan and not to panic. And go on the wallet diet. What's the wallet diet? The Wallet Diet starts with weighing in. It may be difficult because you will have to face how out of control your spending life has gotten. What you need to weigh in
• Two small memo pads
• A pen or pencil
• A hand held calculator
First Memo Pad
• Record every expense you incur for a week-no matter how small
• Divide these expenses into two categories
1. Fixed expenses like rent and mortgage
2. Frivolous expenses like a mocha latte and the movies
• Goals
1. Cut your fixed expenses by 15% (You’ll see which ones are not truly ‘fixed’.)
2. Cut your frivolous expenses by 50%
With the extra cash you’ve saved, you’ll open a savings account without an ATM card.

Second Memo Pad
• Record the time you spend surfing the internet and watching TV
Goal
1. Cut this amount of time in half
This time you’re not spending on Perez Hilton or watching MAD MEN is your “bankable” time. What will you do with your bankable time? You’ll use it to clean, cook, iron or even paint your apartment. I had a huge internet addiction and when I tallied how many hours a day I spent surfing the net I was horrified. Week number one was fourteen hours. Fourteen hours I could have spent writing, playing with my son, reading a book or cleaning the house. Cutting down on surfing the net wasn’t easy, but I feel like once I sign off for the day I am off for the night. The first night I did this, I asked Timothy what he was doing, he looked at me as if he had never seen me before. “I’m playing Club Penguin on the computer.” He had a whole virtual world set up for his penguin including a tricked out igloo with a plasma screen TV, seven virtual pets and a fake fireplace. I told him how awesome it looked and as I was about to leave his room he swiveled in his miniature desk chair and said, “Wanna play a board game?” Every night after homework and dinner is completed we now play a board game. Time is such a valuable commodity it’s amazing what you can do when you stop wasting it.

TIP OF THE DAY
When online shopping-leave your wannabe purchase in the shopping cart for 24 hours before you buy it. I guarantee you'll cut your impulse internet shopping in half.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

QUESTION OF THE WEEK BECOMES ARTICLE OF THE DAY

2008-10-28T20:02:00.012-04:00

QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Dear Kate:

My wife and I have an 18-month old daughter. We both work and make
decent salaries -- or at least we thought we did until we started
looking at nursery schools in Manhattan. A quick tour of many of these
revealed that we would actually come out marginally ahead if one of us
*quit our job* and stayed home, rather than paying that much tuition!
Not only are we both extremely vested in our careers, but we can't
afford to be a one-income family either. What should we do?

Mark

Dear Mark,

You know for nursery school and we are talking nursery school, no one should have to get into debt or just clear enough to pay for it. That's ridiculous. Sorry. Now this is long post so bear with me, but hopefully it will make you think outside the B.F. Skinner box.
When my mother was laid off from the Yonkers public school system she and two of her friends started their own nursery school. My mother ran the school for 15 years and eventually it grew to over 250 students. What made my mother’s school different is that she geared it towards the schedule of working women. She opened at 6:30 and closed at 6:30. When I called my mother about this book, she said, “You know a small group of Moms could start their own nursery school. We did it.” And I thought back to the day when she was laid off as a teacher and how upset she was about it. The budget cuts in the 1970’s for a city like Yonkers were devastating. The education budget was always the first to get slashed. For a couple of days Mom was depressed, but when she cooked up this idea with two of her friends to open her own school, she truly made lemonade out of lemons. When I voiced to her that I thought parents opening their own nursery school was a was a rather daunting proposition, she took me through the process of setting it up step by step. I quickly realized it was more than doable and it would probably be a whole lot of fun.
This is a great way for parents who have flexible schedules to give their 2-3 year olds a nursery school experience without paying through the nose and I mean that literally most pre-schools in New York City cost around fifteen thousand dollars a year.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO SETTING UP YOUR OWN NURSERY SCHOOL

I worked from my mother from the time I was nine until I graduated from high school. My mother ran the school for 15 years and eventually it grew to over 250 students. What made my mother’s school different is that she geared it towards the schedule of working women. She opened at 6:30 and closed at 6:30. When I called my mother about this book, she said, “You know a small group of Moms could start their own nursery school. We did it.” I thought at first that it was a daunting proposition, but then as she took me through setting it up step by step, I realized it was more than doable, it would probably be a whole lot of fun.
This is a great way for stay at home moms to give their 2-3 year olds a nursery school experience without paying through the nose. I live in a neighborhood where half-day nursery school can cost upwards of $15,000 a year. The key to starting your own nursery school is planning, planning and planning.

How to start
Keep it simple. Keep it small. If you already have a pre-established playgroup cull from there. The ideal number is 3 kids. Why? It’s small enough and with two adults it’s manageable. Anymore kids you will most likely need a day care license.

Decide on hours
Start with three hours a day three times a week. Or three hours twice a week. Divide your four parents into two parent teams. Rotate every two weeks. Why two weeks, you need enough time to establish consistency and for the children to get used to what is happening. If they are part of a previous play group, they will be used to having other parents around.

How will you discipline
Agree on a simple method of discipline. What is not acceptable—hitting, name calling, throwing, punching, kicking, or biting. A two year old is going to have a lot less verbal ability than a three year old. A 1 minute time out on the rug will a be a lot more effective than screaming. Don’t use a time out chair. It will be hard to keep a child that age on a chair, a rug is bigger and if it is also used for circle time it won’t have the scary implications of a time out chair. You don’t want the child to find any part of the room scary.

Agree on a place
I think rotating houses every two weeks is a good idea. But, keep it consistent. Also, make sure you have an umbrella policy so you can protect yourself in case something should happen to one of the children. Designate an area for the school. It doesn’t have to be big. A child’s room is ideal. If that is too small, think about using the room, plus the living room. Make sure all breakables are put away and if you haven’t already childproofed the house, do so now. Cover up plugs and twist tie the cabinets shut.
You should divide your space into corners. These should be as follows-- a circle time story rug. A table with chairs. An corner, an easel with plastic tarp underneath. Block corner and doll corner. Trucks and large interlocking blocks.

Structure
Start every morning with a half an hour of free play. Let the children play in every corner except the art corner. Don’t be upset if the boys like the dolls just as much as the girls or the girls seem a bit obsessed with building bridges. Children learn by play. Timothy like most boys had an obsession with strollers. It helped him learn how to walk. However dolls were meant to be kissed and then thrown.

I remember my first nursery school experience vividly. We sang songs in French in a church basement and I was punished for wearing a batman cape because I was told, “Girls don’t wear them.” I argued rather eloquently in my defense, but wound up in the 60’s version of time out on a chair facing a wall.

Circle - is a simple concept. The children sit in a circle, the teachers on chairs and simple concepts are taught such as:
• Weather- What sort of day is it? One child each session gets to be the weatherperson. Look out the window is it sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Make a weather chart with contact paper, construction paper and Velcro. Let them attach a cloud or rain drops. Make a paper doll, cover it in contact paper and have them dress them in proper clothes.
• Simple concepts like colors, counting one to ten and shapes can also be taught with can be taught using the same simple materials listed above.
• Show and tell is also another fun way for children to contribute. Certain themes like my family, my pets are a good way for children to learn to share using their words and pictures.
• Holidays are also an excellent way to tie in circle, craft and story time. Another fun thing to do, is where my family is from. Thus, someone whose ancestors hail from Japan might bring in pictures of kimonos, Japanese treats and read a story about a Japanese life.
Helpful books to check out of the library – Toddler Play, Creative Publishing International 2001
Baby and Toddler Learning Fun – 50 Interactive and Developmental Activities to Enjoy with Your Child by Sally Goldberg Perseus Publishing 2001

Snack time - One child should be chosen as snack leader, hand out cups for juice or milk and a napkin can serve as their plate. As parents you should agree on snacks. Steer away from cookies and crackers that contain hydrogenated oils these contain trans fat which have been substantially known to contribute to obesity. Also stay away from juices that contain high fructose corn syrup. This is a man made sweetener and it is used because it costs less to produce than sugar. It tricks your body into thinking it’s not full. So you eat more. Keep your snacks natural and simple, juice, cracker and a cut up fruit. Remember one rule sugar makes kids crazy. Cut sugar from your children’s diet for one week I’ll bet you’ll a discernable difference in terms of irritability, jumpiness and far less melt downs. Even if you have regular snacks with sugar at home, don’t bring it into the classroom.
Art projects – An easel on plastic and some paints.
• Paint - Mix cup of salt, cup of flour, and two cups water together. You want a thick consistency. Add food coloring till you have the color that you want.
• Playdough - Mix 1 cup of all purpose flour, ½ cup of salt, 6 teaspoons of vegetable oil, I cup of water. cook on top of the stove for 4 minutes. Color with food coloring. Store in airtight container.
Helpful books to check out of the library - Young at Art – Teaching Toddlers Self-Expression, Problem-Solving Skills, and an Appreciation for Art by Susan Striker published by Henry Holt 2001.

First Art – Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by Mary Ann F. Kohl published by Gryphon House 2002

Teacher websites - to order supplies. Demco.com, teachersparadise.com, and lubee.com, Scholastic.com. However the more supplies you make yourself, the cheaper it will be.

Storytime
Tailor your books around seasons, holidays or a life lesson. What is a life lesson? Sharing, how to deal with the birth of a sibling, what friendship is. Take out books from the library and ask your local librarian for suggestions. The New York Public Library on its website NYPL.ORG has an excellent list—100 picture books every toddler should know. Read off that list. Stay away from cartoon characters unless they are PBS. Think quality, not junk.

Lastly, another great idea to help you organize your own nursery school is to hire a student teacher at an hourly rate to help you get ready and perhaps teach part time with you. Call your local colleges and universities and see who might be interested. That way you’re getting someone who has been educated in the most advanced trends and is also young enough to be affordable. She’ll gain great experience by student teaching and you’ll gain her insight. If you hire her at $20 per hour 9 hours a week essentially for all three days and each parent works as a rotating aide to her it will cost $180 per week. This divided by four is $45 per child week for 12 hours.

Okay when your little love turns old enough check out insiderschools.org and find the free local pre-k in your neighborhood.

Let me know what you decide to do Mark. Hope this helps and keep those questions coming!

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

The grossest tightwad hint website-totally fabulous in that Brother's Keeper kind of way

2008-10-26T21:08:00.008-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

Since all we have is bad news; investment bankers are dropping like flies, the real fake boob housewives of some imaginary county cannot afford those Birkin bags. When will it end? With all this bad news, I thought we needed a little fun in our lives. Well, the article of the day is actually a website that I find absolutely fascinating (the same way I find those 17 kids and counting shows mesemerizing.)

Go to tightwad.com

My favorite tip--Over Use Under Wear
How dare you throw out used underwear! Sufficiently worn underwear will allow you to tear out the wide elastic strip. Save the elastic for later use with sewing needs. Cut the worn, clean, and undamaged material into a sheet to use like cheese cloth for straining foods or for baking and cooking needs. Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Who needs cheesecloth when you have a pair of Dad's old tightey whiteys?

Also check out Double Doodie Tissue Tender. Make your own double ply toilet paper.
Fruit Salad/Salad Salvation Puree your old fruit salad-which is already brown and pour into an ice cube tray for shit pops. They also suggest adding an egg to the mixture for the protein.

TIP OF THE DAY

Comes from my friend Regina who is writer and mom of two who suggested "One of my own frugal habits is saving the New Yorkers and then sorting through them before I go on vacation for fiction shorts to read. I also save them for times like this--when I'm too stretched to commit to a book--but am in serious need of literary food."

Remember if you want to subscribe scroll down and click on Subscribe (atom) and feel free to pass this website onto friends and family.

I also need the question of the week so please email me yours at katemoiraryan@hotmail.com.

Remember the blog is being posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

NEW FORMAT AND REGULAR POSTING

2008-10-24T09:20:00.004-04:00

Dear Devoted Readers,

Starting next week, the blog will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On those days we will have the article of the day and the tip of the day. The question of the week will happen weekly.

If you would like to subscribe, please scroll down below and click on Subscribe to: Posts (Atom).

Please post your comments. Many of you have emailed me your comments, but you if you post them on the blog everyone can read them. This is especially helpful if you have tips. You can post anonymously.

Lastly, I do need a weekly question. Please email me these questions at katemoiraryan@hotmail.com. I will get to them in the order I receive them.

Now I know these are going to be tight times. And if you think the fat cats on Wall Street are going to be the only ones who are hit hard you need to think again. If you are in the not for profit arts world and many of my readers are, we are going to be hit hard. Our theaters are dependent on money from the corporate world. This means less money will be donated to our instituitions. This will trickle down in ways we cannot forsee right now. So we have to hunker down, make smart decisions and ride this out.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

Downsizing to 100 square feet of bliss

2008-10-23T09:26:00.005-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

The New York Times has article today about what happens to the foreclosed families that we've been hearing so much about. With each one there is a similar story. A home was purchased and it was refinanced with the equity taken out. Some put additions on their homes, one even bought an $8,000 bedroom furniture set even though the husband was working as a $10 an hour security guard. While it's not my role to judge, we as a nation have to start taking some fiscal responsibility for the financial decisions we make. When I said we need to batten down the hatches, I MEAN BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES--it's a global recession. But, remember what Gramie and Aunt Madeline did (scroll down) they made their own bath tub gin during the prohibition. You can have fun and still be frugal.

The article of the day is not about the foreclosed families. It is rather about the 100 square foot house which will make all of us urban dwellers keen with delight.
Downsizing to 100 square feet of bliss
We need to start reimagining ourselves and our spaces. Be inventive and be fun.

HINT OF THE DAY

Shop in your closet. When Laurie and I had to go to a wedding last weekend, she said, "I need a pair of shoes." I said, "We're not buying anything. Go shopping in your closet." And we did. I bet you've got a ton of clothes in your own closet. Look in there for bargains.

Pass the blog onto people you love. Subscribe--scroll down and hit atom. Also, please post your coments and or hints.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

Even the Blimey Queen is on a Budget

2008-10-20T22:15:00.004-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY
I am fascinated by the Brits. I spent my sophomore year at Oxford being tutored by dons from St. Hughs. We rowed on the Thames and got pissing drunk after debates at the student union. It was all very Brideshead Revisited. However, there is a side of England I've never cottoned to --and that's the smoky, drinky, crisp eating never seen a vegetable I didn't fry part of the populace. When England marched into the stadium during the Olympics, I was amazed they had that many athletes. And it's up to poor Jamie Oliver to try and save the entire lot. But, now that the global economy has well come to screeching halt, we all must do our part to be frugal and that means something different to all cultures. To the Brits it means drinking cheaper wine and smoking generic fags or ciggies--as one of their necessary appendages are known.
Here is a great article I lifted from the Guardian. And no Gordon Brown you can't revoke my EU citizenship because I'm bloody Irish.
How to be a thriftysomething
Goodbye steak and champagne. Hello, mince and £3.99 Pinot Grigio.

TIP OF THE DAY
If your partner has an unlimited metro card borrow it when you go out in the evenings and he or she doesn't.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

GREENOREXIA

2008-10-19T20:01:00.007-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY

New York Times my hometown paper had an interesting article about how going green cannot only reduce your footprint, but also save you money. I have to say I'm pretty much a high tech gal. I like my flat screen TV and laptop, although I do go from room to room shutting off lights like my dad whose favorite refrain was--"WHO LEFT THE GODDAMN LIGHT ON?" I grew up believing that we were in a constant state of some brown out and that electricity was perhaps more expensive than the forbidden Trix cereal.

There's a family in this article that conserves heat by huddling up together while sleeping. Call me old fashioned, but where I come from that's called incest. Now I am not suggesting that you pee on the lawn to conserve water, but you might get some great inspiration to well at least turn off the GODDAMN LIGHT.

Completely Unplugged, Fully Green

Tomorrow is the question of week.

THE TIP OF THE DAY
comes from my favorite son's favorite guys-Rob and Miguel. Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones--wash them with your regular laundry and you'll save some trees as well as some money.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

10 LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2008-10-16T09:23:00.004-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY
I don't know how much my family suffered in the depression. I think for Gramie and her sister Madeline being frugal meant making gin the bathtub. A nearly blind ninety six year old Aunt Madeline recounted the recipe one afternoon while my normally foul mouthed scowling grandmother giggled. Truth is the Higgins sisters were inventive and fun. Their other sister Aunt Dottie married a Ukranian man named Jack who defined frugal. When he wanted a swimming pool he put on a yellow bikini-belonging to his wife-and went swimming in a garbage can. As Gramie liked to point out--he married into the family--he wasn't one us.

But I decided to search online to see what our foremothers learned during the depression. I found this great article from the Columbus Dispatch.

Lessons learned from the Depression
Sunday, July 13, 2008 3:22 AM

More stories
COMPLETE SERIES
Many who lived through the Great Depression remember hard times and doing without, but they also developed an appreciation for what they had Some tips to help younger generations weather today's bad-news economy:

What they say
• "Put money in the bank. If you get paid $10, put $1 of that in the bank." -- Marian Smith, 85, of the South Side
• "If you have a job, take care of it. Give your employer their money's worth." -- Ruth Murvay, 86, of the East Side
• "Don't believe in get-rich-quick schemes." -- Bill Pollitt, 86, of Worthington
• "Hand clothing down to the next child." -- Wanda Rogers, 85, of Blacklick
• "Fix holes in socks until you can't fix them anymore." -- Virginia Bower, 96, of Worthington

How they survived
• Hunted squirrels, rabbits and deer for the dinner table
• Cut up feed bags and flour sacks to make aprons and clothing
• Gathered walnuts, hickory nuts, blueberries and raspberries to eat and to sell
• Made soap with grease and lye
• Pried nails from old pieces of wood, then straightened and reused the nails
• Collected coal that had fallen off trains onto railroad tracks
• Put cardboard inserts into shoes with holes"

How does this translate to the modern urban dweller?
* Wear the clothes you have or shop at consignment shop or Goodwill
* Can't make your rent/mortgage? Take in a roommate.
* Get a monthly metro card
* Do your own dry cleaning-wash and iron your shirts and pants
* Use rags instead of papertowels, use plastic containers instead of plastic bags
* Go to the farmers' market and buy fruit and vegetables
* Meal plan and buy according to only the food you need
* Have potluck dinner parties instead of going out

And be like Gramie and Aunt Madeline be inventive and have fun!

