The Frugal Bostonian

Actually, because September 1st falls on a Monday (a holiday Monday!) it’s Moving Weekend in Boston. 

Every year, thousands of dollars of perfectly good stuff is tossed on the sidewalks.  It’s unfortunate that more isn’t done to recycle these items.  If you are moving, you can donate gently used books to the Boston Public Library (bring them to the circulation desk).  There’s a huge Goodwill that accepts donations on Harrison Avenue (near the Boston Medical Center), bring your clothing, furniture and household items there (there are more Salvation Army and Goodwill sites in the City and nearby, do a google search).  You can get a tax deduction for these donations.

If you don’t have a way to move the stuff, hold an apartment sale (post your address on craigslist along with descriptions of the items you have, someone who has already arrived in their new place may want your stuff).  At a minimum, post on freecycle or craigslist that you’ve put a specific item on the curb so there’s a better chance someone will rescue it from the landfill. 

I consider myself among the lucky - I’m not moving.  Nevertheless, I participate in Moving Day.  I occassionally grab items off the curb for my own use (last year I got three 13″ televisions off the sidewalk, a nice addition at the office).  Here’s a few guidelines:  don’t pick up mattresses or upholstered items (bedbugs have been, and continue to be, a problem in Boston.  Bedbugs can live for a year without a human host).  Check wooden items carefully - bedbugs can live in those items too.   Make sure anything you pick up is not broken, alot of times furniture is being tossed because it has a broken or missing piece.

Yesterday I picked up a nice swivel office chair, looks brand new, and a bulletin board.  This morning I passed a round bar height table with two stools.  I’ve seen this for $300+ new).  I hope someone picks it up before the trash trucks arrive.

I’m going to see the upcoming production of How Shakespeare Won the West at the Huntington Theater for free, and you can too.   I’m volunteering as an usher.  I did this fairly regularly a few years ago.  The volunteer signup is now online, so the process is even easier.

Ushering is a really easy way to see a performance for free.   You arrive about an hour before curtain time and are usually assigned to stuff programs.  When the doors open, you’ll be stationed at an entrance and will hand out programs and direct patrons to their seats.  Many people are subscribers who know where they sit.  When the lights go out, you sit in any vacant seat and watch the play.  When the show is over, you should help pick up programs tossed on the floor.   You commit to one show only, so you only go for one night (but if you want to see the play again, volunteer for another night).

Go to the Huntington Theater website and click on “get involved.”  This brings you to the Volunteer page.  Click on the venue where you want to volunteer (different performances are on different stages.  Pick the date you want to volunteer, then fill out the form.  They will send you a confirmatory email.  http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/involved/volunteer.aspx

Wear black pants and a white shirt. 

Wear fairly comfortable shoes - you’ll be standing for up to an hour before the show.

Decide where you want to sit, then volunteer in that section.  I like the mezzanine, so I try to get stationed at the doors up there.  I scope out the empty seats and plop down right as the show begins. 

Sign up early, as only a limited number of people can usher at each performance.

The seat I hope to occupy would cost $67.50 if I were to buy the ticket.  I will spend no more than two hours performing the ushering duties, so I am thinking of this as an exchange of two hours of my time for $67.50.  The Huntington Theater is located at 264 Huntington Avenue (across the street from Symphony Hall).  Take the Green Line to Symphony, or the Orange Line to the Mass. Ave. Station.

Neil Diamond is playing at Fenway Park this Saturday, August 23rd.  Tix are expensive, and I am not so big a fan that I am willing to shell out that kind of money. 

However, I plan to hear the concert for free.   The Fenway concerts have been happening for a few years now.  Every year, lots of people are set up on the nearby grass on lawn chairs and blankets, listening to the music for free.  I plan to be there, along with my folding chair, a bag of potato chips, and a bottle of diet coke.  

If you plan to go:

Bring something to sit on.

Bring bug spray.

Bring something to eat.  There’s a Rite Aid pharmacy on Boylston near the ballpark that has a great selection of junk food snacks.  McDonald’s and Burger King are also on Boylston Street.

Leave the alcohol at home - the police will be out in force, and they will arrest people who are drinking in public (I have personally witnessed some folks being carted away for drinking). 

Take the T to Kenmore, Hynes, Symphony, or Fenway and walk over.  Parking will be exhorbitant, so I would not try to drive.

The grass near the corner of Park Drive and Boylston is a good place to sit, as is the edge of the Victory Gardens.

I try to go to Haymarket every week, or at least every other week.  The prices on produce cannot be beat.  On Saturdays, I try to arrive before noon.  Most of the vendors set up shack like structures with awnings to keep back the sun and the rain.

I find metered parking on New Chardon Street (which is a few blocks away) and walk over.  I try to remember to bring a reuseable shoppping bag, as it makes things easier (some people drag carts around, which impedes foot traffic and is awkward).  I usually spend no more than $10, and generally get just about as much as I can carry.  Last week I got 4 pounds of potatoes for $1.00, two boxes of blueberries for $1.00, a box of raspberries for $.75, two pounds of onions for $1.00, celery for $1.00, a large bunch of dill for $1.50, two pounds of bananas for $1.00, and a bag of fresh spinach for $1.50.  I also grabbed two blocks of cheese (sharp cheddar, the proprietor will give samples) for $5.00.  Well worth the trip.  Here’s a few thoughts before you go:

Quality and price vary.  If you’ve got time, walk through the entire market (it’s not that big) to get a sense of prices and quality before you actually buy anything.

Go early.  After noon, the produce starts to wilt in the sun, and it can be picked over.

