Sometime you just get an email that you think the world should see, This is one of those. We will start any of those with An Email at the beginning.  This one was sent mass mail a couple of times so I really have no idea who started it but if you do thank them for me it was a great reminder, especially in these hard times.

Here is the story:

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours
 in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.
 
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in
 front of him.
 
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
 
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
 
They agreed that it was.
 
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
 jar He shook the jar lightly.
 
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
 He then asked the students again if the jar was full..
 They agreed it was..
 The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
 
 Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

 The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’
 
The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem,
 there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.
 
We encourage you to share this with everyone and anyone that learning to not let the little stuff make less room for the truly important in your lives.  Dancing while it’s raining is the best advice you can give someone when nothing else can be done. 

I once sat in my van with my children signing Kids Bop songs watching  my house burn…guess what my children have no fear of fire and we all cameback stronger from the experience in the end.  We couldn’t help as the firemen were doing what they could and we couldn’t just walk away.  So we had a choice scream cry and lement or sing my childrens favorite songs and make it a postive example of how firemen and police come to help when called. 

I made this for dinner last night. I have seen many diffrent varaitions on this dish and I decided to make it my own. For medical reasons, I can’t make it to spicy not to mention the kids wouldn’t like it, but add the spice to suit your family. This also makes enough for 8 good size servings. So my family of four is eating it for left overs. Next time, I think I will make it in 8 by 8 dish and freeze the other 1/2.

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Good old Baltimore has a few places that believe that cheap is good and free is even better.  The city has free events and city wide cheap events every couple months but this post is more about the deals and steals you can find year round.

First off if you love to read and would rather own your own books or are afraid of late fees of the library then the Book Thing is just right for you. It’s a ongoing book swap that all they ask is that you don’t sell the books, all are stamped with “Not for Resale”. It’s only open weekends but you can take as many books as you can carry, the daily limit is 150,000. Boxes and bags of books are routinely seen leaving and arriving at the premises.  The lovely part is for those who just can’t throw away a book you can drop it here to find a new home.  There are magazines, non-fiction, fiction, and even some old books for those who love them.  I’ve found one poetry book dating to 1899.  So gems galore can be found if your a book lover or just want something to read before nodding off.

Ever wanted to go shopping without any money?  Well at the Baltimore Freestore that’s possible.  It was started out in the basement of a Towson row home for a place to get free school supplies and has blossomed over the years to offer just about anything. Though the name Freestore makes you think of a store it’s actually more like flea markets held throughout the city that you can show up a browse and take what you need.  The next event for them is Saturday February 21st from 12pm-3pm at the MICA Campus.

First Fridays in Hampden! is another year round event that occurs on the first Friday of every month in the Hampden section of the city. The name of the events are misleading because they have expanded into more then just the first Friday all the events are free and put on by the Hampden Village Merchants Association to give back and connect with the community.  That doesn’t mean only community members are welcome it’s open to anyone though some events do require a RSVP you need to check there website for which ones.

The Baltimore Musuem of Art is another great place to visit and best of all it’s free everyday so no worrying if this is the right day to visit.  You may have to pay for parking but they have meter parking right on the premises and if you spend more then a few  dollars I would be surprised.  They used to host just the first Friday of the month but a generous donor has opened the doors for everyone.

Since I found such a great place for free events in New York City I thought I would make a series on different places throughout the United States.  If you have a place outside the US or even in that you are interested in seeing you can either leave a comment or email me and I’ll investigate to see what I can find for you.

I was over at my Grandmother, I remember her saying  “We need to not waste so much and reuse items.”  A prime example would be aluminum foil, plastic bags, etc… you can use these items more then once if you wash and let them dry. I personally don’t have time to take the trouble to do this, so I use reusable containers with lids. Then I wash them in the dishwasher. She also pointed out how she never waste food. Since, my family is not big on leftovers, I am always trying to renew the leftovers into new dishes. With the economy the way it is I think its time we need to take into consideration what people did during the depression. Use dishtowels instead of papertowels, cloth napkins instead of paper, and reusable containers instead of plastic bags. Don’t forget to save your cans and take them to be recycled. So you are again recycling and making a little money (if you go to a place that gives you $ still). This is also very helpful to the enviroment. Go Green!

Yes that’s right we have found a site that is dedicated to letting the world, okay really New Yorkers, know about cheap and free events in the Big Apple.  Well for us here at Cheapskate Moms we believe every cheapskate should know about them.  FreeNYC was found while browsing the internet this morning and we were so excited about it that we had to let our readers know about it.

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