TIP OF THE DAY

Get rid of your landline and use only your cellphone. You'll save on average eight hundred dollars a year.

TEACHING THRIFTY VALUES

2008-10-14T08:53:00.004-04:00

ARTICLE OF THE DAY
There is a wonderful article today in the NY TIMES entitled, THRIFTINESS IN AISLE 5: STORES TAKE ON ROLE OF TEACHING CUSTOMERS TO BUDGETIn short stores are now hiring family financial experts to teach people to budget, and feed their families more cheaply. "There's an entire generaton that's really never had to know how to stretch the value of a dollar." said Ellie Kay who doles out financial advice at Wal-mart.

I believe it's a parent's role to teach thrift as a value not Target. I may be old fashioned, but I don't go into Barnes and Noble without my membership card and at least a 10 to 15 percent off coupon. (These are only for birthday gifts, my books I get at the library).

Tip of the Day

Recycling bread heels

Bread heels are the pieces of bread that nobody wants-quite simply they're the front and back of the bread.
1) Freeze and make into croutons (toss with olive oil and salt and the bake)
2) Make into French Toast
3) Put into food processor and make into bread crumbs
4) Feed to the birds

You're thinking how will using bread heels make any dent in my budget? It's actually a lesson in thrift. Quite simply, you don't throw out or waste food--ever. It's a lesson my parents taught me and one which I am passing along to you.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

More from the Grapes of Wrath cookbook--Cheap cuts of meat

2008-10-12T19:20:00.006-04:00

This blog is now devoted solely to surviving what the pundits have called "the greatest economic downturn ever" or as my friend Mary-Claire calls THE CRASH.

No more eating out --but let's eat well and frugally.

Here are some tips I got from AOL - on cheap cuts of steak.
1. sirloin flap steak
2. flatiron steak
3. Hangar steak
4. Chuck eye steak
5. Top butt
6. Top blade
7. Skirt steak
8. Tri Tip
9. London Broil

For free recipes - go to epicurious.com

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

7 ways to cut spending quickly...

2008-10-10T15:17:00.003-04:00

Okay maybe happy days aren't here again. But they will come again. I know the world is in turmoil. Iceland is bankrupt and Russia is bailing it out. I am watching CNBC and feel like I am on a roller coaster ride. My financial advisor just told me we've lost 30% of portfolio. What am I doing? I am putting myself on a wallet diet. Buy a small pocket notebook, write down every expense you have no matter how small and record it--very quickly you'll realize how much you spend. The second thing is I am taking money I've put aside--not the year's worth of expense cash that I have saved up, but other money and I am giving it to my broker to buy blue chips cheap, like Pepsico, Colgate, GE and Proctor and Gamble. Why these stocks? They're cheap and people need toothpaste.

I got this off WALLETPOP.COM a website I suggest that you check every day for tips and easy to understand financial advice.
1) Get rid of the landline
2)Go to the Atm once a week
3)Buy store brands
4)Paint your own nails
5)Get a library card
6)drink before you go out
7)Be your own gym

Remember we can and will recover from this crash, but how well is up you and you alone.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

2008-10-07T10:12:00.004-04:00

So apparently we're supposed to buy cartons of cigarettes to trade for food as the world financial crisis is spiralling out of control. Thank you Fox news. And I have something to say to Jim Cramer of Mad Money-how many bankrupticies are you responsible for? How many stocks did you suggest that went belly up? And now you're telling everyone to sell on the low and get out? Well, I have to say you got a lot of these people in the whole they're in and perhaps a more measured approach to the current crisis would be helpful instead of increasing this state of absolute panic.
Now what can we do in our day to day life to cut back expenses? I went to my favorite mom web board--youbemom.com and I saw a post that I am copying here. It's a bunch of simple tips that you can do to cut back and save money.
What are your best tips for saving money on a day to day basis? Avoid Starbucks. posted on 10/6/08 12:47PM reply
AND TARGET posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
any store, stay out of them unless you absolutely need something. posted on
make coffee at home posted on 10/6/08 12:47PM reply
cook at home, do not set foot in target and wear the clothes you have
good advice, those are all my weaknesses posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
I have been doing those three things for over a month and it has not been as hard as I thought it would be posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
where do you get the basic stuff you used to get at target? (t.p., detergent, etc...)? i'd like to not go, but i go for those things and get sucked into everything else... posted on 10/6/08 12:53PM reply
plan meals in advance, don't eat out, brew your own coffee, coupons & stock up when things are on sale. oh, and drive as little as possible, ditch cable, scale back cell phone plans... posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
soup- np posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
Brown-bag it for lunch, buy $1 coffee at deli instead of starbucks posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
Don't eat out, plan driving trips (orgnize errands to limit use of gas), cut coupons buy only on sale, stock up on on sale items posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
I also do the coffee at home, I have a pay as you go phone posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
Oh yeah, and I don't buy water, get reusable containers instead of buying plastic bags, use a rag instead of paper towels posted on 10/6/08 12:50PM reply
I try to never order from sites like ON/Gap online. Why pay the shipping if you can get to the store. posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM reply
keep something in your online shopping cart for 24 hours before buying it. will reduce the urge to buy/determine if you really "need" it. posted on 10/6/08 12:48PM
buy generic wherever possible, basic cable, lowest cell plan possible, used car, never buy to go coffee, eat in... posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
Avoid Ikea! posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
take lunch to work from dinner left overs posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
bagged homemade lunches and snacks, buy only what you need, and then only on sale posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
Don't bring dcs shopping where they sell toys posted on 10/6/08 12:49PM reply
Cook at home, make coffee / tea at home, hand me down clothes, vacations visiting family, walk instead of taxi / subway, no nights out (sitter & movie / dinner expense) or have family...(more)babysit, dont drive, no cable, dont go shopping
posted on 10/6/08 12:51PM reply
We took out the movie channels that we dont watch, which was like all...

Please post your tips.

I recently re-read FDR's inaugural address. Here are some quotes from it that I found prescient.
..our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men."

Past is prologue my friends and tomorrow will be lessons we can learn from America's greatest generation--those who survived the Great Depression.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

UNCLE JOHNNY AND THE SUB PRIME MORTGAGE COLLAPSE

2008-10-06T10:32:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I did the OUT OF DARKNESS WALK to raise money to prevent suicide. This was in memory of my sweet cousin Brandon who took his life when he was only eighteen.
During the walk, I was hanging out with my Aunt Barbara who also happens to be my godmother. We were talking about the sub prime mortgage collapse. Why? Well after we rehashed the Sarah Palin debate--we're all rabid democrats. Aunt Barbara said to me, "You know in Florida..." Aunt Barbara lives in Florida. "There was this guy who lived in a trailer park and across the way by this marina, they built all these condos. So the guy who didn't have a job or a car, he had a bicycle, went over to see if if he could get a job. He gets a job in sales and then winds up buying 14 of these condos. They gave this guy a $500,000 loan. Think about it. That would be like giving the money to Uncle Johnny." And for those of you who don't know who Uncle Johnny is. Well, let's just say at one point he stole my grandmother's social security checks to buy booze. Now in this anecdotal story, Aunt Barbara explained to me why and how the sub prime mortgage collapse happened.
But, I think we should learn more about it. And we should also learn how to protect out money as well.
Here are some links I want you to look at...I want you to go on Oprah.com
FINANCIAL CRISIS 101
And then I want you to get some advice from Suze Orman about how to RECESSION PROOF YOUR FINANCES.

We need to understand what is happening and how we can protect ourselves. My advice to you is this CASH IS KING. Do not and I repeat do not have more than a $100,000 in any one bank. Be as frugal as you can. Cut back to basic cable, get rid of the cell phone and no more lattes. We are in a for a bumpy ride my friends. But the trick is those who are frugal will come through it fine.

Signed Cheap S. Kate

Check back this week for my favorite frugal websites.

Hanging with the Twizzler eating Mormons

2008-06-30T13:25:00.005-04:00

I am in Utah hanging with the Mormons. (The kind that have only one wife and eat lots of sugar). I was at a wedding the other day a little different than I am used to for starters there was a bowl of Twizzlers set up near the anti-pasta bar and instead of alcohol there was an Italian soda bar. Mormons are known for their large families and lack of swearing. So I cleaned up my vocabulary and asked one of my fave Mormon moms if she had any cheap hints for our cheap hint page. These are the ones she gave me. And please post your own

THE BIRTHDAY BOX
With four kids Shelley grew tired of going out and buying presents for the innumerable amount of parties that her kids were invited to, so she would look for sales go to Pic n Save and buy high quality gifts in bulk. When it came time for the party, her kids would pick a present from the box and that was it.
Now that her kids are grown, she finds deals on the net at slickdeals.net
It's advertised as the webs most comprehensive site for deals. And I have to say after giving it a good gander, that's where I am going shopping from now. An example--7 books of Harry Potter from amazon for 13 bucks. That's going to be in my birthday box from now on.

Here are some websites I found that you might find fun as well.

For cheap meals check out thrifty fun
Wallet pop is an excellent blog full of opinion and help on managing a small budget during these tight times.

Fly lady for those of you who need some cleaning and decluttering help--check out this website- she's like Oprah with a mop.

Now I will be traveling to Italy on Wednesday and I will start posting my cheap travel hints on Friday, but I am hoping that my favorite senior traveler and Mom, Carol will post about her trip to France. She called me almost breathless about about the 17 Euro dinners she had including escargot and lamb chops. She also has some crazy idea that I am going to buy her an apartment in Paris and she and Dad will babysit it in the off season. Il n'est pas possible. So Carol --send me your missives, everyone has been following your itinerary and we'd like to hear first hand how it all went.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

VACATION LIKE A KENNEDY ON FUNG WAH BUS

2008-06-27T12:05:00.005-04:00

I love the beach. When I was a kid, my parents used to rent a cottage on Shinnecock Bay for six weeks every summer. The place was called the Irish Mist and it was run by a guy called John Milton. He had his six kids running the place and at the crack of dawn, his two elderly aunts from Ireland would rake the beach clearing it of sea weed. I loved it. I learned to fish and crab. And at night I would stay out until ten playing. At the end of the summer, we were tan and happy and ready to face our incredibly strict Catholic school. (We used to be lined up in all sorts of weather reciting times table while Sister Grace kept time with a brass bell and screamed at us how lucky we all were. She had some sort of breakdown and was replaced by her clone Sister Constance.)

So since we did the Hamptons already, I found our Mock family of four a week's vacation on the Cape. But, first you need to get there. Amtrak is a bit pricey to Boston so I found us a cheaper alternative--the FUNG WAH bus that leaves from Chinatown. A roundtrip ticket is $30.00.
From South Street Station (which is where you're dropped you off) take the Bonzana bus to Falmouth for $21.00 round trip.

I found the Carelton Circle Motel (at Falmouth) on Expedia for a weekly rate in August no less, for $773.

Links that are helpful -
FUND WAH BUS
Peter Pan Bus Lines
Expedia.com
Falmouth Chamber of Commerce

Tomorrow, since it's Saturday we'll do a cheap hints day. Just random stuff that might helpful in our everyday life. Also we'll check in with our favorite senior travelers, my parents, Tim and Carol and see how their FLAVORS OF BURGUNDY AND PROVENCE TOUR is wrapping up.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

GOING OVER IN A BARREL

2008-06-26T17:14:00.002-04:00

With the Euro and pound so high and plane tickets so expensive, I am advocating you discover America by train. Train rides can be long, but if you bring a deck of cards, a good book, you'll get a sense of what travel was like before JetBlue. It's also a nice way to spend some quiet time with the kids as they will be less likely to smack each other and scream if they are in a public place. Just tell them that past the dining car there is Amtrak jail and there electronic toys are not allowed. (I am working on a parenting book called--YES, MCDONALD'S IS CLOSED ON FRIDAYS!)

I've always wanted to go to Niagara Falls. Everyone else has even Napoleon's brother Jerome visited with his wife in the early 19th century.Other fun facts- In 1901 Annie Taylor, a 63 year old retired school teacher went over the falls in a barrel. She survived, as well as her co-pilot, her pet cat. I could bore you with more Wikipedia facts, but instead click on the link to learn more.

So our third installment of family vacations for under a thousand dollars continues with a visit to what the Iroquois Indians called - 'The Thunder of waves.'

Amtrak for a family of four with a Triple A discount is $297 roundtrip -which comes out to $60 a person. I found a hotel for my typical family whom I shall name MOCK FAMILY called AMERICANA WATERPARK AND SPA
It looks like something out of Bahrain, but for a $125 a night sleeping four with passes to the water park - I tell you my son Timothy would be in heaven.

Helpful links

The Official Tourism Site

Niagara Falls State Park

Wikipedia

Amtrak

I love everyone's comments and welcome everyone's ideas. So please continue to post your cheapskate ideas for fancy and frugal vacations.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

OH CANADA GLORIOUS AND FREE

2008-06-25T12:59:00.006-04:00

How happy am I that Timothy is well enough to go to Adventure Camp in Park City today. Although, I have to say his little terms of endearments like, "You're the worst mother ever." And "Do I look like I am having a good time?" will be missed sorely. I would just like to thank Bud Light Lime for getting me through the last of trying days.

Today is take your family to Canada for a week long vacation for under a thousand bucks. I've only been to Canada once to the Montreal Comedy Festival with Judy Gold and I can honestly say the Canadians are sort like Americans on Valium.

I have two possible trips that a family of four can take for around $1,000. (Please note this amount only includes lodging and transportation. I am including a link to each city from Fodors entitled CHEAP THRILLS --free museums, advice on transit etc. I love Arthur Fodor--he's a calmer Rick Steves whom I find incredibly informative, but following one of his suggested itineraries is like having MapQuest directions of death march of Bataan.

TORONTO -
My mock family of four can travel via Amtrak for $552 RT which comes out to $138 a person. This does not leave us much for the hotel at all so I'm going to suggest that you rent an apartment on VRBO.COM. This is a worldwide listing site where owners list their properties for rent. I rented a great studio apt in the Marais sction of Paris last year and am renting a one bedroom in Rome for my upcoming trip. What's great about renting an apartment is you get a feel what it's like to live in the city that you're visiting. You have a kitchen- so you can prepare meals and save money on eating out and you don't have to leave the room so the maid can clean. But, you ask, how do I know this hotel is any good--well--former guests leave their opinions about the property so you can see if your rental is a dive or a gem.
I found a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment in the Little Italy Section of Toronto for $493 USD a week. Yes, I know you're a little over in terms of the $1,000 bucks and under vacation--45 bucks over--so to make that up pack your own food for the train. I guarantee it will be better than what you can get in the dining car. Your links for Toronto
Amtrak.com
vrbo.com
Cheap Thrills in Toronto

For Montreal I found a fare for two adults and two kids for $329 RT on Amtrak. (Don't fly it's too expensive and the train journey gives everyone great family time.)I found a fantastic loft in Old Montreal for $533 for a week. You're $38 under --do with it what you want.
Cheap Thrills in Montreal

Tomorrow I haven't thought of yet-but do me a favor post some of your favorite trips you've recently taken or did take as a child. And remember the best memories you create with your loved ones are not the ones you bought.

Signed, Cheap. S. Kate

FANCY AND FRUGAL --CAMPING IN THE HAMPTONS

2008-06-24T09:25:00.013-04:00

I am sorry to have been gone for a couple of days. I went to DC on Friday and then Utah on Monday with Timothy. Traveling with a child with stomach flu is an experience. I thought he was over it until the last forty five minutes of the flight when I said, "You can have my package of peanuts too." He seems better today, but not better enough to o to Adventure Camp. He barely looked at me this morning, just reached for the remote to click on cartoon network. I said to my eight year old, "Listen if you think we're going to have another day with both of us in pajamas walking around the condo while you enact a day from Howard Hughes' life, you've got another thing coming. And thank you Disney--I was up until 11--which is 1 am NY time trying x broadcast Camp Rock-a manufactured tween movie for Howard Hughes Jr. and my evening could have been much better spent watching HGTV-the sub prime mortgage channel. Rant over.
Since we haven't checked in with our senior travelers-my parents-Tim and Carol on their FLAVORS OF BURGUNDY AND PROVENCE TOUR-let's see where they are today. Today is a busy day at ARLES. It's disembarkation day after breakfast. Then they are visiting-"the remaining stretch of the Rhone into its Delta-the Camargue-famous for its wild horses and pink flamingos." Flamingos? Wild horses? I think they are just trying to get them off the boat. Tomorrow is the city of Nimes--a city of arts and culture. Time at your leisure to explore on your own--which means there is nothing to doing this town and we are tired of showing you Americans around.

For the next week I'll be doing Fancy and Frugal vacations for under $1,000 a week.

Today is camping in the Hamptons- NOW BEFORE YOU SAY- I'm Jewish or I'm Gay I don't camp--I found a place where for $24 a night you can stay waterfront on the ocean. This is some of the most expensive real estate in the world and it can be had for a pittance.
I am going to walk you through step by step--
First sign up at RESERVEAMERICA.COM --it's free to sign up and through them you can reserve camping sights all over America.
Then pick Hither Hills in Montauk which is one of the most beautiful beaches around. They still had reservations in July which is remarkable.

