The recession blows. I know. I’m definitely feeling the pinch as I go from one temporary job to another. But I have also had a lot of fun going frugal lately. Scaling my spending back in intelligent ways is genuinely fun (for now.) Here’s a few of the cheap things we’re doing with our time:
1) Hiking. Alright, yes, we’ve always been hikers. Or rather, John has always been a hiker and I’ve started to tag along regularly.
photo by John Mealy
It’s fantastic exercise, social, and cheap. If you have comfortable shoes, warm clothes, and you know someone who has a car you only need gas money and a few sandwiches or energy bars for a full-day adventure. You can check out books at the library to find trails or search online. There’s an overwhelming amount of information, you just need to know where to look. Look at your state parks website for good finds. If you’d like a preview of the trail, just search Flikr using the trail or park’s name.
2) Free music. I have thrown away tons of money on albums that sucked. So, before I actually purchase music anymore I spend a lot of time listening to a band. Of all the different sites that stream music for free, Seeqpod is my favorite.
It crawls ye olde interweb for music and streams from it. Where Pandora and Last.fm give you little power to choose what you want to listen to with Seeqpod you can create (and save) playlists, discover music by crawling people’s internet enabled music players (iPhones), and even embed the playlist on your site.
3) Cultural/sciencey events. 
This Saturday in Portland OHSU and OMSI are sponsoring a “Brain Fair“. There will be speakers (neuroscientists!) and REAL brains to look at. And it’s free. When I heard about this last week I canceled our planned anniversary trip to the coast. We were going to stay in a family house on the beach for free and be all romantic. Thankfully, I’m in love with someone who gets just as wide eyed at the possibility of looking at real brains and listening to neuroscientists. (Brains!) These kinds of events happen all the time in every city and by signing up for your local museum and science center newsletters (or whatever you’re into.)
4) Clothing swaps. One of the crappiest parts of having no money is realizing that you’re pants all look shabby and you can’t afford to buy anything new, even from Goodwill.
photo by Orin Optiglot
Most cities have swaps going already and all you have to is find their site to see when and where the next swap will be. You usually have to email to let them know you’re coming (because they fill up) and then you bring whatever clothes you no longer want/need and swap them for the clothes you do need (like pants without holes.)
5) Baking bread. Baking can be a time consuming endeavor, but it’s very cheap. Homemade bread will make you feel like you eat like a king.
photo by me
Since becoming underemployed I have mastered fresh pita bread, challah, and tonight I’m taking on pizza dough. We’re having some friends over and while we would normally go out to eat, our wallets can’t handle the beating right now. We’re staying in and making one of the cheapest foods that can be “gourmet”. I’ll be making the sauce as well. Feed six or seven people on ten dollars or less? Will do.
This weekend (or whenever we fidn the time) John and I plan on making our own lamp. He’s designing the wire frame and I’m in charge of coverings/color direction. We’ve been talking about getting a large globe lamp in a warm color to hang in our living room. But after looking at our options we decided we could make a more interesting one for next to nothing. Come back and I’ll post pictures of the process start to finish.
Looking forward to seeing how your lamp turns out. :-)
Wait, you’re unemployed?!?! since when???
This is great! I’ve never heard of a clothing swap! I’ll have to do some research and see if there’s any going on in my area.
I definitely second cooking-from-scratch; so much cheaper and healthier than buying premade/processed foods. Cooking every night, and planning out ours meals a week in advance, has saved us loads in grocery bills.