Entertainment

The penny savers

We challenged four families to have a ball over the weekend on half of what they typically spend. Yes, they had to leave their apartments. Impossible, you say? Read on.

$75 budget The Zimet-Sirots, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

Photographs: Caroline Voagen Nelson; Jeff Gurwin

Saturday

8:05am On the way home from the gym, I run into the tamale lady pulling her cooler down Court Street. Two chicken tamales: $3. I eat one for breakfast. The kids and husband have Trader Joe’s waffles ($3).

9:30am Jump on the F train and head into Manhattan ($4 for two adults). We arrive at MoMA (11 W 53rd St, 212-708-9400) hoping to join the free family tour. We’re late for the 10am handout, but staffers take pity and form a new group. The workshop is great, and we score a free family pass for future use. This budget thing is a breeze.

12:35pm Budget thing not going so well. Despite my brilliant idea of lunching at Danku (47 W 57th St, 212-888-3777), a Dutch/Indonesian fast-food temple to colonialism and a rare midtown bargain, we’ve spent way more than I meant to. I lured the kids here with a promise of mac-and-cheese doughnuts, since kroket is not in their vocabulary. Upon ordering, we learned that they are out of that variety. After some negotiation, we rack up a bill of $23.74. Sigh.

1:45pm Ride downtown ($4) and arrive at the National Museum of the American Indian (1 Bowling Green, 212-514-3700), a boon to free museum–starved New Yorkers. Even better: We stumble upon an animation festival, where we can sit happily in the dark and spend no money.

3:30pm Subway home ($4). As it turns out, you need to pay for anyone over 44 inches tall, regardless of age. Ben is about 49 inches and Alex, 47 inches. Oops. Next time.

4:10pm Back in Cobble Hill, we rent Flushed Away ($4). Well worth it, as is my iced coffee ($2). Some things are nonnegotiable.

6:20pm Mac and cheese and broccoli at home ($3.50). Recession concession I resist the kids’ request for a side of steak.

Day 1 amount spent: $51.24

Sunday

11:30am Breakfast at home ($4). Stroll to the Brooklyn Flea (currently at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, 357 Clermont Ave, Fort Greene), and nosh on lots of tasty artisanal free samples: cheese, cookies, crackers and pickles. I buy two pupusas; the kids choose yogurt, a currant scone and a mini red-velvet cupcake. Husband, still woozy from family-wide flu episode of previous week, doesn’t eat. Total for lunch: $14. Recession concession We skip our usual trip to Jacques Torres. Savor Fine and Raw chocolate samples at the Flea instead.

1pm Walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park. By this time Ben is hacking like a coal miner, so we head home quickly.

2pm We all feel crappy, except our subway pole–kissing standard-bearer of germs, Alex. The rest of us don’t have much of an appetite. That’s good, because we only have $5.76 left.

6:30pm Pasta for dinner: $5.76 or thereabouts. So we pretty much pulled it off. Plus, by some counts, we earned $40 with our future free pass to MoMA, putting us way ahead of the game.

Day 2 amount spent: $23.76

Weekend breakdown
• Travel: $12
• Food: $59
• Entertainment: $4
• Total: $75

—Amy Sirot

See more...

• Features
• Articles from this issue