...A Cheap Saturday In NYC

This weekend I set out to prove to myself that I did not have to "break the bank" in order to have a good time in New York City!

I began the day by downloading the Hipstamatic camera app on my iPhone ($1.99)

I always wanted to download this app but it seemed like such a guilty pleasure that I wanted a really good reason to buy it. After all, why spend the money on a day of frugality? These two dollars bought me a whole day worth of entertainment and all the pictures for this post!

My boyfriend Alex and I went to the Summer Streets event which is sponsored by NYC DOT, who closes down Park avenue from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge so that everyone and anyone can bike, run, walk, skateboard and roller blade down the famous ave. Sadly, thinking we would be able to get in on the free bike rentals they were offering, an hour wait to ride a bike did not seems so appealing. So we walked from 51st to 14th. Along the way we stopped in St. George's Thrift Shop near Gramercy Park where I bought this $9 pair of Lucite shoes.

Hipstamatic makes me have Frankenstein veins

The next place we stopped was the union square farmers market where we picked up some juicy peaches! ($2.00)

After doing the farmers market circuit, we stopped into Trader Joe's wine shop to pick up some really cheap wine. We got two bottles the low, low, low priced ($2.99) rose and the slightly higher priced ($3.99) Chardonnay.  We mixed the two together because one tasted like syrup and the other tasted like water. Anyway it did the trick!

After we mixed our wines, we got ready to go to Gini's house warming party! Where I really got to play with my new app.

Alex on the train reading the NY Times. He was reading the business section and I read an article about a Greek island called Hydra in the travel section of the Times.  $2.25 train ride later we arrived at Gini's new apartment...

Gini in her new house!

Me trying to be hip for the Hipstamatic.

Later that night I found $20 dollars on the ground at the Woods (a hip Williamsburg bar) that bought me and Alex a drink with $6 left over!

So let's do the math...

Hipstamatic app................................................- $1.99

Summer Streets.................................................- Free

Lucite Shoes.....................................................- $9.00

Union Square Farmers Market Peaches............- $2.00

Two Bottles of Trader Joe's wine.....................- $7.00

Train fare to Gini's new apartment....................- $2.25

Finding $20...................................................... +$20.00

Drinks at The Woods........................................- $14.00

$36.24 - $20.00 = $16.24

Pretty good! A great day and only $16.24 spent! 

x-Stef