Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cheap

Colleges in NYC that are reasonably priced?

mattsweaters — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:16:29 -0800

Colleges in NYC that are reasonably priced? I'm looking at studying in New York City, I'm 26 and have never stepped foot in a college class room before. I'm moving there no matter what and will be working, but I'd like to start pursuing a bachelors degree on the side.

Anyone have recommendations of good schools, preferably in Manhattan or Brooklyn that aren't super expensive? I'll be probably studying Film History, or literature.

Ski New Mexico cheap?

abdulf — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:12:32 -0800

Cheap weekend ski trip in New Mexico? I've never been skiing before and I'd like to try. A group of friends wants to go to New Mexico to ski because it's within driving distance from Amarillo.

I've heard there are ski resorts around Santa Fe.

Say, a group of 6 or so people wanted to go skiing. No experience, no equipment. Maybe, around February 2010. How would we go about doing this in the most affordable way possible?

Downtown Houstonfilter: Feed us fast and cheap

desuetude — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:24:02 -0800

Where are the cheap, quick, delicious eats in downtown Houston? I'm staying at the Hilton Americas Houston for a conference and need some alternatives to the overpriced hotel dining options. Part of the reason I'm at this conference (other than the awesome perk of meeting Mefites, of course) is to oversee a travel awards program for my organization, and I know my awardees are going to want to stretch their stipend as far as possible. However, there is very limited time for lunch in between sessions.

Where can people grab inexpensive but good lunches and dinners very close to the hotel?

I saw this AskMe about Vietnamese in downtown, but I'd like more downtown recommendations.

Is there a cheap digital archive solution for a non-profit?

Magnakai — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:37:36 -0800

What's a good system for a non-profit to set-up and manage a digital archive of somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 text, pictures, sound and video items? It needs to be accessible by multiple people at the same time and be easily searchable. So basically I sometimes work for a neat little non-profit cultural organisation that has its roots in a relatively unique historical building. That building is approaching it's centenary, and we've got a teeny bit of funding to do some heritage work. Part of this work is making an archive of materials related to the history of our institution. This would be overseen by the heritage officer, who is a smart cookie but not super au-fait with complicated IT stuff. Information would be input by her and a team of volunteers. We have pretty much no money and we don't want it to be high-maintenance, as it's mostly an internal archive.

The heritage officer has asked me, as the defacto computer person, to look into how we should do this. We could get a very cheap copy of Access through CTXchange and use that, but I'm hesitant to wrap up what's meant to be a long-term archive in proprietary technology. I also have no idea how to get started with it, and it seems very unfriendly at first poke.

My first thought was to create an SQL/XML/something else open database and somehow convince someone to write an HTML/PHP front end. That would let multiple people connect to the site and input data at once. We could then plug in some sort of search program to do comprehensive searches. The main problem I have is that editing fields seems inaccessible for the heritage officer and her volunteers. I'd also want the locations of the media to be linked from the front-end, and pictures to be embedded and visible.

Right now we've got four PCs hooked into a Windows 2008 server. I'm supremely unsure about what to do from here. Options would be to do an IIS server and host a database on the server, or just have it on our file server portion of the 2008 server.

Any ideas would be welcome, especially something pre-built!

I really don't want to pay $168 for shoes.

GarotaDaCidade — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:53:13 -0800

Help me find less expensive shoes! Has anyone seen cheaper versions of shoes like these that I can order online?

Also, I don't know what these kinds of shoes are called, so giving me hints about some good search terms would also be super helpful.

Thanks!

Bait-and-Switch or ineptitude?... WTF Travelocity!?

blueberry — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:27:45 -0800

Buying a ticket to Bangkok—is there a dependable online ticket-searching service that is all about getting the truly cheapest fare? Skinflint-In-Coach.com? Argh!, I spent over an hour today working on the Travelocity site, trying to find a low-priced ticket from Portland to Bangkok. After noodling around with my Portland/Bangkok departure dates I finally found a reasonably priced ticket that I could afford. However when I clicked to order it Travelocity said Sorry, that ticket's not available, please go pick another one—all of the other tickets being at least $500 more. (And annoyingly, when I went back to look at the other tickets, that cheaper un-buyable ticket was still listed as being available)

So, I tried Kayak.com and found that while it searches across four different ticket sites, each site finds fares that differ from each other by thousands of dollars. That is, each site is saying "This is the absolute cheapest flight out there" but actually the ticket prices vary from $1900 to $4000. To my mind, there should be only one "cheapest flight"—you know, hence the "-est" suffix.

