Being Cheap…But Doing It In Style

Something Free in Charm City?!

Friday 6 February 2009

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.

Something Free in NYC?!

Tuesday 3 February 2009

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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