FREE! (or mostly free)

With the high cost of living in New York, anytime you can pull off a free (or mostly free) activity, it's worthy of shouting it from the rooftops.

Some recent successes:

• We went to the New York Hall of Science in Queens on Dec. 29 (Wed)...total cost (beyond tolls): ZERO! We purchased a Brooklyn Children's Museum pass that allows access to other museums including this one, so entry was complementary. Found street parking. Ate lunch in the car on the way home.

•  Date night with Kathryn to see Invictus on Tuesday night (Dec. 28). My boss gave me a fully loaded Fandango gift card, so the movie was free. PLUS we had watched a couple's children a week or two ago, so the wife agreed to stay here at the house while the kids slept and we were at the movie....no babysitting fee!

• Post Thanksgiving Friday night date night. We went to a free concert performed by local musician students at the New York Historical Society and found free street parking. We then went to dinner at Hill Country down by my office. Yes, you guessed it -- free street parking! Just had to pay for dinner (yummy bbq). We even took the non-toll way home from Manhattan into the Bronx.

• Our office party was virtually free because the party was free and -- yup -- free street parking right in front of the venue. BUT we had to pay for a college-age babysitter, so that was more expensive. But when the only cost is babysitting, well, that's batting above average

• Kathryn took the three older kids to the Chipmunks movie the day after Christmas with the Fandango gift card....FREE OUTING! Bonus: I got to stay home with Sammy and he fell asleep so I had 1.5 hours of quiet in the house on an afternoon. Unheard of!

• We also had a free outing to the Wrights' Christmas party a week before Christmas as the party was free and our favorite babysitter said that she had to perform free service prior to her Catholic Confirmation, and babysitting counted. So she asked if it would be OK if she babysat for free that night. Um, OK! But, we did pay for it on the drive home due to a bad snowstorm that made me think we wouldn't make it home -- and then I wouldn't make it home from taking the babysitter home.

• And lastly, we look to start the year off with a free date tonight. There is a Primary party tonight that is a drop-off -- and Sammy is now Primary aged! So we have a 1 hour 15 minute window and going to Panera Bread for dinner thanks to a gift card from another friend for Christmas.

Happy New Year!