Free Museum List

Hankering for something fun, free, and maybe educational to do? Well, never fear! I've scouted around, and.... it looks like all of these museums are free!* (*according to the Internet. Please, please double check with museums near you!) Here's a list for several U.S. cities - Let me know of others that can be added!

Ann Arbor:

University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History (suggested $6 donation)
University of Michigan Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry


Atlanta Metro:
The King Center
Fernbank Science Center
Autrey Mill Heritage Center

Boston: 
Museum of African-American History 
Boston Fire Museum

Chicago:

The Museum of Contemporary
Photography - Admission: $0!

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art                             

Museum of Contemporary Photography
National Museum of Mexican Art

D.C.
National Geographic Museum
National Building Museum
The Smithsonian Museums

Visit the California African
American Museum for free!

Los Angeles Metro: 
California African American Museum
California Science Center
Santa Monica Museum of Art

Miami: 
Miami's Holocaust Memorial
Bakehouse Art Complex

New York: 
National Museum of the American Indian
Fashion Institute of Technology Museum
Socrates Sculpture Park

Phoenix Metro:
The Riparian Institute (Gilbert)

Portland, Oregon (and around the area)
Kidd's Toy Museum
Portland Police Museum
Wells Fargo History Museum

San Francisco and the Bay Area: 

Learn all about the trolleys of San
Francisco for absolutely nothing!

San Francisco Cable Car Museum                                           
Chinese Culture Center
San Francisco Fire Department Museum

Seattle and Northwest Washington State: 
Frye Art Museum
Olympic Sculpture Park
Whatcom Museum (Bellingham)

Special thanks to National Geographic Travel, twice!, thrice!, four!   no really it's a great resource, for real it is, carnaval.com, Hidden Portland, Discover Los Angeles, About.com, Lonely Planet, and

The Scoop on Social Buying Sites: Groupon, Social Living, and Some Sites You've Never Heard Of

A way to save money that's been growing in popularity are social buying websites.

What are social buying sites? Basically, they work like this. You sign up with the website to get email notices about local buy-in deals for restaurants/entertainment places/services/what have you. Often, the deals are daily or weekly. So, the deal one day might be something along the lines of: "Pay $25 for a $50 gift card to Bob's Cafe downtown!" It's a buy-in deal because you have to "buy in" to get it - you pay the $25 online through the social buying site. It's call "social buying" because in order for the deal to go through, a certain number of people have to "buy in." This is how local businesses are willing to be a part of these sites - because through "buy-ins," they're guaranteed a certain number of customers. The amount of discounts range generally from 40% to 80% off. Some of the sites also offer additional discounts - like money for signing up or referring friends. 

Disclaimer: I generally don't post about things unless I've personally used them, but while I'm registered with a few of these sites, I have not "bought in" to any of the deals (yet). But. Several of my friends DO regularly use sites like these, and they've gotten some really awesome discounts. Click the names of the sites below to visit them!

The major "buy in" sites are:

Groupon

Living Social

Here are some others you might want to check out: 

BuyWithMe - This is focused on about 15 major U.S. cities, including Seattle, Chicago, and Boston. 

CBS Local - Major metro areas represented, including Detroit (woo woo!)

Dealster - Offers deals for a huge amount of major and more minor metro areas, including Yakima, WA, and Lansing, MI.

KGB Deals - Includes a nationwide option, as well as more localized deals for specific cities

PriceBunch - Deals for major cities and also a few smaller-ish cities, like Charlotte and Fresno. 

Tippr - The regular line-up of major metropolitan areas, as well as Honolulu and Columbus, Ohio.

Trubates - Allows you to search by your specific town - rather than by metropolitan area. 

Yipit - Deals for U.S. cities as well as some Canadian cities for you readers from the Great White North!

Zozi - Includes activity-based deals for several U.S. and Canadian cities

There are also city-specific websites, such as WeDeal (Chicago), BogoTown (Indianapolis), and Get Sugar (Boston). 

There are several more that are up and coming, too! 

In order to not get overwhelmed by all these sites, you might want to check out Daily Dibs, which shows you current deals for your city from Groupon, TravelZoo, KGBDeals, and Living Social all together. 

If you use Google Chrome, the Groolu app does something similar, grouping together "buy in" deals from Groupon, Tippr, Zozi, Dealster, and Living Social for you for your specific area. 

Happy deal-shopping, readers!

Valentine's Day on the Cheap

For those of you readers who don't celebrate Valentine's Day - I, myself, am in your club - congratulations! Just think of the money we're saving by sitting at home on our couches alone eating leftovers! (But also - you don't have to be in a couple to enjoy the things listed below. Why not take yourself on a date, especially when it could cost you absolutely nothing?)

And for all of you frugal lovebirds out there, here's to you, enjoying a financially-stressless February 14th!

Thinking about a relaxed night in with that special someone? Why not:
          * Cook up a romantic dinner using ingredients that are already in your kitchen? Visit http://www.supercook.com/ - you enter what you have, and they tell you what to cook!
          * Check out a movie from your local public library? While in my opinion, documentaries are always a great choice, libraries also have recent comedy and drama movies (yes, even "romantic comedies"!) for checkout on DVD / VHS. Libraries also have CDs for checkout if you're on the search for "mood music"!

Thinking about an adventure outside the house? Why not:
          * Visit an art gallery nearby? (Art galleries are almost always free to visit because the art on display is for sale, as opposed to a museum.)
          *  Speaking of: why not see if your local public library participates in a "Check Out a Musuem" program, where library holders can get free passes to visit regional art and cultural museums? (This program is certainly in place for these metro areas: Phoenix, Twin Cities, Detroit, Boston, San Diego, and Tacoma, WA...can your area be added to this list?)

Why not spend Valentine's Day exploring
art, culture, or dinosaur bones - for free?

          * If you live somewhere where this won't entail hypothermia, take the time to enjoy some natural scenery. Bring a picnic lunch or dinner to share along with you to a city, state, or national park nearby. What says romance better than dining al fresco? Note: Often, state parks do charge a few dollars for parking.

           * Colleges and universities frequently host poetry readings, film screenings, guest lectures and more that are often open to the public, and free (or very cheap.) Visit the websites of community colleges and universities near you to find a calendar of upcoming events.

For the cheap folks who want to look suave:

           * Remember this trick: If you have a coupon for a restaurant (say, an amazing 2-for-1 deal), before lunch/dinner is over, tell your date you need to use the restroom and pay the bill up front before it even comes to the table. That way, how much you're paying - or not - can go unnoticed, and that dreaded word, "cheapskate", will not even enter your date's mind. Plus, in general, it's just a suave move, coupon or not, although, of course, there is no reason to go to a restaurant without a coupon in hand! Keep in mind, though, inviting someone on a date with this line: "Hey, want to go to this restaurant? I have a sweet coupon!" is not generally a suave move. Remember, sometimes when it comes to romance, keeping deals on the downlow - no matter how great they are! - is sometimes the best idea.