GETTING THERE
You can get there by train a family of four round trip would be $57.96 on metro north
Do family fare and the kids tickets are under three bucks. Figure out going when it's off-peak to get this fare. Then take a taxi as the park is 3.5 miles away. Get the cab number before it leaves so you can get back to the train. Figure on $40 RT for the cab.
You can also drive, but if you do not own a car it is pretty expensive to rent. The cheapest place I found was the AVIS in Jersey City at $44 a dy for a compact, but figure in gas and taxes it's a lot more. However, if you do own a car or do want to rent - Hither Hills is 122 miles from Manhattan via Sunrise Highway (Route 27) east to Park.
Each site has a fireplace and and a table. There is a concession stand to get your morning eggs and coffee as well as lunch. For dinner, I suggest going into Montauk proper there is a ton of moderate priced restaurants you can dine in. There is a general store that will sell basic needs. I wouldn't bring food if you are traveling by train--stock up at the store for basics and then budget on eating out for dinner only.
Camping Equipment--Target.com and some mid-priced sleeping bags or check out craigslist or ebay.com for bargains. If this is your first time camping borrow equipment if you can.
Some websites that might be helpful--
One man's personal account of camping at HITHER HILLS
Camping Equipment I found on Craigslist
DISCOVER LONG ISLAND

HOW TO CAMP WITHOUT SUSAN SONTAG

Now before I sign out off, I'd like to give a shout out to GEORGE CARLIN - not only was he one of my my people- Irish Catholic, but as a child he was my version of Mr. Rogers. What I was doing watching his specials as a young child, I'll never know, but I do know that if I didn't have Lily Tomlin and George Carlin to idolize as foul mouthed Catholic school girl, I would have been doing something a bit more mundane in my life. What? Who knows-but Georgie Boy--you f**ing rocked.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

Tomorrow is Canada.

CHEF BOYARDEE PIZZA AND THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY

2008-06-19T10:41:00.004-04:00

I had lunch with my brother yesterday and I told him about the blog and he figured since our parents, Tim and Carol are still out of town perhaps I could discuss Dad's Chef Boyardee Pizza making technique before the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. But first, I must preface this is all by saying that Tim and Carol are in Lyon today and which is France's second largest city and a gastronomic capital. They are also going to Beaujolais "which as many as you know is a wine capital". "Wine connoisseurs will know that grapes must be hand picked." Okay Tim is on a restricted diet and does nto drink so-I am not quite sure what he is doing on this tour, but I imagine there is a lot of picture taking of cathedrals going on. Tomorrow is a free day in Lyon and "early risers might want to visit the local produce market." Um, okay.

But, I digress, every Saturday night Dad would make us Pizza from a Chef Boyardee kit. Now Dad, liked to stretch food. He took that story of Jesus and the loaves and fishes to heart. Dad madethe dough while we all watched and then rolled it out until it was transparent--so the pizza was kind of like eating cardboard with a hint of sauce and cheese and somehow the dried oregano was always stuck to the roof of my mouth.
I do have to say that despite this rather odd variation on thin crust pizza, the three of us looked forward to Sunday nights with Dad. Although the pizza tasted- well kind of odd, we grew used to it sort of, but I have to say I am not a big fan of oregano.

A couple of hints today - I was at fundraiser last night for th Stonewall Foundation
and a woman told me all about theaterextras.com
For $120 a year you can get $4 tickets to theater and sports events.
I also do tdf.org which for $20 a year you can get tickets to off bway, bway and concerts. The tickets are more expensive, but you can see anything on broadway while in previews under 30 bucks.
Also, I found this link online today about affordable travel for families.

And to continue on with BRING YOUR LUNCH TO WORK WEEK
Here are some quick and easy salad ideas
Target has a Fit and Fresh Salad Container on sale for $8.99. It come with a fork, knife and dressing holder that snaps on top. I have one and I love it.

I found this great website called easysaladrecipes.com
and it will give some great cheap tasty ideas on filling your Fit and Fresh Salad container.

Now tomorrow I will be traveling, but I will be back online on Monday.
And I am taking questions and hints to post away. If you'd like to subscribe scroll below and hit subcribe.

Signed Cheap S. Kate

PS to our poster who asked about making many meals from many. I got three (sort of) off the roast chicken. I ate the leftovers for lunch today and I am making a quart of stock from the bones and neck and underside of it. Here is a great recipe I found on the unemployedcook.com website.

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE TIM AND CAROL?

2008-06-18T08:36:00.006-04:00

Day 5 five of my parents sampling of the Flavors of Burgundy and Provence. Today after Tournus, they're sailing to Macon and then doing a GUIDED WALKING TOUR-those are not my caps--of the lovely town of Macon on the River Saone. I wonder what happens if you wander off the GUIDED WALKING TOUR--are the natives of Macon cannibals? Let's say Tim and Carol dwaddle while looking at that half-Timbered house will they be kidnapped and forced to work in the "wine trade?" Tomorrow is a visit to Beaujolias Nouveau and an "optional dinner gives gourmets an insight into the local haute cuisine". If I know my frugal dad, he'll read optional as extra charge and they'll be eating regular peasant fare on the boat. Boy, am I am going to get an earful when they get back from the FLAVORS OF BURGUNDY AND PROVENCE--but that's not for two weeks soooo....onward.

I've gotten a flurry of posts yesterday and I'd like to answer each one--
Click on WHAT TO DO WITH KIDS DURING SUMMER VACATION THAT'S FREE OR ALMOST from last year and you'll get an idea of what museums are free around New York City. (You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it.) On the West Coast check out this website I found on National Geographic's home page.
FREE THINGS FOR KIDS IN SAN FRANCISCO

As per making multiple meals out of one main course-well I am defrosting a chicken that I got on sale at Key Foods -an organic one my little foodie and we'll see how many meals I can make out of that.

Now lunch ideas--and please post your own as I am sure it will be helpful to our other brown baggers out there.

Quick and Easy Egg Salad
8 Hardboiled eggs (bring eggs to boil in saucepan. Let boil for 10 minutes then remove and rinse with cold water.)
16 green olives with pimiento chopped
1 green onion chopped
Big dollop of mayo
Mix together until creamy consistency

Makes 5-7 sandwiches

Quick and Easy Tuna Salad
2 cans of tuna fish packed in water
2 tablespoons of onion chopped extra fine
1 jalapeno pepper minced—watch out for seeds, use rubber gloves to chop
1 hardboiled egg chopped
½ tablespoon of capers
1 dollop of mayo
Mix together until creamy consistency

Makes 5 - 7 sandwiches

Tomorrow is beyond the salad salad.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

TIMWICHES

2008-06-17T10:20:00.005-04:00

I've just looked on my parents' itinerary, after their breakfast drive past the forest of Fountainbleu, they're headed South to Chalon sur Saone, where the crew of their luxurious river cruise vessel waits to welcome them aboard. This means no internet cafe for days as tomorrow they've got to explore the lovely town of Tournus and see the folklore museum. As soon as you see--explore the folklore museum--it just means ONE BIG GIFT SHOP with local fare like carved wooden bears, marinets and weird shit like iron hatchets made in toy size. But, I digress...
Since I slammed Mom's Bisquick Pie, I can tell you all about Dad's nutritional abuse--which my sister Deirdre called-TIMWICHES.
When my mother went back to work, Dad’s job was to make our lunches. In addition to whatever was on special at the deli counter, he sometimes stretched one can of tuna fish between the five of us. His creations had a chunky mayonnaise texture. We called them “Timwiches” after its creator. The Timwich would usually be flattened in the center by a piece of fruit. Then sometimes a couple of Ritz crackers would be thrown in. My best friend Lisa would open her bag and pull out a thick sandwich on homemade bread, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and a ripe peach wrapped in two sheets of paper towels to keep it from bruising. She would be amazed. “How do they get olives in bologna?” When I got to the bread crumb crackers, she would push over two double chocolate chip cookies. “Here, mom baked extra.” My brother Chris once said that if the school lunch program was based on need, not income, we would have qualified.
I asked my partner Laurie how much she spends on lunch each day at work. Often she eats out for business, which is paid for, but on the days when she runs out to get a sandwich or orders something in, she says it never costs less than $9.

Saving Tip
Say you order in 3 times a week, you’re out of pocket $27. What if you took half that money added bought lunch fixings instead? By the end of the month you’d have saved another $54. By the end of the year that’s almost $700.

Arguments against taking your lunch to work
• It takes too long (You can make your lunch in the time it takes to go out or order in)
• I don’t know how (Making lunch is not rocket science. Do you think those people behind the counter have advanced degrees in sandwich making?)
• People will call me cheap (Whenever someone calls me cheap, I always respond by saying –I have no debt. That usually shuts them up. )

Tips on taking your lunch to work today
Getting yourself organized to make lunches will take some planning. The two things you have to think about are what you want to make for lunch and when you are going to make your lunches. The first thing you can do to ensure that your sandwiches don’t re-create the horror of your childhood is to get menus from local delis and chain eateries. Au bon Pain is another excellent idea. Jot down the combinations you like. Get the thicker cuts of deli meat and cheeses and buy the bakery bread instead of store brands. They will have all that you need at your local supermarket. You might also get a package of wraps and roll your sandwich instead of stacking it.
Buy romaine or green leaf lettuce. Sprouts also make a nice addition. Don’t forget slices of tomatoes or pickles. Always separate these fixings. Invest in some plastic containers with lids and an insulated soft-sided lunch box.
Savory sandwich ideas
• Brie and forest ham sandwich with honey Dijon mustard on five grain bread
• Curried chicken salad with celery and walnuts on French bread roll
• Canned Lentil soup in a thermos with a half of a peanut butter sandwich on country white bread.
• Egg salad on toasted bread with lettuce *
• Honey baked ham and cheddar with tomato lettuce.
• Tuna Salad

Let's look at the Key food circular and see what's on sale this week in terms of sandwich fixes or as timothy used to call them sam-miches.
Roast Beef

1/2 Lb. of each Sliced to Order BOAR’S HEAD COMBO!
$7.99 Lb.
a fresh baked semolina loaf is $1.69

So for under nine bucks you have sam-mich fixes for a week. Less than two bucks a day. Since everyone likes cookies Snackwells are on sale for less than 3 bucks a box. Throw some in as a treat with your coffee later on.

Tomorrow more of my parent's itinerary and some more lunch ideas. And please post your own under comments and you can subscribe to the blog by scrolling down to the end of the page and hitting subscribe.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

ANTHONY BOURDAIN BENCHED

2008-06-16T10:40:00.006-04:00

When I was a kid I thought there was only one type of restaurant; Chinese. I don't know what my family's love affair with the Far East was about, but you could be rest assured when a birthday, Thanksgiving or Daddy got a raise we were all headed off in the Impala to something with either Imperial or Peking in the title. We used to frequent one restaurant in Yonkers on Central Avenue which had an all you could eat buffet. I had what my mother would term as an overactive metabolism--I could eat an entire pig in one sitting and sitting look skinny enough for Angelina Jolie to adopt. In fact, I was rarely invited to friends' houses for dinner the second time after their parents saw I how many servings of Hamburger Helper I could consume. But, at the Imperial Garden I could feast to my stomach's delight, well at least until one fateful evening when my father said, "Kathleen, stop going up there so much, the waiter is giving me the fish eye." A week later, the 'kids eat free under twelve' sign was replaced by 'kids under twelve eat for half off.'

The fifth and final recipe for our series is an Asian inspired an homage perhaps to the many evenings I spent as a child sampling the cuisine of the Far East. This one, however, is not Chinese. It is Vietnamese. We ate Vietnamese food as kids at street fairs in the city while sitting on a curb-not a restaurant. This is also where we sampled Ukrainian, Mexican Indian and Polish cuisine as well. While we were somewhat enamored of MacDonald's, we grew to love anything that came in a styrofoam container and could be shoved into our mouths with sporks. My father continued his eclectic cultural love affair with food until he was hospitalized for Diverticulitis. Now he can't eat anything spicy or that contains seeds. It's as if Anthony Bourdain has been benched. But, the lessons he taught me I have taken to heart, I have eaten gator in New Orleans, Bison in Montana and Kangaroo on a stick in Australia. Basically, if it's in a zoo, I've eaten it. Now I am digressing again--here is Mark Bittman's delicious receipe for Vietmanese Style Porkchops. I went out early this morning to shop--Timothy gets picked up for golf camp at 7:20 every morning--so I didn't have much a of a choice.
VIETNAMESE STYLE PORK CHOPS

Garlic you have
Key Honey is 2.69
Soy Sauce you have
Two pounds of pork spare ribs for $4.00
Limes --okay here's where it gets tricky-- I cheated on Key Food at the green grocer across the street--limes are 5 for a dollar--I got three for .60
Lemon grass is a $1.99
Cilantro is .99 cents
We're over by fifty cents. And we still do not have any sides. If you can scrape up an extra buck Dole classic salads are on sale for .99 cents. Buy the cold slaw one, throw some vinegar and salt on it and you have you Vietnamese style cabbage salad.
For dessert have some of that Friendly's ice cream you bought last week.

Some staples are on sale this week--
Barilla pastas 5 one pound boxes are on sale for $4.00.
Tuttorroso Tomatoes 29 oz cans five for $5.00
Kraft or Seven Seas dressings five for $5.00
Bumblebee Tuna ten for $10.00
Grower's Pride Orange Juice two for $5.00
Go to KeyFood.com to subscribe to the weekly circular. Also, you can buy only one of these items --so the tuna will cost you a buck a can.

This coming week --IT'S BRING YOUR LUNCH TO WORK WEEK. We spend thousands of dollars buying our lunch out every year, why not spend ten minutes making your lunch and save ten dollars?

Please post your comments and tips.

Frugally yours,

Cheap S. Kate

Betty Friedan's Bisquick Pie

2008-06-11T23:25:00.012-04:00

I called my parents today to say hi, but mostly to make sure they would be out of the country before I posted the infamous Bisquick pie story. The intinerary I gave them for Paris would even make that self flagellating frugal traveler Rick Steves sweat, so I don't think they'll be hitting any internet cafes over the next two weeks. "Sure dad you can do the Louvre, Carnavalet and the D'orsay in one day." My father probably could, but my mother a polio survivor might have a bit of trouble keeping up. I did, however, give them the address of my favorite cheap restaurant in the Marais that my son Timothy and I ate at for a solid week straight last July.
(See my blog postings about Paris from last year.)
My rule of travel is to find your kitchen. In Venice, I spend every night at a hot wine bar hidden behind the Rialto bridge. It is frequented by eye patch man and his elegant lady friend who spends most of her night shouting at an aged Chihuahua named Loco. What she says to Loco, I can't go into any great length, but I did know enough Pimsleurs Italian that the ASPCA just might be interested in opening a case file.

My kitchen growing up was not as comforting or as interesting. My mother's cooking centered around the crockpot. The crockpot was the seventies version of the eighties microwave. The crock pot is an aluminum pot with a ceramic center which plugs into the wall slwoly cooking a variety of soupy delicacies served over overcooked rice.
I don't know where my mother found the crock pot Bisquick pie recipe, but for a solid week she made variations of it--Mexican Bisquick pie, Shepherd's Bisquick Pie, Hungarian Bisquick Pie. When the first Bisquick pie surfaced, I couldn't believe my eyes--Mom had committed some foodie sins; she forgot to turn the stove one Thanksgiving so a raw turkey sat in the oven for hours while the adults got tanked in the living room, she sent my father to the hospital not once, but twice with food poisoning, but the Bisquick Pie was in a class by itself.
In short Bisquick Pie had three layers- ground beef, mashed potatoes and then yes, Bisquick which was the consistentcy of half cooked pancake batter layered on top. To say it was inedible was to be kind. The first night, after getting, the 'If you don't eat it, you're having it for breakfast lecture' from my father who considered Angela's Ashes the Disney version of his childhood, my sister Deiredre and I scraped our plates into the fish tank knowing full well there would be some Guppie floaters the next day. (This was before NEMO.)
Before it was about to appear on the fourth night, I grabbed my little sister Deirdre and we went knocking on the Touzalin's door on the sixth floor. Lisa was my best friend and her mother was and still is an amazing cook. When I got to the sixth floor, I saw my brother Chris at the end of the hall ringing his friend Davie's bell. I had only been inside Davie's apartment once, but I considered it the height of elegance. The foyer had an elaborate wooden gate that led into the livingroom. Deep rust shag carpeting set off the fall of Rome mural which covered the entire back wall. Davie's father always sat on an enormous maroon leather recliner in a silk smoking jacket puffing a cigar flicking his ashes while telling some of the filthiest stories my eleven year old ears had ever heard. As Chris descended into the Playmate's mansion of De Haven Drive, my door was opened by Mr. Touzalin, the tallest man I ever seen. I mumbled a few words about what was going on on the fourth floor, and I peered around his kneecap a piping hot tray of lasagna on the table. We wasted no time grabbing some extra chairs and devouring our first decent meal in days.
Later on when we all straggled home, my mother slammed some cabinets yelling about how, 'one day she would leave and not come back' while we hid in our rooms. Needless to say, Bisquick pie did not reappear again. Weeks later, she went to a lecture by someone named Betty Friedan. Afterwards, we all ate cereal for a week. My mother had always been a feminist, but with Friedan on her side she had the rhetoric. And The Feminine Mystique became her excuse for her failure in the kitchen. At the time, I was like if you're going to idolize a feminist couldn't you please pick a sexy and fun one like Gloria Steinem, but now with a family of my own, I get where my mom was coming from. Although, I do wish Mark Bittman had been around when I was a kid. Maybe Mom would have found cooking more of an enjoyment and less of a chore.

Now it's too hot to cook so let's make Mark Bitman's recipe for Spanish Tortilla's for dinner using our Key Food circular.

Spanish Tortillas

Large Eggs are on sale at Key Food for .99 cents a dozen
a single onion can be bought for .25 cents
Olive oil you have from the first recipe
a pound and a quarter of potatoes will run you $1.25

So you have an entire dinner for $2.50. So buy some ICE CREAM!! a 56OZ OF FRIENDLY'S ICE CREAM IS $5.99 AND IT'S BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!!!!!!

One recipe to go and I promise it will be the Vietmanese Style Pork Chops.