Choose your vendors.  Many vendors will let you pick your own stuff, others will scream if you touch anything.  Steer clear of the screamers.  If a vendor picks for you from the back, check the produce before you leave, and politely ask them to exchange anything that is obviously damaged.

Don’t block foot traffic.  The market can become very crowded.  Some folks stand in the middle of the walkway to gawk, drawing curses from merchants and glares from people trying to get through the crowd.  Go over to the side to take it all in, or get there early enough in the day that its not too crowded.

Use the produce promptly.  Much of the produce is ready to eat and will not last a long time.  If you are having a party Saturday night and need to make salsa, get the ingredients Saturday morning.  Making a vegetable quiche - do it over the weekend. 

The Haymarket operates year-round on Fridays and Saturdays from sunup to sundown (I have never been there that early, and would not go in late and expect to find much, but that’s what the internet claims).  It’s located at the Haymarket T station, and one side is adjacent to Faneuil Hall.  There are also shops in the buildings on the side of the market - Middle Eastern store is particularly good for picking up ingredients.  The cheese guy has a folding table next to one of the shops.  Sometimes fish and seafood vendors are set up, but they seem to be on hiatus for the summer.

Tonight’s free flick appears to be “The Goonies.”  (There is some legal reason they don’t publish the title of the film and instead only provide a clue).   See the earlier post below about Hatch Shell movies (I am still trying to figure out how to use the blog, and have not yet mastered inserting hyperlinks).

Someone had a question about bringing alcohol to Hatch Shell events.  My understanding is that the Hatch Shell is under the jurisdiction of the state police, and that Massachusetts has an open container law, so if you crack open a beer or pop a bottle of wine, you could get in trouble.  There are no cooler checks, and no one really pays much attention to what people are drinking. 

If I wanted to bring a drink or two, I would do so discretely.  I’d get one of those huge coffee cups from dunkin donuts for beer, or use a water bottle for white wine.  If I were looking for cocktails, I would premix them in a soda bottle (and bring a nice glass to pour it into).   The flicks are a pleasant event, and the police are not looking to bother anyone, and I could not imagine them wanting to start prying into the contents of every beverage.  However, this is a family event with lots of kids, and conspicuous consumption of alcohol will likely irritate other movie goers and possibly lead some people to conclude that its okay to chug a case of beer during the movie (and create a disturbance), so discrete is the way to go. 

Here’s a photo of the crowd at a friday flick that I found online:

I’ve been collecting caps from coca-cola products for the mycoke rewards promotion.  Each cap is worth three points.  The box flap from a 12 pack is worth ten points.  I went to mycokerewards.com to open an account, which required basic biographical information and a mailing address.  I entered the numerical code from each cap to get points in my account. 

About 4 months ago, I was able to redeem 200 points for a free amc silver movie pass (which meant I could see movies at the loews boston common theater for free ten days after the opening).  About two weeks after I requested the movie pass, it arrived in the mail (shipping is free, but make sure you use a valid mailing address when signing up - that’s where your reward will go).  They have lots of other things for which you can redeem points.  Sometimes they have “bonus” days when you get additional points for entering codes. 

I got a total of 4 movie passes, then the number of points needed to redeem increased from 200 to 325 (but they added a free drink at the theater).  The number of points just increased again - over 400 points needed to get a movie pass.  I will probably use the points I have accumulated for something else. 

I gather caps I see lying in the street, in recycling bins, and from friends.  Since it is a free promotion, the only downside is the time spent entering codes.  I have also gotten a few coupons for free bottles of coke products in the mail as a result of using the mycokerewards program.  And, they are having an instant sweepstakes with sprite products, so if you have any of those caps or box flaps, you could instantly win $100.

On Thursday, August 7th, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is opening its doors for the final “Neighborhood Night” of the summer.  Free admission for all, live music, activities for kids and families, and a dance troupe.   5-8 p.m., 280 The Fenway, www.gardnermuseum.org.

I recently read “Mrs. Jack: A Biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner” by Louise Hall Tharp, and enjoyed the book so much that I want to see the place where Mrs. Gardner lived, and see her famous art collection. [I got the book out of the library, so that was also a freebie.]

My hair desperately needed a trim, so I headed to the Blaine Beauty School on West Street (downtown crossing). It’s like a regular salon, you sign in, and a student will call you when they are ready. A wash, cut and blowdry is $5. I left a tip, so it cost $10. The place is clean, and the people are friendly. Definitely better than Supercuts, although it did take almost two hours from start to finish.

As to my specific experience this time (I have been there before): the cut was okay. The student was extremely tentative. She spent 15 minutes washing my hair, so much so that my neck was really starting to hurt and I had to ask her to stop. Although I wanted an inch of hair cut off, she cut only the very ends. She was so tentative with the blow dry that it took forever. However, the cut is okay.

Word of warning: tell the student what you want done, and if they start doing something different, tell them to stop and get an instructor. Unless you are really willing to try something different, do not assume that you and the student use the same vocabulary to describe something.

Bring something to read, and be prepared for a cut to take way longer than usual. But, consider the savings, this would have cost me $50 at a regular salon. They also do coloring and chemical treatments.  Call the salon for hours. 

30 West St
Boston, MA, 02111
(617) 266-2661

Hair Services Price On Sale Now!
Shampoo, Cut & Blow Dry $14 $5
Shampoo, Style $12
Style
Roller or Wrap Set $12
Press & Style* Starts at $25
Updo Starts at $25
Coloring (Includes Style)
Color Starts at $20
Highlights Starts at $45
7 Foils Starts at $20
Perms/Relaxers (Includes Cut & Style)
Permanent Wave Starts at $27
Relaxer Starts at $27
Treatments
Intensity Conditioning Treatment Starts at $9