So tell me hive mind, is there one ticket-finding site that
A: doesn't advertise tickets that it doesn't have (Travelocity), and
B: searches all flights all through one interface—so you don't have to dig through several different sites and windows wasting time with their laughable ideas of what they call "the cheapest flight"?

[For reference, I'm looking to leave PDX on Dec 9th, and leave BKK on any of the days between Dec 31 and Jan 3]

Subvert the dominant, oh geez, I can't even type it

mwhybark — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:25:31 -0800

Any experience / suggestions / pearls of wisdom / recommendations for free Subversion hosting? TIA, no more inside.

Where's the cheap food and drinks in Denver?

kookywon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:08:23 -0800

What are your favorite cheap eats and drinks in Denver? I'm looking to create a list of cheap places to eat in the Denver area. For example, places with $1 taco night or $2 you-call-its like the Park Tavern on Tuesdays. This has to be near downtown, but I'll anywhere within the area from Evans and Colorado across to the Highlands.

I'd like to get a list of places for every night of the week, if possible.

Or if there's already a website that has this information, I would be interested in that as well.

Home (not broke) for Xmas.

nicoleincanada — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:20:45 -0800

Please help me get from Europe to Canada for the Xmas holidays without having to live out of a cardboard box. This is my first time living abroad, and I've rather naively discovered that holy crap, airfare to North America is super expensive from mid-December to early January. I've managed to get a bit of wiggle room on my travel dates from my employers (I work at a school and the holidays are pre-scheduled), but the reasonable/cheap airfare is still a day or two out of reach and I don't want to push my luck much further.

This isn't a make or break thing - I've promised the family I'll go home either way - but if there's a way to get from Paris to Winnipeg without spending $1800 Cdn after tax, I'd be appreciative. Especially considering $1800 is the price I managed by wiggling the dates.

Is finding reasonable airfare at peak travel time in December a total pipe dream? Am I just booking too late, or too early? Are there any genuinely useful sites for this sort of thing? I've tried both Expedia and Travelocity and find them pretty useless when the destination isn't a major hub - they seem to miss a lot of cheap fares I can find by checking airlines myself.

My holidays are from Dec. 19 to Jan. 3 (like the rest of the Xmas-celebrating world). Employers are willing to let me leave the Wednesday before and return the Wednesday after, which is how I managed the price above. I'd like to be home for Xmas day but I'd be willing to leave pre-NY if that generally makes a difference. I'm also willing to fly to other European centres or take the train to get a better price.

FYI, I've checked other threads on this site and, oddly, can't find a similar question, but my AskMF skills might be lacking. So if you find the same question previously, by all means share.

Thanks much in advance.

SWM seeks casual encounters with Piano - you must host!

Lutoslawski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:49:59 -0800

Where in Portland, OR might I go to practice piano...for free/cheap?? I am a pianist without a piano. I have a decent keyboard, but it's just not the same at all. I'd really like to find somewhere I could practice just a couple times a week on a real piano. Preferably, I'd like to do this for free; though I might be able to scrounge up some pocket change.

I've had access to a piano my entire life (home, college), but now that I have graduated college I find myself piano-less - and I'm poverty poor so I can't afford to buy one; nor do I want to acquire a free one on Craigslist, as most would require a lot of maintenance - and besides, I don't really have anywhere to put a piano at the moment anyway.

Any suggestions? Do universities/community colleges ever offer some sort of "practice room membership" thing? Do you know of any rehearsal spaces with good pianos that aren't too spendy??

Thanks in advance everyone!!