And please post your comments below. I love reading them.
Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

THE GRAPES OF WRATH COOKBOOK

2008-06-09T14:20:00.011-04:00

STEAK DINNER WITHOUT THE TRUCKING DIPLOMA

2008-06-09T10:02:00.010-04:00

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was feign illness--"my head hurts-I see spots" and stay home from school and watch daytime t.v. with my brother who also had some imagined illness--"I've got a snot headache." After my working mother hurried my glaring little sister off, Chris and I would settle down with our blankets and watch the one t.v. in our house. As we manually turned the channels we always settled on the the Channel Eleven morning movie. We liked to watch anything with Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Crawford. Now I realize we had the tastes of 70 year old gay men, but back then we were just two normal kids who enjoyed taking pleasure in other people's hell. During the morning movie there would be an innumerable amount of commercials. Some of them still linger in my mind--the Waldbaum's Can Can Special--where cans of food would dance--WALDBAUMSCANCANCANCAN!! Or the magic pocketbook (the size of a carry on bag) made of real leatherette for $19.95 including shipping and handling. This pocketbook was the white trash version of Grace Kelly's Mark Cross Weekender bag from Rear Window. My favorite commercial was the skinny white man throwing down his white bread sandwich onto a paper plate while his long suffering wife with a rather startled diapered baby finally snapped, "Yes, it's sandwiches again until you get a real job, a high paying job like driving the big rigs." And what followed was an ad for trucking school and then the next thing you know even the baby was gumming a piece of steak.

Since we're doing five dinners for four under ten dollars, I thought why not push the envelope and enjoy some steak without the trucking license.

Key Food has shoulder London Broil on sale for $1.99 lb this week. Here's Mark Bittman's STEAK WITH BUTTER SAUCE

Now yesterday we bought butter for $1.99 a pound. We need ginger--let's say since we only need a tablespoon, let's buy a small loose knuckle of it for .50 cents and lastly soy sauce which last I checked is $2.19 a bottle. Buy it we'll use it for another dish. So the total so far give or take a couple of pennies is $6.20. Use the left over salad from the previous recipe and we've broken even with our overspending.

Tomorrow pasta with sausage.

Signed,
Cheap S. Kate

How I combined my Key Food love affair with Mark Bittman

2008-06-02T13:21:00.010-04:00

I always say that for the over forty crowd-porn is the food channel. I love reading recipes, but my food doesn't resemble anything from Top Chef. My plating and presentation are pretty horrendous. Hell, I like to cook food that may not look pretty, but tastes great. I tend to cook for big diner parties that get a bit sloppy as time and the wine bottle stack up. For my family, I make less elaborate meals, but as the week nights go by and restaurants have gotten so expensive, I am more inclined to make quick special meals for the times when we do all eat dinner together. Since my son is a very picky eater I make dishes that are tasty and not over complicated. If he doesn't like what I make, the proverbial mac and cheese does not magically go flying onto his plate. He can have a bowl of cereal if he's hungry provided he has eaten his veg. Having an advanced degree in lying to children to achieve certain behavioral goals, I've told my son that there's a law in the United States that says children must eat three servings of fruits and veggies a day and he dutifully does. I come by this parental lying naturally as my parents told us as children there was a shortage of sugar in Brazil and that was why we didn't have sugared cereals. It didn't matter that the A&P was stocked from floor to ceiling with Sugar Pops, we believed what we were told and I developed a huge dislike for shredded wheat, but I do have to say I cannot eat sweet cereals even if you paid me. But, I digress...NY Times food writer, Mark Bittman has a wonderful book called Quick and Easy Recipes from the NY Times. It can be bought off Amazon used for around $12.00 including shipping. Or you can take it out of the library for free.

Over the next five days I will give you five recipes that feed four under ten dollars using this week's Key Food circular. (You can always freeze half if there's just two of you for later.)

Chicken With Vinegar

Allen's chicken thighs are on sale for $2.29 a pound. The scallions that are less than $.50 cents, Key Food red wine vinegar is a $1.49 and one pound of Key Food butter is 1.99
For your veggie the Dole European Salad blend is on sale for $2.50. Dress it with red wine vinegar, smashed garlic and olive oil--now the 17 oz Goya olive oil will put you over budget by $3.00 but I will subtract that tomorrow when we use it for Flank Steak with Chimichurri sauce --tomorrow.
Post your favorite fancy cheap recipes as well--I'd love to hear about them.
Signed Cheap S. Kate

The under $850 a month 1,500 sq foot apt in NYC

2008-05-31T12:20:00.006-04:00

I am typing this surrounded by boxes as we moved from our sweet carriage house rental in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. We have moved to the old Board of Ed building in Brooklyn Heights. We cashed out of Tribeca last year almost to the day and I had two requirements in finding our next apartment. I didn't want to have a mortgage and I wanted low common charges. It took us two hours to find such a place and have our offer accepted. We paid cash from the proceeds of our Tribeca apartment which had ballooned obscenely in value during ten years we lived there. Because our condo is a new conversion the real estate taxes are abated and thus, negliable so with common charges, electric and very modest real estate taxes-we pay under $850 a month for a 1,500 square foot, two bedroom, two bath, duplex with new everything. There are some drawbacks-we are on the first floor, our building is located two doors down from OTB and not in the poshest section of Brooklyn Heights. However, the 17 foot ceilings with their matching windows provide ample light, the OTB is supposedly going to close to make way for a boutique hotel, we're now two blocks away from Timothy's school and most importantly, I am next every single subway that one can imagine.

For years we had it in our heads that we needed a 2,500 to 3,000 sq foot apartment--
but the reality is as time went on, I didn't want to have us to struggle to pay a huge mortgage. And this apartment allows me to continue working in theater, have commercial success and still make no money. At one point, I owned an apartment in Tribeca, a ski condo in Utah, a country house in Easthampton. Our monthly expenses were insane. We sold Easthampton two years after we built it , used the proceeds to pay off our ski condo which we use all throughout the year. As for Tribeca, we sold it right before the second market crash to a cocky 30 year old investment banker for three times what we paid for it. While we haven't technically downsized in terms of space, we are not only living within well below our means and because we of that we can travel -albeit frugally, and save for an apartment in Paris or Rome. That of course is years away.
Tomorrow is about how I gave away all my furniture using Brooklyn Freecyle. And next week will be more Key Food grocery shopping strategies. I have some great tips.
Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

My Love Affair with Key Food

2008-04-04T10:11:00.004-04:00

When I lived in Tribeca- I had the Food Emporium which kind of reminded me of the old news reels of the fall of the Weimar Republic after WWI. Picture grainy black and white images of people with wheel barrels full of worthless bills trying to buy some food. That's what it was like at the Food Emporium I'd be lucky if a twenty got me a bruised lemon and a dented can of Krasdale Tunafish.

Last year when I moved to America's first suburb--and that's what Brooklyn Heights was designed as, I discovered Key Food. Last week, after I saw George Bush on the news talking about his "grocery and gas" bill. (Apparently, high gas prices have shot groceries prices through the roof.) Rather than wait around for "W" to solve this woe, I thought to myself how can the average person save money on food. So I got to work which means I got out of my pajamas and hauled out the blue shopping cart. But, first I had the rather ingenius idea to go online and see if my Key Food had a weekly circular. Lo and behold they did. And I resolved to only buy stuff on sale. That meant I would have to cook and eat only the items that I bought.

I also took advantage of the "Loss leader items"--that's the stuff they lure you into the store with. I figured out if I bought the loss leader stuff--I was getting the same prices as I would if I shopped at a Price Club.

for $60 I bought
2 rolls of reynolds wrap--buy one get one free (heavy duty 50 square feet)
Two giant bottles of ERA liquid detergents -buy one get one free
6 32 oz bottles of Gatorade-Timothy starts Pony League baseball
1 24 oz Heinz ketchup for 1.99 (on sale with club card discount)
2 loafs of Arnold whole grain bread-(2 for $5.00)
4 jars of assorted Classico Spaghetti sauce at 1.99 each
Tree Ripe Orange juice-half gallon 1.99
Land of Lakes Light butter in a small tub for 1.99
Two giant boxes of Eggo waffles for $4.49 (buy one get one free)
Key food broccoli, green beans, peas & carrots for 33% off so 1.25 each
Corn on the cob four ears 1.99
2 bags of Dole Salads --greener selections for 2 for $4.
baby cut carrots-bag-$2.
London broil at 2.99 a lb--2.90
Perdue family size chicken thighs or $7.02 at 1.39 lb.

I got a raincheck on Hebrew National Franks which were 2 for $6.

Now some of you are thinking, "No way am I eating food that is not organic." Well, let me just tell you about Gramie--my one and only grandparent. Gramie loved Dinty Moore beef stew, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Little Debbie Snack Cakes and she lived until 96.

Monday starts theater week--I am going to explain how to to get tickets to shows for a fraction of the price.

signed,

Cheap S. Kate

HGTV-THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CHANNEL

2008-04-03T17:13:00.002-04:00

I have become rather addicted to this channel--I find it oddly fascinating. There's a show called-HOUSE HUNTERS where young professionals hunt out a place to buy. Now living in Manhattan, I am always fascinated by what $160,000 can get you in the hinterlands of our great nation. Apparently it can get you four bedrooms, a fully furnished basement, a good school system...the list goes on and on...What I started to notice as time went on is that all these young "professional" types took on a second mortgage as their down payment. This second mortgage was at a much higher interest rate than the first usually 8 or 9 percent and that the first mortgage was usually at an adjustable rate. Now I am not blaming HGTV for the sub prime mortgage collapse, but they are a good indicator of what exactly went wrong. When I was a kid, families struggled to come up with a down payment and mortgages weren't easy to get. In short, home ownership was only achieved by tenacity and hard work. Lest, you think only the young and lower middle class have been affected by this collapse--the New York Times ran an article last week about the affluent who have also been affected by the current state of affairs. In an swanky suburb of California--town homes that sold for $650,000 initially, exploded to 1.4 million in a short amount of time. Some of the home owners refinanced and took equity out of their homes. What happened? Well, the market crashed--and the homes are now listed, but haven't been selling for--$950,000. So the homeowners who took cash out have in effect--underwater mortgages. They owe more than the house is worth and they're drowning. Who's to blame? Some people just blame Bush, but according to the New Yorker, the real culprit is Alan Greenspan who allowed these "creative mortgage products" --I kid you not that's what they are called--to be largely unregulated. The end result is the largest bailout of banks and other financial institutions since the Great Depression. A friend of mine sold her apartment last year for an astronomical price to a 30 year old hedge fund guy. Even with 25% down--his monthly mortgage was over $10,000 a month. I wonder if he's got his head in the oven yet. I think it's time to rethink the motto-"buy as much house as you can afford" to how about--what is the basic space I need to make me happy? Recently a friend of mine, an LA producer was looking at houses to buy--none of them were cheap. When a friend suggested she look at something double her budget she said to me, "I've lived that life, and now I want a simpler life." Perhaps, that is what we should strive for --a simpler life-one that we can afford.

TALKING TO THE NEXT GENERATION ABOUT DEBT

2007-10-22T13:48:00.000-04:00

Last week, I was asked to speak with the interns from New York Theater Workshop about my life as a playwright over a brown bag lunch. Afterwards, I spoke I asked them about their lives. Surprisingly, most of them were from the South. Two were directors, two were actors and one was a writer-although she wasn't sure if she wanted to write plays. all, but one felt like they had to go to graduate school. When I asked them how many had student loans. They all rather reluctantly raised their hands. I said to them, "You want to take on another $80,000 in debt for a career that doesn't even pay minimum wage?" I could feel them tense up, but look at me rather curiously. I said, "We don't need to talk about me anymore. We need to talk about you and your money and your life."
We went through a list of graduate schools each one was considering and I told them that they needed to consider either state schools or schools that were completely funded by fellowships. "You cannot walk out of school as an artists with the same sort of loans a doctor or a lawyer would have. You don't have the same income earning potential."
I told them also to be very careful of credit card debt. "You cannot live a $3,000 a month life on $2,000 a month." And I told them that next time there was a brown bag lunch that they should bring it from home. That for the nine dollars they spent on their lunch today, they could have lunch for a week.
And then I shared my life as frugal artist. I told them that when I got out of graduate school, I had an illegal sublet for $525 a month, my student loans were $331 a month and I made $1,500 a month after taxes . I didn't have a lot of money , but I lived within my means and I never had any debt other than my loans. I traveled the world through fellowships, I made fabulous dinner parties for my friends with produce and seafood I got from Chinatown and I saw all my theater for free through New Dramatists- a wonderful playwright's organization where I was a member. The books I read were from the library or half priced from the famed Strand bookshop on University. I never borrowed money from my parents. People ask me if I live differently now, admittedly, I have much more than I ever thought I would, but I am still a cheapskate. Yesterday, I bought a gallon of laundry detergent on sale at CVS for $3.99. Today I booked my Christmas ticket to LA using a Mastercard reward and a five hundred dollar ticket cost me $100 and I planned dinner and movie with a friend for Friday which would cost us under $20 each. Before the young artists left, I said, "You can't make a living, but you can a life. You have to be inventive and you have to be frugal. And if you can be both, you will have the most marvelous adventure pursuing your dreams."
Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

LESSONS FROM A FRUGAL ACTOR PART TWO

2007-10-16T11:38:00.000-04:00

Autumn Dornfeld one of the stars of my play The Beebo Brinker Chonicles now playing at the Fourth Street Theatre in NYC--we just got another rave review this time in New York Magazine (we're a critic's choice this week) emailed me some fun date night ideas. Now actors when they are working usually have Sunday and Monday nights off. As an actress friend of mine used to say, "Sunday is my drinking night." So they're used to having odd hours and thinking outside of the box in terms of going out. Because she is newly married to the wonderful director Michael Sexton, I asked her to recommend some fun and romantic activities that do not require scrounging for quarters underneath the futon or running up an obscene charge on a high interest credit card.

From Autumn--

"Anniversaries and birthdays are tricky--I know that they are supposed to be occasions to splurge and forget about money, but my inner cheapster can’t quite let go...So below are some creative ways of dealing with the big date night.

GIFTS:

What says romance like a mix tape? Bring back the joys of 8th grade love with a mix cd compiled from itunes or your own library, and you can even print out a personalized cover by downloading this freeware: www.snapfiles.com/get/cdcovercreator.html

MASSAGE:

Head over to the multiple award-winning massage parlor Graceful Services. Most of the treatments are already relatively cheap, but somehow they always seem to have a “special” on a 60 minute massage for $60. They have recently opened a second location on 14th and 7th avenue, and though they still haven’t upgraded to fully private rooms, you can get side by side massages. And on what other date do you sign a release form and then get to watch a ninety pound woman hanging on a pole over your partner?

www.gracefulservices.com

COCKTAIL HOUR:

Find a happy hour near wherever your night takes you by searching at www.drinkdeal.com

DINNER:

If it’s a Wednesday, it's 2 for 1 entrées at Bacchus on Atlantic Avenue (we all live in Brooklyn anyway, right?)
www.bacchusbistro.com

If it’s a Thursday, just down the road another nice Brooklyn French joint has a 2 for 1, www.cocotterestaurant.com

And any other day, try ici in Fort Greene. It’s more expensive, but still more value than you’ll find at a similar place in the 212.
www.icirestaurant.com

Thank you Autumn you rock. Next week, we're going to the theatre. Wish you could see a Broadway show for under 30$ or off-Broadway for 15$ well, dust off that metro card, I'm going to show you how to see the best theatre NYC has to offer for a lot less than ticketcharge will get you for.

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

LESSONS FROM A FRUGAL ACTOR

2007-10-13T11:32:00.000-04:00

NYC actors by nature are frugal. Even if they get a show on Broadway scale is $1,422 a week minus 10% for their agent and an additional 15% for their manager-if they have one. But for the most part, when actors work off-Broadway or off-off Broadway, they're working for less than half of that, sometimes a third and if they're on a showcase contract, they're working for car fare. Needless to say actors have to be frugal and inventive. When I first told Autumn Dornfeld one of the stars of my new play-The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, about my blog. She invited me out for drinks on a Monday. Why on a Monday? It's two for one night at the swanky Temple Bar on Lafayette Street. She also told me about ebates.com which is shopping site that not only lists all the cyber coupons, but also pays you back some as much as 6% of your purchases. So if you buy something at bluefly.com you'll get 5% back. And if I had gone through ebates.com when I did my big gap purchase,I would have gotten an additional 3% back. This site lists hundreds of well know stores and since the holiday season is coming soon-I'd highly recommend it.

And since many of us travel to see relatives or to get away far from relatives--I so know there's another call from my Mom coming--Mom I'll be home for Christmas so relax. Although, the day after I am hightailing it out of here for Palm Springs. Anyway, Autumn told me about an airfare site that tracks the prices on your tickets and alerts you when the cheapest fares become available. It's called farecast.com. I'll let you know how low the fare goes!

Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

The Mysterious World of Coupon Codes

2007-10-11T16:15:00.000-04:00

When I was a tween, I shopped at the John Wanamaker Department Store in the Cross County Shopping Center of Yonkers. I went with my best friend, Lisa Touzalin. We would go with our babysitting money and it took two buses to get there. Once there we would head to find my mother's connection--a tough talking, Farrah Fawcett helmet head with big nails and a restraining order from husband number two- who would give us her 30% off discount when she was ringing up whatever purchase we deemed worthy of our hard earned money. Nowadays, I find these friends and family discounts and I use them online. The GAP recently sent me 30% discount code which I can use because I have a GAP CARD from October 9th through 11th.
I bought my seven year old son's fall wardrobe

2 long sleeved polo shirts
2 long sleeved shirts
2 pairs of socks
1 pair of flannel lined pants
2 pair of corduroy pants
1 pair of jeans
Some shirts and accessories for myself--
4 long sleeved shirts
1 zip up hoodie sweatshirt
1 pair of sneakers

Total cost was $385.41 without my coupon. By using my 30% off coupon, I saved $115.64. I then applied a ten dollar off coupon that the Gap card sent for my birthday. And I used the code freeship to get shipping for free instead of paying $6. In total I got it all for $259.82 and saved over $125!

If you have a GAP CARD the enter GCSTYLE at checkout. Use the code freeship to get free shipping. You can apply for a GAP CARD online and get 30% off regularly priced items and 15% off discounted items as well. My only caution is that you pay off your balance in full every month to avoid finance and late charges. Other than that it's a great card to have and they regularly send you discounts.

