We are so happy to announce that Luke Franco Suardi officially joined our family on July 29 at 1:08 a.m.  He was born just an hour after arriving at the birth center, making us thankful for simple things like full tanks of gas.

I credit such a quick and rewarding labor and birth to the emotional and physical support I received from my doulas, midwife and birth center.

Even though Luke is fulfilling his angelic newborn role, life is certainly fuller than ever and I am grateful to the friends and bloggers who are filling in for me for the next several weeks.  Taking care of my family and household is my full-time job, and that, of course, is next to impossible to delegate.

Finally, I want to extend a big thank you to my readers, who inspire and sustain me, and who make this whole writing thing worthwhile.

This is a guest post by essayist Nancy Shohet West.

Back in 2006, I wrote this article for the Boston Globe, about the tweens and young teens who were using Carlisle’s new Farmers Market to develop their entrepreneurial skills. As so often happens when I work on a feature story, I became enchanted with my subjects and developed great admiration for these young entrepreneurs.

But, with the typical nearsightedness of a parent, I couldn’t imagine my own children standing among their ranks. At ages three and seven that year, my kids’ only interest in our local Farmers Market was how many free samples of chocolate chip cookies they could cadge before I would notice, and how many dogs they could play with while I chatted with the other browsers.

It doesn’t seem as if four years have gone by, but Farmers Market starts up for the summer this weekend, and my kids are ready. Not to eat or play: to sell. They’ve been practicing their baking skills all week. Their product, they decided, would be banana bread. At the time they settled on this plan, they’d never made banana bread, but they knew it was a specialty of mine, one that they’d heard guests at our house and recipients of our gifts compliment many times. I agreed to help them get their baking abilities up and running.

They chose the business name themselves: Who’s On First. It was over a month ago that they selected the name and made a sign, using stencil letters they found at Staples. Earlier that week, Tim’s fifth grade teacher had played a YouTube clip of Abbott and Costello doing their best-known routine, and the class had been in stitches over it. I love the juxtaposition of old and new: the fact that with all the media currently available to them, nothing is funnier to the fifth graders than a 1940’s comedy routine – but also the fact that they’re all familiar with it now thanks to an innovation as state-of-the-art as YouTube.

I started teaching Tim and Holly, co-proprietors of Who’s On First, my method for making banana bread earlier this week. The first step, I reminded them, is always to wash hands. That part they had down pat. I explained the other steps and they discussed it for a while to determine how to best divide the labor. Because Holly is so much physically smaller and a bit less manually dexterous than Tim, it was fairly easy to decide who should do what. And calling Holly “less manually dexterous” is a euphemism of the first degree. Normally I just refer to her as “the Gravity Queen.” She’s never yet picked up an object she couldn’t manage to drop within moments. So I wasn’t too enthusiastic about her handling much of anything in the way of cooking ingredients, knowing whatever she touched, I would end up cleaning up off the kitchen floor.

I overcame that reservation early on, realizing that cleaning up was just going to have to be a big part of this endeavor for all three of us. And the kids settled into a routine as we practiced with one, then two, then eventually four batches of banana bread. Holly greases the pans while Tim peels the bananas. Tim melts the butter while Holly breaks the eggs into a bowl and beats them with a whisk. (To my surprise, the Gravity Queen isn’t bad with eggs. But I’m not letting her anywhere near the flour.) Tim mixes the dry ingredients while Holly beats together the bananas and sugar. When they’re done, I pour the batter into the pans for them and slide the whole set into the oven.

I’m looking forward to their first day of sales (or their IPO, as my husband calls it). They’ve worked hard together, and I’m hoping they get a gratifying response in the form of lots of customers. I’m also curious to see if they can maintain a regular baking schedule throughout the summer and not let the novelty wear off. If they can, they could each enjoy a satisfying amount of spending money over the next few months, and learn something about running a business and working together. If they can’t sustain their interest, we’ll eat the results of their initial efforts and try again another year.

But my fingers are crossed for a fine opening day on Saturday. Although I couldn’t have imagined it back when I was an objective on-the-scene reporter writing about other kids working as Farmers Market vendors, my children will now stand proudly among them. And I can’t wait to see how it goes for them.

Chapter 2

With two weeks of Farmers’ Market under their belts, my children are off to a marvelous start, and it’s interesting to itemize the skills developed and lessons accrued so far.

