Friday Estimate

It’s time to estimate our weekends.

Tonight I have birthday drinks with a friend who just moved into the neighborhood. My goal will be to spend around $30. Since the venue is going to be near my apartment, I may pour myself a scotch before I walk over to the bar, which will help limit how many drinks I’ll order. Yes, I totally condone (responsible!) pre-partying as a savings tactic.

Saturday is going to be a work day for me, because I have a lot of different things on my plate I need to get through. On Sunday, I’m meeting friends for lunch so I can get their housekeys because I’m cat-sitting for them next week, and then heading to a BBQ in the late afternoon. Tack on a grocery store trip, and my weekend estimate is going to be about $130.

One of you guys wrote in to ask about affordable ways to have fun on weekends without holing up at home and watching Netflix or Hulu. In addition to your estimations today, I’d love for us to crowdsource some tips. For me, one of the best things about living in New York is that it makes up for high cost of living by having free events all over the city every day. There are free readings at bookstores like McNally Jackson, or Housing Works, as well as meetups hosted by organizations of every variety. Saturday is Museum Day Live!, where you can get free admission to museums all over the country. New York’s largest street fair is happening on Sunday in Brooklyn. These are all free events, and there are lots of other things you can do that cost less than $10. Sites like NYC GO and TimeOut are great resources for looking up events. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.

Edit: I forgot to mention the Awl’s event calendar!

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