Other great websites to get codes
naughtycodes.com
couponmountain.com
couponcode.com

Most of us use the internet to do all our holiday shopping, as an exercise--before you order--troll the net for promotional codes you can use and also shipping codes. Inevitably you'll find a discount for what you are looking for.

Yours in frugstyle,

Cheap S. Kate

The Reverse Marshall Plan-See America!

2007-10-05T12:15:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about European travel ever since the Euro went up to a 1.41. USD. Now I've always been a proponent of getting out there and seeing the world, but when you need a reverse Marshall Plan to afford to travel abroad than perhaps we should start thinking locally.
I recently took a trip to LA, a town that I love simply because I don't live there. It's bright, it's sunny, I get to sit by a friend's pool and relax. The whole trip cost me $300 including airfare and round trip transportation to and from LAX. How did I do it? Well, I logged onto Delta.com and I found airfare for $178 rt. I went from Saturday to Tuesday and it was delightful. Most airlines have these weekend getaways. You can find almost all these weekend getaway fares from Travelzoo.com a fantastic site which I heartily recommend. This week's getaways include $129 rt to Miami and a $140 rt ticket to Bermuda. If you'd like to book everything together check out Lastminute.com I found a Wednesday through Saturday package to San Diego (Air and hotel) for $364 per person.
If you're someone who likes to plan I have found great air, hotel and car packages at expedia.com For some reason, I have not had as much luck on orbitz or travelocity.
A great airline shopping engine is sidestep.com You input the dates and get a comparison pricing of all airlines including alternative dates and airports.

I've also had a lot of success on hotwire.com for airline tickets and car rentals. It's a little like priceline.com-you may have one layover for your flight and also in terms of hotels you will only know how many stars it is and the vicinity, but not the name until you actually book it. But it has saved me hundreds of dollars. It's different from priceline because they name the price and you don't get to bid. And honestly, I've never had a bid of mine accepted. Perhaps, I was too cheap.

Not every trip needs to be done via plane. I love trains, as a student I took the Oriental Express though Europe and of course I will never forget the overnight Silver Arrow from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The United States has Amtrak which also has some great weekend getaways. You can look at their weekly specials by clicking on amtrak.com

Lest, I forget the mta is going your way. Click here here to explore some fun one day trips that will get you out of city without breaking the bank.

You know life is adventure whether you spend $15 or $15,000 there's a whole world out there ready for you to explore. So stop reading this blog and open your front door.

Cheap theatre tips coming next week.

OUR FAITHFUL CHEAPSKATE CONTRIBUTOR VISITS HIS YOUNGEST AT COLLEGE

2007-10-03T12:01:00.000-04:00

Alan, who is helping me out while I open BEEBO CHRONICLES at the Fourth Street Theater-check out our New York Times Feature and our fabulous review on Theatremania.com just sent me this fabulous travelogue about visiting his youngest at college.

"Kate, been meaning to write you with my latest cheapskate episode.

Sent my youngest son off to start college last month at The College of Santa Fe in New Mexico, a small, fine art institution with a nicely growing reputation. He is majoring in film but is already involved in their theater program's Fall production with an acting role and, once they learned he can sight read music, he became their assistant music supervisor and accompanist. He's still young and when I realized that he was turning 18 last week, I decided to surprise him with a birthday visit. Called him the day before and he was totally excited.

Arrangements - last minute airfares were exorbitant, so I ended up using United miles that I've accumulated over years with my credit card. Was able to get away with using only 25,000 miles for the trip. www.Hotels.com 's "last minute deals" provided me with several well located motel options at under $100 a night - the fact is that the main commercial drag outside of downtown Santa Fe and close to his college is part of the former Route 66 and there are still some classic 50's style motels that have been somewhat refurbished and are kind of cool to stay in. Two of them are The El Rey Inn and The Thunderbird. The fact is that I didn't actually book one until I arrived in the Albuquerque airport (free wifi) to pick up my car rental for the drive to Santa Fe. Wanted to make sure I got the most last minute rate possible.

Next was my rental car. There are pretty much no direct flights in to Santa Fe. What one generally does is fly to Albuqueque, rent a car and drive the 60 miles in less than an hour to Santa Fe. The speed limit on that highway is 75. At 85, cars are still flying by passing you. When I checked my regular travel/car rental sights like www.Kayak.com (I think the best sight for finding cheap travel - I've gotten some amazing deals) and Orbitz, I found that rentals on my preferred vehicle type, a small SUV were running at $70 plus per day, which is a lot - even with unlimited mileage. I checked again on the morning that I left and they were even higher, so I decided to try during my afternoon stopover in Dallas. When I got to Dallas, I called direct to Thrifty (generally the cheapest of the name brand rental companies) and Dollar - both were sold out in Albuquerque. Next I tried Budget. While I was on the phone with them, I realized that while I was arriving on a Wed, most of the car companies have "weekend specials" that start on Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to have to drive back to Albuqueque on Thursday afternoon to return a car and get a new one at a weekend rate, so the question was, could I rent a car in Albuquerque on Wednesday, return it in Santa Fe on Thursday, get a new one at a weekend special rate and then return the Santa Fe based car to the Albuquerque Airport when I left on Sunday morning. The answer was yes. I then arranged to rent a cheap economy car for one day out of Albuquerque - the rate was still almost $60 a day - and then I would get a small SUV at the weekend rate in Santa Fe for the rest of the weekend, returning it to the Albuqueque airport. When I got to the airport, there were only two companies with cars available that day - Budget, where I had a reservation - and Avis, which was situated right next door. Since Budget had a long line and Avis had none, I decided to check with Avis, to see if I could do better than the total of about $240 (with taxes etc) that I was looking at with Budget for the weekend. (Fortunately, car reservations are not guaranteed by credit card so if you don't show up, there's no charge - I was free to move my business). I stepped up to Maggie, the reservationist, to ask if I could do the same deal - changing cars on Thursday in Santa Fe to get the weekend rate. She said sure but then stopped for a minute and asked what kind of car I wanted. When I told her she asked me if I wanted a GPS - I told her that I have a pretty good sense of direction and didn't want to pay extra for it. She then said to me - "you want the GPS!" I said ok, again, as long as it didn't cost me extra. At that point she said to me, that Avis was running a "Manager's Special" where they were trying to get people to try GPS and that she could rent a small SUV to me with GPS and unlimited mileage - at a rate of $32.95 per day plus taxes for the four days that I needed the car. Done Deal!! The funny thing was that while I was doing the paperwork, a woman next to me was renting a car. She was totally lost and asked for a GPS unit. Turns out I had the last one. I told Maggie that I'd be willing to give mine to the poor woman who really needed it - she said, "then I'd have to charge you more than double for you car". Crazy no? My weekend rental ended up costing me about $145 for a saving of almost $100 and no hassle of having to change cars on Thursday to get the weekend rate.

I had a great trip and a great time with my son."

Thank you Alan! I am going to try and pull together the best web travel sites for comparison shopping so everyone can become as savvy as you! Also, remember Alan got these rates because he was inventive, flexible and persistent.

FRIENDLY'S FORBIDDEN CHOCOLATE AND REHEARSAL

2007-09-14T08:45:00.000-04:00

Fellow cheapskaters forgive me for not posting regularly, I was on vacation and am now in rehearsal for my adaptation of some tawdry Lesbian pulp novels from the 1950's, the Beebo Brinker Chronicles which will open at the Fourth Street Theatre in the East Village October 1st. Go the beebobrinker.com for more information. Once we open I will be posting weekly blogs and we start with how to see Broadway plays for under thirty dollars as part of my frugstyle campaign. But first off Alan Kanoff, one of my producers for 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother written with and starring the fabulous Judy Gold, just moved to Williamsburg from some Cheever like Westchester hamlet. (The Nationwide Tour of 25 Questions is kicking off in Palm Beach at the Kravis Center click on the following http://www.25-questions.com/calendar/calendar.html
As Alan is one of our most loved cheapskates, he wrote me this:" I noticed last night as I was doing my 3am snack, that I was close to running out of my favorite commercial ice cream, Friendly's Forbidden Chocolate. Even though I live in Williamsburg, I usually go to Key Foods on Fifth Ave in Park Slope for my ice cream because they carry Friendly's and that branch seems to have a better selection than most. (as a matter of fact I stopped at the Court St. store first and they didn't have any chocolate). What I was surprised to find was that Key Foods is running a special this week for their Value Card members - buy one half gallon of Friendly's Ice Cream for the usual price of $5.99 and get a second one free. After signing up for a Key Foods Value card I returned to the frozen food section of the store. Fortunately, they had my Chocoolate and I picked out a "Mocha Silk" as my free second half gallon. What I didn't notice until I got to the checkout counter, was that each of my half gallons had an instant coupon attached to it. Each coupon entitled me to $3.00 off the price of a half gallon. I paid $5.99 total for my two half gallons of ice cream but also got an instant $3.00 refund on each or, six dollars off of my bill. The result, ended up with two free half gallons of ice cream and put a one penny profit in my pocket by the time the deal was done. Man, did I enjoy that ice cream when I got home!"

Thank you Alan! This weekend, I will be posting about how I did a weekend trip to LA for twenty five dollars a day including airfare!
Yours- Cheap S. Kate

The Brooklyn Riviera

2007-08-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

Second homes are a Waste of Time and Money. We had a second home in posh Easthampton. We designed and built it. It was a two-story, four bedroom, three bath country farmhouse. It was on an acre of land and had an in-ground pool. A 2-hour drive from NYC, it was an idyllic retreat. But that is copy for a NY Times real estate ad. The truth was we never used the upstairs of the house, but we had to heat it at the tune of $200 a month. The landscaping cost us $300 -$500 a month. Electric $200 a month, mortgage and taxes came to $3,000 a month, cable an extra $100, pool service $100 a week. So our “idyllic retreat” wound up costing us over $4,500 a month to run. And it wasn’t so idyllic. It usually took us 3-4 hours on a Friday to drive out and the same on Sunday to drive back. Town and beaches were crowded in the summer months and that just added to the stress of being weekend homeowners. When our next door neighbors came over one Sunday and said, “We counted how many days you’ve been here, the last six months.” They held up one hand and folded down a thumb. We knew it was time to sell. We sold it for a tidy profit and haven’t missed it since.

When we moved to Cobble Hill, I thought to myself Coney Island is close by. I can go for the day and not have to spend four hours on the Long Island Expressway. I take the F train from the Bergen Street Station and it takes me exactly 28 minutes to get there. (I get off at the stop before Coney Island - the Stillwell Avenue stop.) I walk over the bridge and go to the left. I park my chair right on the water's edge. You'll see things you wouldn't on Main Beach like a man wearing a python around his neck while strolling or Russian men over the age of sixty wearing speedos. However some of the delights are being able to purchase ice cream and bottled water for a dollar right from various industrious foot peddlers. But quite frankly you can't beat paying $4 instead of $4,000 for a day at the beach.

Tomorrow free movies and theatre.

Signed,

Cheap s. Kate

FREE BIG MUSEUM DAY

2007-08-01T12:07:00.001-04:00

Some of my favorite childhood memories were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although, I intensely disliked the Dutch masters that my father so admired, I did like the expanse of the place and even if I found something grim and boring, I could turn the corner and find something unique and wonderful. Going museum hopping a couple of times in the summer is a delightful way to get a respite from the heat and also allows you to give the kids some culture. The only problem is that unless you join for a year membership, museums are not cheap. However, Cheap S. Kate has found a wonderful website called the insider. And from it I found the list of completely free museums in NYC. Click on the links below and it will lead you to the museums' websites. (The photo above is the from the Forbes Collection).

Here are some more museums that are free on certain days for certain hours also from the insider.

American Museum of the Moving Image
Free on Fridays from 4 pm to 8 pm (usually $10)
Bronx Museum of the Arts
Free on Wednesdays (usually $5)
El Museo del Barrio
Free on Thursdays from 4 pm to 8 pm (usually $7)
Jewish Museum
Pay-what-you-wish on Thursdays from 5 pm to 9 pm (usually $10)
Museum of Arts & Design
Pay what you wish on Thursdays from 6 pm to 8 pm (usually $9)
Museum of Modern Art
Voluntary donation on Thursdays and Fridays from 4:30 pm to 8:15 pm (usually $10)
New York Hall of Science
Free on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2 pm to 5 pm (usually $7.50)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Voluntary donation on Fridays from 6 pm to 8 pm (usually $12)

Tomorrow Coney Island!! The Brooklyn Riviera. See it before it gets respectable!

SMALL MUSEUM DAY WITH THE METRO CARD

2007-07-31T08:07:00.000-04:00

I love the subway. And one of the things I have discovered is HOPSTOP.COM a great website that shows you how to get where you want to go using public transit. I have used public transit all over the world. Moscow is my favorite system. Paris I am not so found of, it's too winding and the lines don't intersect as much as I would like. One of my favorite things to do by public transit is to visit house museums. Russia has a ton of them. In St. Petersburg, I visited the homes of Gogol, Tolstoy, Stanislasky and Chekhov. I love these kind of museums because they give you a sense of how people lived and what life was like at that time.

The Metro Card has some great deals that you can use with some of the smaller house museums

BEFORE ANNIE LIEBOVITZ, THERE WAS ALICE AUSTEN!

(The photo above is her shooting on stilts.)

Alice Austen House Museum 2 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island ● 718- 816-4506 ● http://www.aliceausten.org/ Meet one of America’s earliest and most prolific photographers and tour her graceful home and grounds that overlook New York Harbor. From Manhattan by Staten Island FerrySubway to South Ferry (1/9), Whitehall Street (N/R), or Bowling Green Station (4/5) or bus or taxi to:Staten Island Ferry (25 minute ride). At the ferry terminal in Staten Island #S51 Bus to Hylan Boulevard (15 minute ride). Walk one block east to water and house. It's a two for one admission and get this admission is $2!

DISCOVER HOW AFRICAN AMERICAN REALLY LIVED INTHE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES!

Weeksville Heritage Center 1698 Bergen Street, Brooklyn ● 718-756-5250 ● http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/ Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, New York’s first black woman doctor, growing up on her father’s farm in this once vibrant 19th century African American community. Hunterfly Road HousesThese historic houses are the last surviving, intact, residential structures of 19th century Weeksville. They are New York City landmarks and listed as a nationally significant site on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic Hunterfly Road Houses are furnished to interpret Black life as it was in the mid-1800s, early 1900s and early 1930s. These visitors are viewing items in 1930s-era kitchen of 1698 Bergen Street.

Tour Hours: Tuesday to Friday @ 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pmSaturday, from 11 am to 3 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday Admission:$4 non-members; Free for members, residents of 11213 and 11233 with ID and children under 12. Also, it's 2 for 1 admission with the metro card.
Subway: to Utica AvBus: B15, B45, B65

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace and boyhood home. Located in the heart of NYC!
TR, The Making of the LegendNot all Presidents were born in log cabins. One was actually born in a New York City brownstone! Visit the birthplace and boyhood home of Teddy Roosevelt and see what it was like to grow up in the "gilded age". Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS will be closed Tuesday, September 4th, 2007, for the observance of Labor Day. The site will reopen Wednesday, September 5th, 2007, at 9:00am. Park Ranger guided tours of the period rooms are available on the hour, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4:00pm. Each tour lasts approximately thirty minutes. Visitors may also visit the gallery which contains hundreds of original items from Roosevelt's colorful life.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site is conveniently located at 28 East 20th Street, between Park Avenue South and Broadway. Lexington Avenue #6 subway trains stop at the East 23rd Street station on Park Avenue South. Express #4 and #5 subways stop at Union Square. N and R subway trains stop at the East 23rd Street station on Broadway; frequent service is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Frequent bus service is provided by routes M-6 and M-7 on Broadway, by route M-1 on Park Avenue South and by route M-23 operating cross town on 23rd Street; service is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The admission fee is $3 per person.

THE FLOATING POOL

2007-07-30T08:52:00.000-04:00

When we were little my mom had a best friend named Carole T who lived in our building. Mrs. T had two children named Lisa and Stephen. Lisa was my best friend and Stephen was my little sister Deiredre's best friend. One summer when we were very small, neither family could afford to join the building pool. So Mrs. T put everyone in her ancient Volvo and we went to the sprinklers everyday in nearby Irvington. When people in the building would ask where we were going, both my Mom and Mrs. T would casually explain in the most studied off-hand manner that they had both joined a country club for the summer in Irvington. Every morning they would pack a lunch and head off to the park with the sprinklers. This free morning was not without problems --a park official seemed to sense that we were not Irvington material. (You needed proof residence to play int he park.) Luckily, Mrs. T's parents had resided there for a time and she was able to fabricate some sort of driver's license or utility bill. Nevertheless, Mr. Park official skulked about us all summer making us feel like the refugees from Yonkers we truly were. On rainy days they would bring us to the library for story hour. And although, as the years went by we joined the building pool and we also were able to go away to small cottage in the Hamptons, I think my mother had the best time with us when we were small and she had to be inventive. she also reconnected with Mrs. T after some years apart and she told me that some of the best memories she had being a young mother were always with her.

Recently, I met a contractor's wife and she said, "You know we had a terrible year one year. Jack wasn't working a lot, I just couldn't afford summer camp. So I got a weekly metro card and took the kids all over Manhattan and I found stuff we could could for free. I called it adventure camp."

So this week is a adventure camp for the price of a weekly $26 metro card. Every day I will give you one idea that you can do for free or next to nothing for the price of a metro card. The only thing you'll have to do is, pack your own lunch. And you don't have to be a kid or even have kids to enjoy adventure camp. You don't even have to be broke. You just have to have a sense of adventure.