Ballin’ on a budget:

Hydrofiend — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:17:52 -0800

Taking care of some things so money’s tight. What are some kickass, cool, mellow things I can do for free or dirt cheap! Preferably in Brooklyn, NY? I find that I spend more than I would like when I’m out being social and hanging with friends. I’m not talking $100’s but $30 a night for drinks. Not that bad but that can get pricey at 2 to 3 nights per week. Right now, money needs to stretch but I like my little flow of being out and about. What are some cool, fun, mellow things I can do or experience on a strict budget which includes anything from $0-$30 a week. Tight! Insight on any places and things would be very much appreciated.

I can haz media centre?

sully75 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:14:56 -0800

I'd like to build the world's cheapest media center PC. Budget is teensy. My roomate and I decided we'd like to get rid of our monster TV and the cabinet it came in (left by a former roomate). We don't watch TV but do enjoy a DVD, maybe once a week. The TV was never hooked up to an antenna or cable. We also both love music A LOT.

I was thinking that we can sell the cabinet (and the somewhat crapped out TV) on craigslist...and maybe get $150 or a little more than that for the two of them.

My idea is that we could get a cheap ebay dell ($50ish) and a cheap LCD ($100ish) Mounting the whole thing on some sort of rolling cart, with speakers attached. Installing Linux on it, and using this to play DVDs, music, youtube and things like that. Oh and I'd probably install a cheap big hard drive, there's a lot of music floating around our other computers.

I searched online quite a bit but mostly found people who are looking to do Tivo kind of stuff, which is not a priority for us at all. My main concern is that DVDs look reasonably good on screen. Our TV was crappy but ideally the color on the LCD would look good and it would not be choppy.

Suggestions of computers (is this Dell overkill for what we need, or undergill) LCDs (would we be terribly dissapointed with a cheepy) and software (Windows is a possibility too, and what programs would you run on this?). Also alternatives to this whole plan would be good too. I'd also consider modding a xbox off ebay. You can consider me moderately handy with computers and OS stuff.

Thanks!

Cheapify my cellie

mwhybark — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:39:06 -0800

cell plan change suggestions? Income change upcoming. Currently we spend about $110 / mo on 2 phones with one dataplan on one phone. Happy to jump carriers (we are on AT&T), need to keep our numbers.

I believe the conventional wisdom is embrace the cheapskate route, kick the data to the curb, and go with disposable SIMs that limit minutes and usage.

If I do that, can we keep our numbers?

Finally, is there a decent prepaid dataplan?

There are plenty of precursors but the shifting sands ever insist on a current answer.

Lastly: Howard Forum, check. Tracfone, gotcha, to an extent. Here's a Tracfone subquestion: my parents have and still use pre-SIM phones under tracfone. Can I send them some modern handsets and get them on to the new phones with their Tracfone plans intact?

What's best cheap sled?

LittlePumpkin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:35:49 -0800

I want to go sledding with my two year-old this winter -- what's the best cheap 2 person winter sled, either makeshift (garbage lid) or sled-proper (sled)?

Does anyone know of a cheap(sub $50) MP3 player that has a wall charger.

Mesach — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:16:31 -0800

I need to setup an mp3 player for our phone system to play recordings on hold, but i need it to have a wall charger since it will be on all the time, and there is no USB connection nearby. Does anyone know of a cheap(sub $50) player that has that functionality. It would be really nice if it had a screen and not like an ipod shuffle.

How can I make my rented flat warmer? On the cheap, if possible?

handee — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:58:31 -0800

I'm renting a flat and it's cold, and it's going to get colder (I'm on a 1 year contract in the alps). Is there anything noninvasive (preferably cheap, but I'm ok to spend if it's really going to work) that I can do to warm the place up? What sort of portable space heaters give the best performance for electricity/gas? Are there any decent renter-based guides to improving insulation? There's one mains gas heater in the middle of the flat that's supposed to cover the whole thing. I have shutters and decent single glazing. Local people who've visited have looked at the heater and laughed.