The first Saturday, they baked 20 mini-loaves and priced them at three dollars each. In the four-hour stint of Farmers Market, they sold 17 loaves, which was a fine number. As I told them, it left one for us to put in the freezer for whenever we next needed a ready-made “hostess gift”; one to cut up for samples the following week (as avid Whole Foods shoppers, we are well entrenched in the culture of samples, and the kids believed this was an important attraction at their booth); and one for our family to eat in the hours following Farmers Market. (“It’s hard baking for other people and not getting to try any ourselves!” Tim had commented earlier in the day.)

The second Saturday, they baked 21 loaves and sold out within the first two hours the market was open. At ten o’clock, just as the parking lot was filling up, Tim and Holly sold their last two loaves to one chatty customer who said her children would be delighted with the treat. Farmers Market still had another two hours to go, but we were out of inventory – and the kids had collected a total of $63, mostly in ones, which they divvied up when they got home. Astounded at their commercial success, they set a goal of 25 loaves, maybe even 30, for the next week’s market. It would require them to spend a lot of time baking, they knew, but they were elated by their initial success and inspired to work harder than ever.

So far this week they’re halfway to their goal, but they’ll keep baking over the next two days. It doesn’t take them very long to make a batch from start to finish.

They still rely on me for a few tasks – they don’t like handling the well-ripened and slightly mushy bananas, so I do the peeling and drop the pieces into a mixing bowl, and I always take on the job of sliding the loaf pans in and out of the oven – but they’ve got the rest of it down to a well-managed routine, with Holly greasing the pans and whisking the eggs, Tim beating the bananas with sugar and combining the dry ingredients. They take turns when it comes to stirring the dry ingredients into the wet, and then they’re done. I help them clean up; ideally they’d do this part on their own too, but it’s a lot to expect.

Week Three is this Saturday. I’m hoping faces will become familiar and the kids will be rewarded with repeat business. I’m already happy with what they’ve learned and look forward to seeing them further develop their business acumen, baking talents and time management skills as the summer progresses. Business is brisk so far, and we’re off to an encouraging start.

Read the rest of Nancy’s story here: Beyond Lemonade Stands: the Story of How 2 Kids Started a Summer Business (Part II)

Nancy Shohet West is a freelance journalist, essayist and blogger in suburban Boston. You can see more of her work at www.NancyShohetWest.com.

Photo credit

August is the Sunday of summer: when the eighth month rolls around, you know the party is almost over.  At least one can look forward to buying school supplies.  Then again, these days school supplies seem to be more about cartons of Kleenex, so the pre-fall joy of shopping for a personal 64-crayon box has all but vanished.

Thank God for backpacks.  These crayola-colored book bags by Beatrix New York — stylized and light-hearted — help preserve the hope that children might remain innocent a little longer.

At $40 to $50, they are not inexpensive, but I believe that things that get a lot of use, like desk chairs, strollers and mattresses, warrant a heftier investment.

My daughter, Virginia, toted this lion backpack to kindergarten all year.  School bags proportioned for the preschool set are hard to find; the “little kid” size is a perfect fit for a two- to five-year-old.  When we realized she needed more space for papers in first grade, it got washed and put away, and now her little brother, Mark, uses it for preschool.

Sofia picked the shark (named “Nigel”) in the big-kid size for her second grade year at P.S. 183.  Now it is about to embark on year number two at Fayetteville Elementary here in Syracuse.

Chasing Fireflies, an extravagant children’s boutique, carries most of them, or you can see and order the whole line (which includes lunch boxes and diaper bags) directly from the Beatrix New York website.  Not that this would have any sway, but the brand is apparently a fave among today’s child-rearing celebs (like Liv Tyler, Katie Holmes, and Jennifer Garner).

An added plus:  the unisex design means they can be re-used by younger siblings.  If only they weren’t so dang durable, we would love to buy a new one every year.

What sturdy backpacks do you love?

We are expecting a baby around July 29 and I’ll be taking some time off to welcome him to the world. I am grateful to friends and fellow bloggers who are helping out with guest posts.  This article is by Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore of Buttoned Up.

It was a warm summer night. The humidity had to have been 100%, and the crickets were extra loud.  Fireflies lit up the air like Christmas lights in July, and your stomach ached from the 23 marshmallows your friends challenged you to eat in a minute.