THE FLOATING POOL

I went there yesterday with Timothy who loved it. It's at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Beach in Brooklyn Heights. Take the 2/3/4/5/6 to Borough Hall. Outside the subway is a shuttle van that will take you for free down to the beach. It leaves every ten or fifteen minutes. If you don't want to wait walk down Joralemon Street (towards the river) until you reach Furman Street and make a right. You will see the entrance. The safety officers will direct you to the pool tent. You can get a wrist band for a swim session. They are as follows--

WEEKDAYS

11-12:30

1 - 2:30

3 - 4:30

5- 6:45

WEEKENDS

9 -10:30

11 - 12

12:30 -1:30

2-3:00

3:30 - 4:30

5- 6:45

Two enormous beaches have been set up. You can bring chairs and have a picnic while you wait for your swim session. You can bring a soccer ball and kick it into the giant nets. There are porto potties around the perimeter of the beach and there is a grill where you can get hot dogs, smart dogs, soda pop and fries quite reasonably. The beach also rents umbrellas and chairs. The pool sits amidst the Hudson River and is amazing. The cabana looks as though it has been transplanted from a Phillipe Stark hotel. The locker rooms are pristine and outside there are sprinklers set up for the kids. There are real bathrooms inside as well as showers. The pool is stunning. Your views are South Street Seaport, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It is clean and people are very happy to be there. You can sign up for a session, swim, have lunch and then sign up for another session. It's a delightful way to spend the day and I am happy to say the pool is completely handicapped accessible.

For more information go to http://www.brooklynbridepark.org/ or call 718-222-9742.

Tomorrow we visit the tiny museum devoted to a woman photographer and Theodore Roosevelt's childhood home.

Paris Wrap Up

2007-07-23T13:38:00.000-04:00

Forgive me for not writing regularly, my back has been out and I am living on Advil and Mineral Ice while watching one AMC movie after another. This morning GIRL INTERRUPTED and CARLITO'S WAY. But, I think it's time to do the Paris Wrap up so I can get started on next week's blog-CAN'T AFFORD SUMMER CAMP? HOW TO ENTERTAIN THE KIDS FOR $2 A DAY!!

The Paris Essentials

Get an airline ticket with miles, or use American Express points and transfer those miles for free tickets on Virginatlantic.com or bid on tickets 6 months before on skyauction.com

Rent an apartment on Vrbo.com -stay in the Marais

For breakfast pick up croissants at the boulangerie and make coffee in your apartment

For lunch crepes on the street

For dinner --choose modest priced restaurants--that are off the radar. Buy house wine--split an entree and appetizer. Don't be afraid to establish a home base restaurant. You'll learn more French and you'll make friends.

In terms of museums-don't get the museum pass that is touted to tourists. Just pick two or three museums that you really want to see. Do them over the course of your visit. Do not pack them into two days, you won't have time to savor anything. My approach to travel is not to look at it as the once in a lifetime trip, but rather the city as a friend one that you'll want to get to know better through the years. And while, I think the Rick Steve's books were great for getting the American off the bus tours, I don't think manic tours of European cities are going to give any memories except blurred ones. I saw one cranky family after another where the Dad was holding that book marching everyone on the third event of the day. My favorite moment was when a family literally pushed past me and cut the line to get tickets. When I spied the book and listening to them quote manically from it-I thought to myself-they are probably twenty minutes off from their 18 hour tour of duty, that they had to cut the line. I did take heart when I realized that they still were being processed while I had tickets in hand. Don't cut lines, only the Germans do that. They like to form their own lines and then merge in front of you. One of my favorite moments as a tourist was when my father told a man off in German when he cut in front of him whislt he waiting to buy tickets for the vapretto in Venice. But I digress---

Museums to think about seeing Napleon's Tomb and the accompanying war museum--this place details not only all the Napoleonic French wars, but also WWI and WWII. You'll see one of the original taxi cabs that helped transport French soldiers to the critical Battle of the Marne. The WWII exhibit is incredible, from the French Resistance to Charles De Gaulle truiumphant return, you will be astounded by its depth.

Some of the best places to visit are free-

Pere LaChaise Cemetary

Place des Voges

Champs Elysee(Too busy for me)

Legion of Honor Museum

Walking through the streets of the Marais

Petit Palace Musee

Sacre Coeur/Monmartre --say you only 15 euros and you can get your portrait done for less than 20 bucks by a real artist who speaks Russian.

Other restaurant suggestions

The Marais has a ton of Jewish restaurants and gay establishments that coexist side by side. You can check out the woman's bar Les Jacasses for a light meal and some drinks on Rue Des Escoffiers or walk down further and get some good old Jewish home cooking at La Train de Vie . There are many falafel places that are cheap and delicious on rue des Rossiers and rue de Vielle Temple has several other splendid restaurants as well. And for the best ice cream go to chain Amorino Gelato also on rue de Vielle Temple.

Parlez Vous Francais?

Do download a French program off audible.com three weeks before you go. I liked the program Rapide French. For Russian try the Pimsleur program. I listened to both at the gym and there's nothing like getting up early and walking along the Nevsky Prospect and finding a cafe to go into and reading the St. Petersburg Times whilst sipping a coffee which you were able to order in Russian.

Internet --Don't go to Starbucks --go to Columbus Cafe. The coffee and treats are cheaper and if you have brought your own laptop, you can get online for free. The two locations I found were in the Bastille and the Marais.

In terms of travel don't be afraid to use taxi cabs, they're regulated and perfectly safe. You can find taxi stands at all main thoroughfares. And for the metro, I bought a ten pack of carnet tickets and reduced tarif for Timothy. We got around mostly through the metro and by walking.

Shopping

Go to Heshung on 11 rue de Sevigne for handmade(albeit expensive) shoes.

Visit the information booth at Place de la Bastille and pick up a map. On the back of it you will find a 10% coupon for au Printemps-use it.

On the right side of St. Paul's church on rue de Rivoli you will find the following--a choclatier, a dry cleaner (laundry), one of the best wine stores I have ever been into and two stores exclusively devoted to foie gras.

Disneyland Paris

Check for specials, while I was there they had a special of 29 per person. Also, check out lastminute.com for cheaper tickets. Is it worth it? If you have kids under 12 well, yes it is.

And lastly, to the woman who criticized me to her young son on line for security at Heathrow, saying, "That it was sad that I let my son play DS game. That it was sad I didn't talk to him." Well, I find talking to children encourages them to have opinions and I believe that children should be seen and not heard. And honey, if you're going criticize me, don't do it wearing jeans with pleats and white ballarina flats.

Enough said. Signed, your faithful correspondent,

Cheap S. Kate

Napoleon's Tomb and Alliance Francaise

2007-07-17T06:41:00.000-04:00

So yesterday, I was laid up with my bad back and in between watching the Hitler/History Channel-fascinating story about Hitler's lost relatives-apparently there's a gaggle of them in that cute little village of Easthampton working as gardeners, I took the Alliance Francaise test online. I was called several hours later an informed that ma grammere was tres mauvais and perhaps they could help me. When Madame asked me why I wanted to take French, I told her that I wanted to write my first novel set in Paris. A moment of panic crept into her voice, "You wish to write this book in French?" I assured her that I would only be writing in English, she took a breath and said, "Perhaps we can help you."
I spent the rest of the conversation trying to say goodbye, "A bientot." "Au revoir." "Goodbye, See you in the fall. Oui, oui."Finally I just hung up. I am trying to finish Paris this week, forgive me for not posting daily, but my back has been out sooo...onward with the travelogue.

CHARTER FOR THE PARISIAN AND THE VISITOR

En route to visit Napoleon's Tomb, I saw a table set up for TOURISM DAY! I went up to a woman and asked her what "Journee du Tourisme" was all about. She looked at me and said, "You are a tourist?" And I replied, "Yes, I am a tourist." "You don't look like a tourist." And I assured her that I was again and then she replied, "But you live here." And then I said, "I rented an apartment, but I am a tourist. Can I have one of the wrist bracelets for my son?" I picked one off the table and the woman said, "Those are for tourists." I grabbed it and ran along with a flyer entitled, "A charter for the Parisian and visitor."

It goes something like this, "

I will take the time to give information to visitors. I will make use of my foreign language skills to reply to them in their language

I will recommend to visitors things I appreciate about Paris

I am proud of my city, the number one tourist destination in the world.

Okay, by my count the 'Ambassadeur de mon pays' had violated rule number one. And any country that has to hand out a bill of rights for tourists-does have some image problems. But, we loved our wrist bracelets.

PARISIAN SEWERS AND FREE BICYCLES

2007-07-16T08:18:00.000-04:00

I am back in NYC laid out flat with a bad back-Timothy is in back in golf camp so I am catching up on the blog. The best way to make a city come alive is through history. And what is history except stories. Children love stories. We went to the Les Egouts de Paris--the sewer museum.
It's a self guided tour with many of the placards in English. While the history of hygiene may not seem terrifically interesting there are a couple of vignettes that stand out. Namely fictional character -Jean Valjean of Les Mis fame who hides out in the sewers evading capture. Ever notice those large green ornate water fountains in Champ de Mars or the Luxembourg Gardens? They were a gift from a wealthy American whose son had died from Typhoid. Although, not explained, but rather hinted at many of the resistance during WWII hid and conducted their fight against the Nazi's in the tunnel. The massive ball of courage sweeps out any blockage the sewers might have. We also learned from the individual t.v.'s that if you lose something there is a brigade who will climb down and find those lost keys or necklaces. Prices are 4.10 for adults and 3.20 for children over five. Pont de Alma on the Left Bank.

FREE BICYCLES

In the New York Times today there is an article about renting bicylces at minimal cost at the Champs Elysee. A one day pass costs 1 Euro, a weekly pass 5 Euros. You can keep them in circulation for 30 minutes docking them at any of the 750 stations in Paris. Anyone taking the metro in the summer knows that air conditioning is non-existant and sometimes you have to take as many as three subway lines to go get to your destination. So something five minutes away by taxi can take as long as thirty minutes. Here is the website where you can reserve a bike. It's bring your own helmets and there does not appear to be any bicycles available for children. Click on velo to get to the website. (It's all in French.)

Tomorrow will be Napoleon's Tomb and our visit to Monmartre. (I'll tell you how to get that portrait drawn by the Russian beret wearing artists for around 15 Euros.)

Signed your faithful correspondent-Cheap S. Kate

MY LIFE AS A LOUIS MALLE FILM

2007-07-13T06:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I asked Timothy if he wanted to see Harry Potter or go to Versaille and hang with the Japanese and see how the Marshall Plan had windexed the mirrors. Guess what he picked?
Barbara suggested that we could find some American Films over the Champs Elysee. So there we were headed and in the Rick Steves book it said that Napoleon had all the trees planted that lined the infamous boulevard. "Why didn't he plant them himself?" was Timothy's reponse. And for a half an hour Timothy insisted that Napoleon did plant them and I was lying. "Show me in the book where it says that. Show me." I feel as though I am living in a childrens play written by Edward Albee. We went to Gaumont theatre on the Champs Elysee and with the help of an usher bought tickets for the American language showing of Harry Potter. The only problem was --it was in 3 hours. Well, no worries we had the ninth circle of hell to explore the Champs Elysee. I hate crowds. I hate boulevards. That's why I love the Marais. It's sort of like Soho used to be. It's quiet and there are not tons of American families screaming at each other. Nobody told you had to see three museums in one day--oh, thats right you're reading the Rick Steve's book. And maybe you're so miserable because your children are exhausted and your wife hates you because you dragged them to all three museums and now you're schelpping them through the rain to see the over crowded boulevard that only looks good when de Gaulle is riding in on his jeep in some scratchy black and white film. I bought Timothy a lego from Jouets recre and we headed over to the small park on the side of the absoultely stunning section of the petit Palais. He built his lego and then we leisurely headed over to the Gaumont movie theatre. There was a line down the block and my heart sank-but at least we had tickets. We got behind woman and her teenaged son. After they patiently listened to my choppy breathless French, they confirmed we were on the right line. The boy much taller than his mom, said he went to boarding school in Boston. We spoke a bit more and when I when asked him if he was thinking of going to school in the states, he grabbed his mother's hand and said, "I want to be closer to my mother." They smiled and looked deeply into each other's eyes. Now look I know this is the city of love, but at that moment, I knew I was caughtin a Louis Malle film. And then it got better, as we the line finally was let in who showed up to cut the line with his thirteen year old date? And I am not shitting you--Roman Polanski. Yup. And they wouldn't let him cut the line. I thought, "That's Roman Polanski and he's taking his date to see the new Harry Potter Film--why? Well, because it's geared towards 13 year olds." It just got stranger. A Donatella Versace type--maybe it was her--with a bauble on her finger that looked like a light bulb cut the popcorn line. Since her legs were the size of my wrists and I was hoping she did eat something. We found out seats and I left Timothy in the care of a Saudi family--it was fine Mom I swear--they had a kid his age who complained as much as timothy and I went to the bathroom. Okay, I kid you not there was a family bathing their legs in the sink. WTF is that? I got back to my seat and Timothy was chattering away. The Gaumont theatre is like the size of an Imax and the sound and seats are amazing.
After the movie, Timothy said we had to go back to auberge chez rosito. We did and met a wonderful Corsican couple who live in the 14th. They told us that chez rosito is Corsican food--where Timothy learned Napoleon was born. Celine and Raphael recently got married and they told us all about their honeymoon in China. We are invited to their house tonight for a Bastille party. We think we're going to Monmartre and then the fireworks show at the Eiffel Tour.
No posts tomorrow as it is a travel day--but will be back on Sunday.

Signed your faithful correspondent,

Cheap s. Kate

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY SHORTY!

2007-07-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

It was my birthday on Sunday and I asked my friend Barbara if she knew a restaurant I could go to that wasn’t too expensive, but little bit special. She made me a reservation at Rotisserie du Beaujolias on Quai de la Tournelle. When I arrived I noticed a bottle of champagne sitting in an ice bucket by the window overlooking the Seine. I wondered aloud if it was for me and when I was shown the table, I sat down and I have to say I could not stop smiling. The maitre d came over and spoke to me in French, he told me that the champagne was from my friend Barbara. He pulled it out to show me and on the bottle, it said, “From your friend Madame Claude.” (It helps when your friend was once married to the owner.)
I had the foie gras and the steak with béarnaise sauce. Laurie had the whole fish and Timothy the roast chicken-both were excellent. The kitchen is open so you can see chickens roasting and the chef working. Large windows overlook the Seine and the wait staff is friendly speaks American and was incredibly patient with my French. You will find well dressed Americans and French families dining side by side.
I sipped the champagne and watched the sunset—except it does not set in Paris –it rather fades away with the most spectacular humility—and a song by rapper 50 Cent rang in my head, “Shorty do what you want to do, hit the dance floor move how you want to move, YEAH! System dumping, dance floor jumping. You know me B.I.G. no I.D. Bottles of DP!” Thank you again Madame Claude. It was a most spectacular way to end the day.
Info—Rotisserie du Beajolais 19 Quai de la Tournelle. Phone – 01 56 24 43 71.

My Parisian Affair

I was told once that the best way to learn a new language is to take a lover. When you’re over forty the best way to learn the language is through food. So instead of taking a lover, I found a restaurant instead. Like a lover the Auberge Chez Rosito has the joy of discovery, the joy of newness, the joy of well that je ne sais quoi—when you’re confused and happy and well sated and at the same time ravenous. On night around ten pm, Timothy and I were wondering around after a day of Disneyland Paris. ( It’s a bit disconcerting to see Europeans with their black socks and sandals wearing giant Goofy ears. But it was comforting to see them display the common theme park parent behavior-slapping little Manfried one second and recording their every moment via the camcorder the next.) Anyway, my parenting skills in terms of getting Timothy to bed at some reasonable hour is rather shot to shit. Last night when I suggested we go out at 8 to eat, Timothy stomped his foot and said, ‘I am not eating this early. No one eats this early’ So we eat at ten, get home by midnight and sleep until ten in the morning. I am not getting up at the crack of dawn to complete some Rick Steve’s walking tour which when closely studied resembles the Battaan Death March. My attitude towards visiting a city is that—it’s been here for centuries and I can come back. Yesterday, I took Timothy to the Eiffel Tour, he saw the line and said-“If you think I am going to stand on that line, you’re nuts, okay, Mama? Nuts.” I said, “Okay, just look at it.” And he did for ten seconds and then he skulked about looking for kids to play with on the park surrounding --Champ de Mars. We found an English Australian family from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia. Timothy made me go up and make an introduction for him. I felt like Elizabeth Taylor in that Tennessee Williams movie with Montgomery Clift,-Suddenly Last Summer, “I was procuring for him.”
But I digress again, on Rue du Pas de la Mule (a block up from Place du Voges –as you head toward the direction of La Bastille, I found Auberge Chez Rosito. The night we went, it was packed and a curly topped blonde Maripole treated her patrons more as friends than customers. The décor has checked table cloths and reproductions of a 19th century mountain photographer Ange Tomasi. I quickly learned that that Maripole speaks not a word of English. And when she slammed the menu written on a blackboard in front of me, I knew it was sink or swim. I ordered (somehow) poulet roti (roast chicken) and for Timothy un plat du pat. (Pasta). The next night I ordered the porc ribs and haricot verts with a fromage that was like porous parmesan. We met Franc the chef and I told him in my broken French my undying fealty towards the Auberge. We closed the restaurant. Last night we went back although, the restaurants of the Marais were tempting me, (When I fall –I am if anything, but loyal) I had the steamed artichoke the size of a softball a thin tomato sauce covered it and leaf by giant leaf a layer of a thin slice of cheese like a mozzarella was inserted. Weak kneed and thoroughly absorbed I was finally shaken from my reverie when Timothy started asking me about his favorite topic of conversation-Napoleon. “When he fought against Hitler…”
At the end of the meal, (and like with any lover) I planned my next redezvous before I left, I grabbed Maripole and announced,“A demain, J’asaye le soupe de poussin—although I did ask whether I should try the tripe, I know I should be giving you more restaurant reviews—and I have a bunch in the Marias, but what can I do when Maripole, yells into the kitchen, “Frank-un autre plat de pat pour le petit Timothy.” Or looks at me and says, “Je connais un autre verre de vin rouge.” Even with this itinerant traveler’s heart of mine, I need home.
Auberge Chez Rosito
4, Rue du Pas de la Mule
01 42 76 04 44
Franc speaks a little English, Maripole does not—so do not go unless you have basic command of some phrases i.e. Ipod French.