How to inexpensively hang posters?

grouse — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:12:48 -0800

I have some posters that I would like to hang up, but they have been damaged through poor handling in the past. Are there inexpensive yet non-tacky (no pun intended) ways of hanging them up? It seems like a shame to spend a lot of money to frame posters which are themselves damaged. And they'll probably get damaged further next time I move. On the other hand, I'd rather not turn my apartment into an overgrown dorm room by using thumb tacks or Blu-Tack to hang them up (which would, of course damage the artwork further). And I'm also tired at staring at bare walls.

One of the posters is 20 in × 27 in, and the other is 11 in × 17 in.

I would prefer to avoid solutions that require the use of fine motor control in a way that will result in irreversible damage if done incorrectly (such as gluing or cutting), or purchasing new tools. On the other hand, I guess this stuff is already damaged so it can't be that bad.

Another solution would be to simply cut off the damaged areas of the posters or place matting over them. If I went this route I would want to have a professional do it—does this make sense?

I live in Seattle. I would need to rent a car to get to Ikea, greatly increasing the cost of any Ikea options. I live conveniently near a Museum-Quality Framing store.

Bonus question: How I can quickly, inexpensively, and easily add some more decoration to the place? There are about a zillion options out there and trying to decide the optimal solution results in paralysis. I could start buying posters to support the small bands whose shows I see but it seems weird to have posters from bands I'm not fanatical about adorning the place.

Have to fly in July, but we'll adapt to anything else!

amicamentis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:53:46 -0800

How to find the best NYC --> Europe flight deals when both day of week and destination are flexible. Caveat: flying out July 2010. My roommate and I are planning an extended European vacation beginning around the middle of July next year. I know that this is the absolute worst time to fly out, so we need some tips about how to cut down the price.

We are flying from NYC but would be willing to travel to Newark or even Philadelphia if there were significant savings. I have used RyanAir in the past and am familiar with inter-European travel, which is why we don't care much about the city that we first land in. So far, it looks like flying into Dublin is the least expensive. We would also be fine with Paris, London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, or Geneva.

What now? I've heard that if you're flying during peak season then you should just buy tickets as early as possible because they will never lower. However, with our flexibility it seems that there may be some deal, somewhere a bit closer to our flight date. Is this wishful thinking?

We would appreciate any website recommendations that would give fares on neighboring cities as well, or flexibility about the day of the week. I've tried Kayak and liked it - are there others?

In addition, our vacation will probably continue for several months. Will the customs agents give us any problems for having a return ticket for more than three months from the day we enter the country?

Thanks!

Fill my burritos on the cheap

pluckemin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:12:17 -0800

What cheap, protein-y things taste good rolled up in a tortilla? I like to bring cheap lunch to work with me, being rather underfunded at the moment. For a while I would bring chicken nuggets and barbecue sauce, but I would generally only remember that I needed to pack a lunch on my way out the door (I have an irregular schedule so I don't need to pack lunch every day), and often the effort/time required to find containers and pack up the food was too high and I'd wind up thinking "eh, I'll buy a sandwich just this once."

A couple of months ago, I cooked up a pound of black beans and made two dozen plastic-wrapped bean and cheese burritos for about $5, which I stuck in the freezer (the burritos, not the $5). This turned out to be perfect; I still remember that I need a lunch when I'm on my way out the door, but now I can just grab a burrito from the freezer and toss it in my bag.

My supply of burritos is dwindling, and I'm getting kind of sick of them, so for my next bulk cooking and freezing project I'd like to do something different. I have a few nice curries and chilis in my cooking repertoire, but I don't want to have to freeze portions in containers -- I want to cook 20+ portions at once, and I do not have that many old sour cream containers (or the space required to store them in my freezer). So something wrapped in a tortilla is really ideal. But I don't know what to make! This is where your suggestions come in. The specifications:

-It has to have a lot of protein. I am mildly hypoglycemic and I need protein with every meal. I also try to eat a lot of whole grains.
-It has to be cheap: below 50 cents per serving is good, and ~25 cents is ideal. (I love legumes and hearty grains, so this shouldn't be too challenging.)
-It has to freeze well and not get watery when reheated.
-I like most cuisines. I love umami, and I hate cilantro.
-Hot or cold is fine; I have access to a microwave.
-Cooking skill: moderate. I'd prefer cooking and assembly to take 2 hours or less.
-I'm not 100% attached to tortillas as the wrapper, but the resulting lunch does have to be a single, solid object that can be grabbed on the go.

