I am incredibly cheap and have no shame in admitting that. A
sucker for sweet deals, free stuff, and buy-one-get-one offers, I might be the
most frugal person alive. When I first moved to Houston, I was worried that my
frugalness might be coming to an end, that I would be forced to shell out my
hard-earned dough at a higher pace just to get by as a result of higher costs
of living in the Bayou City. $1500 a month for rent? My bank account screamed
in terror. $200 a month to park at work? My body braced for a steady diet of
Ramen noodles. $15 to park downtown?!? Hope my family enjoys homemade Christmas
presents!
To counter the expenses of living in a large city, I found
ways to save, which I wanted to share here for other Houstonians who are
either: A) also frugal or B) tired of The System always bringing us down. So
read on about how I save money and then get out there and watch your pockets
fill with cash:
- Take the train. Parking downtown is free after 6 but if you can’t find a spot, you are stuck with parking garages that charge a $12-15 flat rate. Yuck. Not to mention the cost of driving to downtown, which might mean burning through half a tank of gas while stuck in traffic on I-45 or 288. I solved that problem by living near a metro rail line. It costs $1.50 for each trip, which is good for 3 hours. $3 to get downtown and back saves quite a bit on parking and gas. I also live close enough to my workplace to walk. All the money I have saved by not driving to work should help me retire by age 50. Suck it.
- Go to free movie screenings. Before I moved to Houston, my wife and I paid to attend an average of one half a movie per year (which equals 1 movie every two years, in case you are bad at math). That poor woman. She missed out on seeing 3D and IMAX versions of The Hunger Games, Gravity, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. and was forced to see them on redbox at home (in my defense, we did see Frozen in the theaters). In many cases, I would wait until the best movies were available to check out at the local library FOR FREE because redbox increased their prices from $1 to $1.50, WHICH IS A FULL 150% PRICE INCREASE! I am not a Kardashian and therefore cannot afford such obnoxious price increases. Anyway, I found out that many Houston movie theaters provide free movie screenings, which has enabled my wife and I to see almost any movie we want and not pay a damn dime to do so. Take that greedy movie execs! If you want to save money and attend free movie screenings, check out the Contest tab at backstageol.com and redcarpetcrash.com, click on any movie at advancescreenings.com, or sign up for movie screenings in your area at sonyscreenings.com or lionsgatescreenings.com. You’re welcome.
- Watch cover bands. My favorite bands of all time include Oasis,
Nirvana, Sublime, and Rage Against the Machine, none of which are currently
together in their original lineup (although you could argue Sublime is mostly
still intact), and two of which have tragically lost their lead singers. And
being the poor chap that I am, there is no way I could afford to see George
Strait or Madonna (just kidding, who wants to see Madonna?) or other huge music
acts. Enter the House of Blues in Houston, which regularly schedules cover
bands, enabling me to see a short and fat Dave Grohl lookalike screaming “You
know you make me breakout!!!!” And the best part? I pay ZERO AMERICAN DOLLARS
to do so. I don’t even pay Mexican dollars or Canadian dollars. I simply signed
up for the House of Blues
newsletter and paid attention to their emails, which frequently announce
shows you can attend for
free by RSVPing by email. For an analysis of one such show, please read this
blog post. Make sure you follow the House of Blues on twitter and facebook as well
because they post contests for free concert tickets, which apparently are not
that hard to win because I have won free tickets to at least 5 shows. I am not
lying when I say that I have never paid to attend a single show there,
including several non-cover bands.
I saw The King of Pop for the price of a glass of water at Houston's House of Blues - Watch non-cover bands. In addition to the House of Blues, if
you like going to concerts for free, make sure you follow Blackhorse Limo on twitter and keep an eye on their
website. They host a free concert
series where all you have to do for tickets is RSVP by email. Previous
bands that have played include Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, Saving
Abel, Buckcherry, Dokken, Seether, and many more. Not bad for costing a total
of nothing.
Tickets to see Scott Weiland: $0. Seeing a classic rock artist perform months before he passes away: priceless - Watch live sports for free. Blackhorse Limo also regularly holds twitter contests where they give out Houston Rockets, Dynamo, and Astros tickets. I have never won any of the contests, but it is not for lack of trying. If I never win one, my life will feel incomplete.
- Attend fan fests. If you are a big sports lover like I am,
you can never get enough sports. I love being inside a team stadium and seeing
its features, and also checking out the view from different seats. The best way
to do that without paying money to get inside (outside of breaking in, which I highly
discourage), is to attend the fan fests. The Astros, Rockets and Dynamo all
host fan fests in their offseasons where you can go inside their respective
stadiums and participate in various activities. About one month ago, I attended
the Astros fan fest where I saw a tiny horse, watched some band play “Livin’ on
a prayer”, then received a pack of baseball cards from 1989. The total amount
of money I spent was NADA.
Close up of me reaching for a fly ball at the Astros stadium - Get other stuff for free. Finally, the Houston Press has a contest page on their website where they give out all kinds of free things, including tickets to sporting events, movies, concerts, food festivals, as well as merchandise and other swag. It is worth checking out once in a while.
Hope you have enjoyed this list of ways to save money in
Houston. PLEASE RETWEET TO SAVE A LIFE.