Clignancourt Flea Market

Laurie has been waxing poetic about this flea market since the day we first went to Paris together. ‘It is where I bought that leather jacket. The one you made me give away.’ Yes, I did make you give that away because it looked like you belonged singing with the 80’s group Flock of Seagulls. Take the metro to Porte de Clignacourt (line 4). As you get out of the station you’ll see an information booth—it will have a handmade sign which says ‘fleamarket’ with an arrow. Walk that way and you’ll see the covered markets. It is open Saturday from 9 to 6, Sunday from 10- 6 and Monday 11 am until 5. The flea market is laid out into several sections –stay away from the Malik section as it is comprised entirely of Converse All Star sneakers and knock off P Diddy clothes which if you so desire, you can get for a heck of a lot cheaper in NYC. Walk around the Malik market (without entering) until you hit the Paul Bert market-which is in short amazing. The booths are rooms decorated from the 17th century until 70’s. It is like looking at minute time capsules. I took the photo of old watch hands from this clock booth. At the end of Paul Bert is a café-don’t eat there. A really pissy man will roll his eyes if you ask for a table, while his boyfriend stands there smoking a cigarette being useless. His butch counterpart with short blonde hair works the register inside and spends most of her time yelling at pissy man. Although her wrath was turned on me when I asked for the l’addition for the third time. “I never get a break. Never. No one helps me. I just want five minutes to myself.” (Look honey, if you’re not my mother or my girlfriend-I don’t want to freaking hear it. D’accord?)
The fact that I understood her rant made me quit happy as I felt my French was coming along. Spend no more than two hours at the flea market and watch your bag if you go into the crowded section. It’s definitely worth a visit-but I really doubt you’ll buy anything as that Louis XIV armoire is not going to fit into the overheard compartment.

Okay—I will try and post again tomorrow-but if not I will finish up next week from NYC. Coming soon-Restaurants in the Marais, my experience with the PARIS IS FOR YOU tourist campaign, Napoleon’s Tomb, the Sewer Tour, Versaille and Marshall Plan and where to find free internet—a lot more is coming. I promise.

Signed your faithful correspondent – Cheap S. Kate

2007-07-09T06:23:00.000-04:00

When we got to the Luxembourg gardens, we were pushed aside by an American man with a fanny pack who shouted,”EXCUSE MOI.” The playground at the Luxembourg garden costs each child 2.60 euro. You shouldn’t pay for an adult unless your child is on the younger side as you can pull a chair outside the fence and watch them climb 85 feet on some perilous looking wire gym or watch them swing a la Tarzan style above your head. After about an hour of riding on a merry go round, Timothy ran out of the playground and threw up the Kit Kat we so wisely bought him in the metro. A guard came running out and tried to convince us that Timothy was gravely ill, “He’s hot.” Yes, we explained he was running around. “You must take him to the emergency center in the Park and give some aspirins. Yes, he must have the medication.” Timothy survived, but the guard somehow convinced him that in his delicate state a Sprite was needed immediately. We headed over the Musee D’orsay because in the Rick Steve’s book it said that after five it was free, we got there twenty minutes early. And while Laurie made a business call, we were summoned into the Legion of Honor Museum by a delightful guard who told us it was FREE! I gave up my passport and we were given two of those push button audiotape guide things (also gratuit!) and we toured the history of the Legion of Honor. From what I can discern, the medal was started by France and adopted by other countries including the US. It is given to acknowledge courage in the face of battle. I learned all about Jean Moulin the resistance fighter in WWII and while I was pointing out Moulin, Timothy told me to be quiet, he was learning about Napoleon and his role in WWI. Timothy is fascinated by Napoleon, but at seven, his sense of history is skewed to say the least. He pointed to a full sized painting of Napoleon and said rather darkly, “He is not short. Whoever said he was short was wrong Mama. I never want to hear him call short again.” When I tried to explain why Napoleon was called short, I was shushed by Timothy who told me that he was listening to ‘Napoleon and his friend the American president, Eisenhower.’ Upstairs they had examples of the Legion of Honor medals from around the world including Tsarist Russia and also the American Medal of Honor which was rather awe inspiring since so few have been given out. I recommend this museum to history buffs and also to those who like small niche museums. We headed back to the Musee D’Orsay and there were ten Americans holding the Rick Steve’s book one getting more pissed than the other. The Museum was closed and they started to clear it out at 5:30. I noticed an advanced tickets office and bought two tickets for Sunday for 9 Euro a piece (children are free). Also, I would not get the museum pass—yes, it might pay if you do two museum visits a day –but who in their right fricking mind is going to see two massive museums a day? Pas moi, mon aime. You will get Stendhal syndrome and you will start believing that Napoleon and Eisenhower were friends.

How Survive the Louvre

We got up early-well 11 and headed over the world’s most famous museum. As per the advice of Rick Steve’s Paris guide, we entered at the Louvre Carousel Entrance which is the PALAIS ROYAL MUSEE DE LOUVRE stop on the METRO. This entrance is comprised mostly of upscale shops, nothing you want to buy, but pleasant enough to pass through. You will ascend down an escalator and head towards the credit card ticket machine. (They don’t work.) Pass by the store for L’enfants ( this is the children’s store for the Louvre towards the entrance. You can use cash to buy tickets or credit cards at a kiosk (They are 9 Euro each.). A very friendly guard will help you if you have problems. Head towards the entrance that says DENON—now there are a couple of ways you can tour the Louvre. One is to download a tour for your Ipod. The other is to rent an audio guide like the one described above for 5 Euros. I would recommend the latter if you have kids. Rent one and designate one in your party be the tour guide. That way you tour the museum together. Now the first thing you do is admire the Winged Victory Statue at the entrance and then head straight for the Mona Lisa—get that done first. There will be a line to get close to it. Just get as close as you can on side the rope and you won’t have to wait. Timothy was creeped out by Mona Lisa. “She’s evil Mama. Those eyes were following me. Just like the eyes of the Egyptian cat statues.” Other must sees in the Denon are the Coronation Crown of Louis the XVin the Apollo Gallery, (The crown looks rather like a child attached plastic jewels to a Burger King crown), the large format French paintings are stunning in that pictorial sense, the Venus de Milo can be found in the Greek Antiquities section of the Denon and the Sully has a fine collection of paintings by Watteau. My advice get in and get out in an hour and a half, go early and be out by 12:30 before the masses come. When tired rest on the large round banquettes and people watch. Laurie observed five Japanese men pay a French guide five hundred Euros for what seemed to be a two hour tour.

When you get out head towards the Tuleries gardens (free) and admire the statues and if you have kids take them to the small amusement park. Allow them to choose one ride each and they’ll get a little reward for behaving in the museum.

Tomorrow --if I can get out before the plumber comes--we have hot water in the apartment, but now have a leak--I will tell you about our visit to the fantastic Clingancourt Flea Market on the outskirts of Paris and I will begin to comprise a restaurant list.

Signed your faithful correspondent -Cheap S. Kate

LEGO LAND AND DAY ONE IN PARIS!

2007-07-06T06:55:00.000-04:00

Lego Land

At our first (and only night) at Heathrow I got a good night sleep thanks to Ambien. I felt very Jaqueline Susan at that moment, but I knew if I were to get us to Lego Land, I needed to sleep perchance to dream, but you don’t dream with Ambien and perhaps that is a blessing. We were out the door back to Heathrow by eleven the next morning. Heathrow resembled a refugee camp. Young and old splayed out at the arrivals area on yoga mats given out by airport staff. I notice that a great portion of those who had spent the night were Indian or African- I guessed the longer flights were harder to rebook. The terror alert upgraded to critical the day before had shut down the airport for four hours. One older woman in a sari said she had spent the night, but had been told to come back the next day for her flight. I cannot even imagine how her bones, (she looked well into her seventies) felt after spending 12 hours on the floor. We left our baggage at excess luggage for six pounds a piece. We headed back to terminal 2 to the bus station and caught the 77 bus to Windsor for 3.50 (pounds/free for Timothy.) On board with us was a British Airways attendant, whom I overheard on the phone telling about the night before, “babies screaming, chaos, just sheer chaos.” When she hung up, she pointed out the window towards Windsor. “We’re almost there and when we get off I’ll show you where to catch the shuttle to Legoland and where to catch the 77 bus back.” And sure enough, on the left we could see the great castle of Windsor in the distance. We were dropped off in the center of town—I highly recommend you taking the bus out to Windsor especially if you have a longish layover at Heathrow. (Just note that the bus takes around 45 minutes each way.) Windsor is a beautiful town with cobblestone streets and wonderful shops. We headed into Marks and Spencer to get Timothy his yearly supply of underwear. They were having a sale and we made out like bandits. In Windsor you can see the castle, have tea and then head to Eton to see where the famous boys’ college is situated. Of course we saw none of that, because we were headed to Legoland. Because we missed the hourly shuttle bus and we were in the midst of a downpour, we took a taxi for 8 pounds to the park. I bought the tickets online at Lastminute.com for 66 pounds. I saved a full third off the admissions that way. Once there we had two and a half hours before we needed to hustle back. Tip—pick up sandwiches at the food hall in Marks and Spencer—you won’t have to pay or eat the wretched fried and expensive food that they sell.
Timothy loved Legoland. And I have to say I loved it enormously. It wasn’t too big and overwhelming like Disney. He spent a full half hour building and racing cars against other boys in the racing center. Then we headed out to a scale model of Europe built entirely of Legos. It was a bit amazing to see Buckingham Palace and the London Eye built out of those interlocking bricks. Although, ever the writer, I kept imagining a full scale model of various tragic times in London’s history—the Black Plague, the Bombing of Britain. When I voiced aloud Hogarth’s gin soaked London with complete with the little Lego people showing telltale signs of syphilis, I noticed some glares. Apparently in Legoland is an STD free place. The Knight’s kingdom with giant sized figures and a castle also impressed and Duploland is sure to please the younger crowd.

DAY ONE -PARIS

We arrived in Paris at midnight—we were lucky to get out of Heathrow as flights were still being cancelled. We took a cab from the airport for 50 Euro-not exactly a bargain, but we pay around that to get to Newark so for convenience and speed take a taxi if arriving late at night. We got to our apartment on Rue De Sevigne in the Marais. It’s a large studio with a fold out sofa bed and a double bed in an alcove area. It has a small kitchen and an air conditioner. It’s tastefully decorated (the pink Murano glass chandeliers are somehow pulled off) and best of all it’s under 200 USD per night. The only downside is the water heater needs to be replaced (which it will be on Saturday) so our showers are five minutes each. I tried to explain to Laurie and Timothy that when I was in Moscow, I stayed at a hotel where the shower resembled a bird bath and could be and the water never ran hot, but alas, they just glared at me. After we dealt with the freezing cold showers, I ran out and bought up breakfast supplies there is a famous bakery Au Levain du Marais 32, Rue de Turenne with a line out front. Afterwards we headed out to the Carnavalet Museum which is devoted to the history of Paris right down the block. It is also free and fantastic. Room 45 has amazing relics from the Revolution like Marie Antoinette’s shoes that are so tiny they look like they can fit an oversized Barbie. The incredible thing is that the story of the revolution is told pictorially through paintings and drawings. Although, the endless death did make Timothy wonder aloud if anyone died of old age in Paris. Be sure to go up to twentieth century literary figures room—there are wonderful paintings of the salon era. American heiress Natalie Barney is painted by her erstwhile companion (she dumped Natalie at nearly ninety for being unfaithful) and best of all there is Marcel Proust’s cork-lined room (he had allergies as I explained to Timothy..) As you come out of that room you’ll hit a salon/concert hall that looks like Dante designed the Sistine Chapel. It’s very groovy and be sure to take a gander at the WWI paintings as they’re large scale and you’ll get a sense of the enormity of the war.

After the Carnavalet Museum we headed through the Marais and did a little shopping. Laurie bought two cashmere sweaters for under $100. (Everything is on sale here.) I saw a fellow American family go into a bodega—and buy fruit which they washed off with a bottle of water—truly a fantastic and cheap idea. We then saw a sign for the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetary as it was on our list of must dos so we decided to go. En route, for lunch we bought two crepes off the street and a bottle of water—all for under $7. As time was getting on, I bought a map of the cemetery for 2 Euro from a young English student type in front of the gates. I picked out four people I wanted to visit-Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and Edith Piaf. The map was very well laid out and well worth its purchase price. Pere Lachaise is akin to the famous cemetery in Moscow where all the literary and political lights are buried, but because it is built on a hill, you almost get a feeling like you are ascending through the ages. Family tombs are interspersed with moving inscriptions of those who died for France in WWII. The actress Sarah Bernhardt had a white-still fresh long stemmed carnation along with a couple of notes written on note pad paper. Oscar Wilde’s tombstone was well, a mess. Grafitti written in crayon, pencil and even lipstick adorned his grave. It looked like a float in a Gay Pride Parade that had been used one too many times. Stein’s grave had a couple of small, but one assumes tasteful notes left behind. We headed towards Edith Piaf’s and a guard started yelling at us, the cemetery was closed. I grabbed a like minded spirit and asked him to point me in the direction of Piaf which he did. And her grave did not disappoint. Complete with plastic encased photos and the fresh flowers made me think that perhaps her birthday had been recently. We headed out and noticed a bus that took us straight back to Bastille for 3 Euro for the two of us (Timothy was free). Buses in Paris have actual stops like the metro and they are announced so you know where you are going. We headed into Petit Boy on the way back and Timothy made a friend (the manager’s son) and we have promised to go back today to see him. After a lie down, we headed to a restaurant that my friend Larry Ash recommended in the 15th. Now it was albeit a bit of schlep to get to, but Restaurant Aux Artistes at 63 Rue Falguiere (say it fal guerre) is incredible. There is a prix fix which includes appetizer, entrée and desert for 13 Euros. We threw on a bottle of wine for 10 Euros and since the tip included we got out of there for under $60—Timothy’s two plates of pasta cost an additional 10 Euros and we also got some escargots as well. The food was amazing. Tip-go by 8:30 or you will have to wait—there was a line heading out the door.

Today we are heading out to the Luxembourg Gardens. More tomorrow. And please post your restaurant ideas/trip ideas for Paris and we’ll go. Signed your correspondent,
Cheap S. Kate

HOW TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE WHEN THE EURO IS AGAINST YOU

2007-07-02T17:49:00.001-04:00

I started researching Europe when I always do- in June and somehow or another I manage to get free tickets using points from American Express. I don't buy tickets to jump the pond in the summer because they usually average out a $1,000 a piece and quite frankly, I want my trip including lodging to average out to that. So this year I noticed that Virgin Atlantic was having a mileage sale. What's that? Well, it takes less miles to get a free ticket. How much less? Okay, I got 3 tickets to London for 67,500 miles. That's a little more than one economy super saver ticket would cost. How did I do this? I went to virginatlantic.com and I set up a mileage account. Then I called their reservation number and they placed on hold three round trip tickets for 48 hours. Then I transferred 68,000 points from American Express into my new mileage account. Virgin issued the tickets. What's the downside? Since you're flying into London, you have to pay that exorbitant new tax now--so instead of $33 a person it would have cost to fly into Paris and Rome, it cost me $225 per person, but still if you think about that's still dirt cheap. Now if you don't have enough points on Amex you can transfer 12,500 points and use their cash and points system to 'buy a ticket.' This is my first time dealing with Virgin-I had to change one ticket's return twice and it only cost me $50 each time. Also, the customer service at Virgin is delightful.
Once there we are staying at overnight at Heathrow for free. I joined Starwood Preferred Guest Program and they have a wonderful award program called 'Cash and Points.' I got the Sheraton Heathrow for $25 and 12,000 points (which I transferred from Amex as well.)

The next day, we are taking our son to Legoland in Windsor. I got tickets on lastminute.com for 66 pounds-a third cheaper than buying at the gate. After that we're taking a late night flight to Paris. Why aren't we staying in London? The hotels were costing out to $500 a night for the ones we always stayed at and the cheapest no frills ones at $275. Since we have visited this city a ton of times, we thought we'd go to Paris instead. However, Paris posed a problem, since I waited until the last minute to book a hotel, all the triple rooms with air conditioners were sold out. I was resigning myself to staying at the Le Meridien Etoile--I am sorry not a fan of the Le Meridien group in Europe. They get you with cheap rates and then literally force you to upgrade for 50 Euro a night so you won't have to spend your time in a room that hasn't been cleaned or renovated. Then someone told me about vrbo.com. It's a by owner rental and it works kind of like ebay. People stay and they post their opinions about the apartment. One woman named Isabelle runs just about all the apartments listed in Paris. Her web address is www.apartment-in-france.com. I got a large studio in the Marais for 11 nights for around $200 per night. This means I have a kitchen which will save me money on breakfast and I because it has a double bed and a sofa, it has enough room for our son. I am paying for the apartment using travelers checks-so there will be no room tax. Internet is 25 euro extra week and cellphone rent is the same. I could not find anything near this price with air conditioning in the Marais or the Left Bank. So with the roundtrip plane tickets to Paris the trip is costing out to $1,200 per person not bad eh? My dear new friend Barbara with whom I recently traveled to Russia lives part time in Paris--she has informed me that it is solde, solde, solde season--which means the summer sales are there. So I will tell you about what I find in the grand magasins et aussi I am going to the flea market as well.

My mother who at first seemed a bit startled by this blog--I think she thought I was airing the family dirty laundry--"Your father is on the one who is cheap, not me," has been calling me every day with hints. She heard about this special package to Paris and I promised to share it--
This is for the fall!!
Here is the info the cheap Kathleen (Yes, she calls me Kathleen)
Paris deal: 6 days in Paris this Fall starting at 790 per person double occupancy with a deal from Go-Today.com the package includes round trip airfare and 6 nights lodging at the Comfort Gare de L'Est Hotel or similar hotel in Paris. Priced separately, air and hotel would cost about 1,184. The cheapest rate for travel is Nov. 1-16. Purchase by July 19th; 800-227-3235, www.go-travel.com.