Suggest away!

Cheap Bus NYC-DC

mixer — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:48:43 -0800

Cheap buses from NYC to Washington D.C.? The question's been asked and answered in the past, but I'm wondering if that information is outdated. Thanks!

Options for a small & cheap Mac laptop?

attercoppe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:01:07 -0800

What are my options for a cheap, small Mac laptop? I'm on a tight budget, but would love to get a laptop. I've been looking at netbooks because I love the light weight and small size. However, I may be about to get a job at my school, which basically is an Apple campus, so now I'm considering a Mac instead. I'd still like to find something cheap, small and light, and with some serious battery life. Of course one option is to buy a used or refurbed Mac (maybe an Air?). Could I also buy a netbook and install OS X? Or install some *nix - how compatible (not look and feel but interoperability) would this be?

P.S. I could probably do some research and get some good info, but I thought I'd see what ya'll can tell me first. I've read other questions here, and they seem to be either out of date or about desktops (or both).

Maybe not the Sleep Eazy Motel, though

hwyengr — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:25:49 -0800

I'm visiting San Francisco this weekend, but I don't want to stay overnight in the City. What's your favorite Bay Area cheap-ish hotel? BART accessibility a plus. The ladyfriend and I are driving up from LA this weekend for Folsom. We'd rather spend our money on gear than hotels, so we were hoping to find a hotel/motel outside of San Francisco proper.

We're coming up the 101, but it looks like the East Bay is the best bet for BART access, right?

We're open to anything, I'd just rather not bring home bedbugs.

Bummin' around BC

scose — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:45:59 -0800

What are some free or cheap things to do in Vancouver, BC? My girlfriend and I are heading up to Vancouver, BC and looking for a vacation on the cheap. We will be couchsurfing/camping/???, and hoping to have fun for a few days without going broke. What are your favorite low- or no-cost activities in the area? Any mix of touristy and non-touristy is fine. Stuff like house shows, student art exhibitions, and other events that might fly under the radar of mainstream media would be good.

We will arrive by car, and bring our bikes to get around the city. Any place within a reasonably short drive is fair game. We are bringing food with us, but if you are chomping at the bit to recommend a restaurant, we would appreciate it. Thanks!

Should I rent a car during my week in Denver?

TheManChild2000 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:20:29 -0800

I'm going to be in Denver for a seminar. Arriving Saturday, leaving Thursday. Staying a little east of the city center. Should I bother renting a car? I'm pretty outdoorsy but also pretty cheap. Does Denver have sufficient public transit to easily (and without taking hours) get out of the downtown area into natural places for hiking and swimming?

how to entertain a group of 8 in singapore on a strict budget

messiahwannabe — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:03:15 -0800

i need a bunch of cheap, or better yet FREE, activities for a group of 20-something indonesian musicans and dancers during our trip to singapore. me and my band will be in singapore for 8 days. there's 8 of us (3 girls 5 guys) and we'll be on a super tight budget, but since most of them don't get out of indonesia very often, i want to show them a good time while we're there. so i'm looking for some fun, FREE activities i can do with them - mostly in the afternoon before our shows, but also at night after 10pm. ideas anyone?

it can be anything really, not just classic tourist stuff (though that's cool as well, as long as it's FREE). just as long as it's interesting or fun! so far i've thought of: wandering through the biggest, newest mall. a walk through a cool, attractive area, maybe at night, say by the waterfront or something. eat at a cool hawker center where they can spend their $10/day per diems, maybe like la pasat or something... maybe there's a free rooftop viewing area we can look at the skyline? free museums and concerts are also good. basically anything i can do to fill up our free time around our shows without spending the little money we're making on the gig...

we'll be staying in the gaylong area (but i think we can probably at least afford to take the mrt places). also, we'll be there during f1 if that helps any!