I will be posting every couple of days with my adventures and will upload photos as well. Please, however be patient as Isabelle said the internet might take awhile to set up, but I am hugely excited to have everyone follow along on my adventures. Signed Cheap S. Kate

CHEAP DIAPERS AND WHY NOT TO DO PULL UPS

2007-06-29T12:16:00.000-04:00

My rule of thumb on toilet training is to do it before 3, but not before 2. Girls usually can be trained a couple months after 2, boys can be trained at 2 ½. There’s no scientific proof to this, it’s just from watching my family and friends go through this process. Diapers cost around 30-35 dollars a month. So I have to tell you it was a happy moment when we decided to toilet train Timothy. We didn’t buy a book, or put a doll on a potty or buy a video. We bought a plain potty. We asked him if he wanted to wear big boy underwear. They weren’t pull-ups, they were 100% cotton underwear with some giant cartoon character on the front. When he said yes. We explained that he’d have to go in the potty, not in his pants. For the first couple of days, we asked him about fifty times a day if he had to go to the bathroom. Every time he did, we’d make a fuss. We never gave him treats or bribes. We clapped our hands and jumped up and down and praised him lavishly. At night we put down a long cotton rubber mat that we got from Martha Stewart baby collection at Kmart. (He never needed it, but it’s less expensive than a new mattress.) We made sure he did not have anything to eat or drink an hour before bedtime. In one week with a couple of accidents here and there he was completely trained. My rule of thumb is not to use pull-ups. They are an invention of the diaper industry to keep you coming back for more. I have known children as old 9 still in pull-ups at night and while for some that might be medically necessary in terms of chronic bed wetting, it makes me wonder if the diaper industry is playing us for the saps that we are. Odds are if you start training with pull-ups, it is more than likely you’ll be using them at least until the age of four. A bag of name brand pull ups costs $13.00 for 21 diapers. That means you’ll buy a bag and half every month averaging out to 20 bucks a month. And the diaper companies have you exactly where they want you why else would pull-ups go up to size 45 plus pounds? Think about it.

Where to get Cheap Diapers

1800 Diapers
Orders arrive in 1-4 days. For orders over $50 it's free and for orders under it's $4.99. They also carry wipes and formula so you might want to combine these orders this way.

The brands they carry Huggies, Luvs, Pampers, Seventh Generation and Tushies

A box of Huggies Baby Shaped Diapers Jr. Value pack
Size 4 costs 30.99. 120 are in the box and this averages out .26 cents per item.

Amazon.com
Huggies Baby-Shaped Fit Diapers,
Size 4 (22-37 Lbs), Disney, Pack of 126 Diapers costs 32.69 and it's free with super saver shipping so it comes out cheaper than 1-800 diapers. And if you do something called-subscribe and save--which means you'll be getting the product and specified intervals (i.e. -once or twice month) you'll save even more. With this particular order you'll get the diapers for $26.15 plus free shipping which means you'll be saving almost $10 over 1-800 diapers.

Cloth Diapers (the cheapest alternative)
The best website I found for cloth diapers is cottonbabies.com

Bum Genius are the cloth diapers I like the best. They have stretch to fit tabs so you can use the diapers from size 1-4 and you can use these without a diaper cover. A twelve pack costs $203.40 and there's free shipping with orders over $78.

The downside with these diapers is that you have to wash them. But for a more informed choice go to their Bum Genius Faq Page.

Cotton Babies suggests that you order 24 diapers which would be $407 which if you do use them until age 3, it comes out to a $136 per year.

With disposable diapers you're averaging about 5 a day which is around $475 a year. Using cloth diapers comes out to a full third cheaper. Let me know what you think-
Signed,

Cheap S. Kate

TRANSPORTING THE BABY WITH CRAIGSLIST, FREECYCLE AND THE BABYCENTER STORE

2007-06-28T08:37:00.000-04:00

Welcome to day four of Bringing up Baby Frugstyle! Today we're shopping for strollers, baby slings and car seats. I always liked the Maclaren strollers, they wear like iron, they're light and most importantly you can schlep them on the subway.

Below are three possible ways to procure these handy transportation devices for baby. (You think for a writer I'd come up with something more clever than 'transportation devices' to call them --Okay, here's my second attempt--how about--"what you use to put the little cherub in when you turn off Noggin and need to go to corner French deli to get your Cherry Diet Vanilla Coke fix". That better?

Now I know not everyone likes to buy used so I priced out the same items below for brand new.

CRAIGSLIST POSTINGS (From today)

Maclaren Quest Stroller - $55 (Williamsburg) pic

baby bjorn baby carrier - $30

Graco car seat - $40 (Park slope)

Total cost is $125

FREECYCLE.COM (Today's postings from the Brooklyn section)

free Maclaren stroller
We have a red Macclaren Quest, 1 1/2 years old and needs new wheels and one new bolt, otherwise in good shape. For pickup in Prospect Heights

Baby Bjorn carrier

circa 1998, this is a classic black Baby Bjorn carrier. It's been used, but it's clean and it works. We live on 19th St and 6th ave in the South Slope

OFFER - Graco infant car seat
I have 1 Graco infant car seat with a Pooh design. It's in great condition. Pick up in the evenings or on the weekend in Brooklyn. Possible drop off depending on where you live. E- mail if you're interested

For those who want new, but frugally new

www. store.babycenter.com

(Why did I pick them? Well--it's free shipping when you spend over $49 and 15% off when you spend over $100)

SnugRide Infant Car Seat - Margo

by Graco

$71.99
10% off

Baby Bjorn Carrier

by Baby Bjorn

$79.95

Cosmo EX Stroller - Closeout

by Combi

$69.99 (It's 30% off!)

Total Cost $192 (Less the 15%! Not too bad. only a $67 differential
from the Craigslist posts.)

Check in tomorrow--it's diaper day! Woohoo!! And check on the frugstyle board as I have a great movie deal I found out about in Cobble Hill.

OUTFITTING THE NURSERY THREE WAYS-FROM IKEA , CRAIGSLIST AND FREECYCLE

2007-06-27T10:23:00.001-04:00

When we put Timothy's nursery together, we had his room designed by an architect, hired the incredibly high maintenance painter put up Tin Tin wall paper from a specialty store in San Francisco and every piece of furniture was so hand picked one would have thought we knew the tree where it came from. But if I had to do it now- I'd do it one of three ways--

First IKEA
(For those New Yorkers who do not drive- IKEA offers free shuttle buses on the weekends from the Port Authority Terminal -Gate 5. Departures are on the half hour. Check the website for more info. You can have all the stuff delivered for a set fee. And since Elizabeth is in a New Jersey empowerment zone--the sales tax is only 3.5%)

Crib SNIGLAR $79
Changing Table sniglar 34.99
Changing Pad - $8.99
Baby Bath - $6.99
Antilop High Chair - 18.99
Korrall Haj crib quilt cover - $7.99

Total including sales tax $164

Craig's List (Postings from today)
sale-356223639@craigslist.org
Barely used crib and mattress $100

sale-357203276@craigslist.org
Rail Rider Space-saving changing table, attaches across crib rails. Washable vinyl pad with safety strap, hangs from crib when not in use.
Bought this 2 months ago, hardly used, looks new, great for small spaces. $25

sale-359766365@craigslist.org
Graco High Chair and bumper chair $35

sale-359908830@craigslist.org
2 Position baby bath for ages 0-24 months. $10

sale-359978680@craigslist.org
Baby boy crib quilt, bumper, sheet set for sale $20

Total $190

On urbanbaby.com a poster advised me that because of the prevalence of bedbugs in NYC-that one should avoid buying used mattress unless they are from someone you know.

Brooklyn Freecycle (Thank you to my urbanbaby friend who told me about Brooklyn freecycle!)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrooklynFreeCycle/message/18185
moving this weekend - good condition graco highchair (just needs a

good scrub), baby einstein exersaucer (ditto) and wooden co-sleeper
available
OFFER: Oak Crib w/Mattress in 11201 - excellent condition looking for 3rd home!
his solid oak Childcraft crib circa 1989 is in excellent condition, as is its waterproof mattress ... of those "overbuilt" Pottery Barn-type cribs, but is a basic, simple crib with multiple height settings ideally suited for small Brooklyn apartment

Oak Baby Changing Table/Dresser
Solid Oak, medium stain. 4 drawer dresser with flip top changing table. Good condition. Size is 16.5 in D x 35 in L x 42.5 in H. Heavy item will require transport. It's a nice piece of furniture. Simple design. Park Slope

OFFER: baby infant tub
I have a used, in good condition baby infant tub. It is the "Tub to Seat Complete Bathtub by First Years." You can see a pic of it on buybuybaby.com. Available for pick up in Park Slope (12th St.)

Offer: Assorted Crib sheets - Bay Ridge
I have a bag of assorted sheets that can be used on a crib mattress or even for a toddler bed that uses a crib mattress. Patterns are mostly for a girl. Located in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. When can you come? Quick pick up preferred.

Total Cost-$0

Let me know the frugal ways you set up your baby's nursery! Thanks!

MAKE YOUR OWN BABY FOOD

2007-06-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

Making your own baby food may seem like a daunting preposition. It conjures up the earth mother in some quiet farmhouse in Vermont. I learned how to make baby food from my friend Leslie who is a Hollywood film producer. When she was on a press junket in New York, she brought six-month old Sophie with her. Before Leslie left Sophie in my care, she taught me how to make baby food. I was amazed. When I asked her, “Why can’t we just buy the organic stuff they sell at the grocery store?” She replied, “It’s expensive and some of the food, even the organic food, has extra salt, sugar and preservatives.” And she was right. Sweet potato organic baby food costs .73 cents for 2.5 oz jar while a sweet potatoes cost .49 cents for one pound.

Vegetables 6 months on

· Place sweet potatoes, peas, green beans or carrots in a bowl with a small amount of water. Cook until you’re able to smash them with a fork. Then puree them in a blender or a small food processor.

Fruit 6 months on

· Smash up a ripe banana. (It doesn’t get any simpler than that.)

· Apples, peaches, pears and apricots peel the skin. Steam in a pot with lid for 4-6 minutes. Remove the pit/core when they are cooled down. Then puree.

Freeze both vegetables and fruit in ice cube trays. Then take out the ice cubes and store in plastic snack bags in the freezer. The night before take out whatever snack bags you need for the next day and defrost in the refrigerator. After introducing any new food, wait four days so you can see if there are any food allergies. Shredded chicken and turkey can be added to a purred vegetable. Make sure the pieces are small. Because of choking risk, do not under any circumstances serve food raw with the exception of banana where it can be simply smashed.

An excellent internet source for making your own baby food is -http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com.

BRINGING UP BABY THE FRUGSTYLE WAY

2007-06-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

On Urbanbaby.com, a NYC based mom board, there are the stroller wars. Moms yell online at other moms defending their stroller choices. With a seven year old, I find the stroller wars behind me, but I have to laugh about how irate women will get about strollers. My son's godmother bought him a MacLaren stroller when he was an infant that we handed down to his nanny when she had her own baby who then then handed it down to one of her relatives. It wasn't a cheap stroller, but it was nowhere near the $900 plus strollers that are being wheeled about town today. I don't mean this snarky (an Urbanbaby term), but is the $900 dollar orange stroller from the Australia really necessary? In Manhattan they seem useless, however, some Gotham moms I know swear by them. Yet, the majority of them are so big that they rival the size of the miniature cars one finds zipping about in Rome. And they're not exactly light to push (wheel barrel full of bricks comes to mind with the double). With that said I sat down a friend of mine who owns one and I asked her three questions.

Can they go on the subway?

Can two of them cross the sidewalk at the same time?

Can you take them into the local bodega for your afternoon diet Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke fix?

She grudgingly answered no to all three questions, and then said in her most snarky tone, 'I don't do caffeine.' Well, she got me there, I need my bottle of Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke every afternoon around threeish or I start waving a wire hangar screaming, 'It's not you Helga, it's the dirt!'

Here's something to think about--instead of buying the stroller that everyone else has and no one can use, how about starting a 529 college fund instead? One of the great things about the 529 plan is you can pre-pay tuition at any of their member colleges. (I've decided Timothy's going to Vassar. He's still on the fence, he's wisely told me "Mama, let's see what happens in second grade.")
How does pre-pay tuition work? Well,if you purchase a year of tuition today, you get a year of tuition your child can later use at the college. Essentially, you lock in today's tuition rate no matter how high tuition rises. If you open an account by June 30th you'll get last year's (2006-2007) tuition prices. Here's the link below-
http://www.independent529plan.org
Once you start saving it will be one less dollar that your dc(urbanbaby for darling child) will have to take out in loans.
So welcome to a week of Bringing up Baby the Frugstyle Way. Every day, I'll give you some simple ideas about bringing up baby the frugstyle way. Tomorrow I'll have some easy recipes on how to make your own baby food. And I'd love for people to contribute their ideas. I really want to make this an interesting community for everyone.

MAKE YOUR OWN CLEANING PRODUCTS

2007-06-22T13:05:00.001-04:00

I had a cleaning lady for ten years. I’ll call her Magda. She had come from Poland in the early 1980’s, and she had neglected to get a green card. I liked Magda. She liked my son. Although her habit of throwing him up in the air and then catching him while flipping him backwards shouting, “You are strong baby, yes,” made me a bit nervous. It would sometimes occur to me when I would find her slowly turning the pages of The Romanov Family Album weeping, that perhaps, just perhaps she was supposed to be cleaning my house. When she did get around to it, she had two products she swore by –an exceedingly noxious tile cleaner, and a floor product that managed to strip wood. One day I’d had enough. Magda had broken too many things, destroyed too many surfaces. I was sad to say goodbye after ten years, but in the end I had to admit that the $90 a week that I paid her could be used to start a retirement account for myself instead of supporting her elderly mother in Poland. And what of those noxious products Magda swore by? I got rid of them and I learned how to my make own for pennies instead of dollars. My simple solutions are listed below--but please post your hints as I want this board to be a community for living la vida frugal with style.

SHOPPING LIST

4 large spray bottles
A 12 lb bag of baking soda (or smaller-it's cheap at the local price club)
1.32 gallon jug of white vinegar (or smaller )
A small bottle of Dawn dishwashing detergent . (Dawn is an excellent grease cutter.)
20 Microfiber towels (available for purchase at a warehouse club for under $11.)
A bottle of mineral oil.
A bottle of hydrogen peroxide
1 indelible marker to label each spray bottle (Also write the ingredients for each cleaning solution directly on the bottle. It makes it easier to refill.)
Feather duster
Measuring cups, spoons and one funnel. (All can be bought at a dollar store.)

Window cleaner (spray bottle#1) 1/2 teaspoon of dawn 3 tablespoons of vinegar 2 cups of water

All purpose cleaner (Spray bottle #2) 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda Squirt of dawn 2 cups hot water This works fantastic. (Do not use any vinegar-based solutions on marble. It will stain it. The solution below works wonderfully on my marble countertops.)

Marble Cleaner (spray bottle #3) 2 cups of water 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide

Furniture polish (spray bottle #4) 1/2 teaspoon of mineral oil 1/4 cup of vinegar Add a squeeze of lemon or orange

Bath tub This makes a creamy scrub and is far less noxious than what is on the market. 1/2 cup of baking soda and big squirt of Dawn liquid detergent Add some water sponge scrub in tub, rinse and wipe down

Toilet bowl cleaner 1/4 cup baking soda 1 cup vinegar Put in bowl in order listed above. Let foam for three minutes and then scrub with a toilet brush and then flush.

Microwave Cut one lemon in half. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take lemon out. (Careful, it will be scorching.) Wipe down. This is great for splatter stains and getting that popcorn smell out.

Cheap sneakers and sugarless cereals

2007-06-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

When I look back on my childhood, I remember two things: cheap sneakers and sugarless cereal. I hated both. I mostly hated the fact that my parents were such cheapskates. When my 7-year old sister wanted a hairdryer for her birthday so she could replicate Farrah Fawcett’s winged locks, their first response was, “I don’t know if we can swing it.”

Deiredre finally got the hair dryer, but not before Consumer Reports was consulted and we had comparison-shopped every store within 50 miles. Finally, when the momentous day came, we pried the human coupon also known as Gramie, our foul mouthed matriarch away from a Yankee game and used her senior discount at our local department store.

My parents were both products of broken homes scarred by alcoholism. My father was the only son of Irish immigrants. His parents were incredibly poor and he was orphaned at an early age. My mother was a survivor of childhood polio and was brought up by a single working mother. When I asked them how they were able to raise successful children, keep a marriage together and have a comfortable life in light of their incredibly difficult upbringings, each of them said that their childhoods had taught them perseverance and that the single greatest gift their parents had given them was being thrifty. Thinking back, the one thing my parents never argued about was money. We didn’t have much, but we had enough.

When I grew up I took lessons my parents taught me and applied them to my own life as a not quite starving young playwright in New York City. After graduate school, I got a job as a personal assistant and lived quite well on less than $2,000 a month. With the help of fellowships, I literally traveled the world. Granted my work clothes came from the Salvation Army and some of my furniture from the street. For my monthly dinner parties, I’d run to Chinatown and buy the freshest fish and produce I could find with usually with no more than twenty dollars in hand. I saw as many plays I wanted by begging friends for free tickets for off-Broadway or buying standing room only for Broadway. I frequented the famous Strand bookshop in the West Village for half-priced books when I could not find them in the library. And when my television was stolen from my illegal sublet the year after graduate school, I didn’t replace it. Friends would often marvel at how well I lived on so little. But, learning how to be frugal is not rocket science; the more you tighten your belt, the more money you’ll save. It’s that simple. What you do with the money you save however, is not. But it can have a profound impact on your life and your future well being. So take a last sip of that four dollar cup of coffee and forget about keeping up with the Joneses, it’s time to take control of your life, happiness, and most of all your finances.