Maybe you didn’t have exactly that experience, but chances are you enjoyed something pretty close to it — a quintessential summer evening. The best part about such a night: it involved nothing more glamorous than hanging in the backyard and cost no more than 99 cents for the marshmallows.

We may be languishing in one of the tightest economic downturns our country has seen in decades, but there’s no reason to let money woes throw a wrench in your summer fun.  You can have a fantastic summer and create lasting memories with little or no money.

All it takes is a little advanced planning.   Read on for inexpensive ways to beat the heat and have some fun this summer.

1.  Homemade Slip-n-Slide

Got a hose, a sprinkler and a tarp?  Then you can make your own Slip-‘n-Slide® for free. Just flood the tarp with water and add a sprinkler or two into the mix for extra fun.

Don’t have any of these items? Ask a neighbor, friend, or family member if you can borrow theirs for the day.  Home Depot sells tarps for fairly cheap if want to buy one.

Two tips:  (a) Be sure to get all sticks and rocks out from underneath first, and (b) If you place the tarp on a slight down slope, it works nicely too.

Fun for children of all ages.

2.  Take a Hike

When was the last time you visited your regional state park or the hiking trails in your township?  Take a nature walk by yourself or with others and recharge your batteries.

Just be sure to wear sunscreen and bug spray, bring first aid supplies, and let another person know where you’ll be and when you’ll be back.

3.  Just Beachy

Even if you’re not near the ocean or one of the Great Lakes, chances are there’s some form of a beach on a lake within 50 miles of your home. Take a day trip to the lake and just relax in the sun and shade.

4.  Rack those Little Brains

School may be out, but learning can be fun.  Try out your library’s summer reading programs for fun and free entertainment with an educational twist.  For added incentive, invite your child’s friend to go along.

5.  New Sports

Have you and your children ever tried golfing?  Go on eBay or Craislist.org to find inexpensive sets of golf clubs in adult or youth sizes, buy a bag of whiffle golf balls, and set a bucket in the yard as a target.  Then swing, aim, and enjoy.

Golf is a game of patience and practice, so even if you don’t actually go to the course very often, you can still enjoy it.  You can also teach yourself the rules while the matches are on TV on the weekends.

Hate golf?   Pick another sport you don’t usually play and give it a whirl.

6.  Help Others and Learn

Community service is a great way for kids of all ages to get out of the house and learn about others. Donate your time with the local animal shelter or join a community service club, like 4-H (www.4-h.org).

Volunteer activities remind you of what’s really important in life and enable everyone involved to make new friends.

7.  Neighborhood Camp-Out

If you have children, backyard camp-outs are always an adventure. Be sure everyone you invite to camp with you brings their own snacks to share and all you have to supply is your yard, a bathroom, and beverages.

Note for parents:  have a space available in the house if it starts raining or the children get scared.

8.  Dollar Store Art

Raid the dollar store for art supplies and go wild.  You don’t need to have $7 markers and $15 paints to have fun and stretch your creative muscles.

9.  Budget-Friendly Childcare

If you’re wondering what to do with the little ones this summer, try your local parks program for free or low-cost day camps for kids. These programs offer a fun-filled day at a reasonable price.

Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore are co-authors of Everything (Almost) In Its Place and co-founders of Buttoned Up, Inc., a company dedicated to helping stretched and stressed women get themselves organized. We welcome your thoughts!  Please send ideas and questions to us at yourlife@getbuttonedup.com or visit us at Buttoned Up.

Photo credits: fireflies, clover, beach.

When I closed my personal blog Glitter & Grime (a chronicle of our adventure of moving to New York City) and launched Frugal Mama, I also drew the curtains on our personal life.  I thought it was more safe, professional, and honestly, who really cared, besides dear Mom?

Yet so much is changing for us right now, and I’m about to take a few months off to devote to our new baby.  (A fantastic group of guest bloggers will be filling in for me while I’m gone.)  Even though I strive for magazine-quality writing, I want more than a one-way relationship with my readers.  So in the desire to get in touch, and at the risk of revealing too much, here is what’s been going on behind the scenes at Frugal Mama:

As most of you probably know, we just moved from a high-rise apartment in Manhattan to a village outside Syracuse in central New York.  The day before the move, my daughters (8- and 6-years-old) flew off to Italy to visit their grandfather, by themselves for the first time.  Reunited now in a real house in a typical American suburb, we are on the cusp of welcoming our fourth child into the family.  So our world is shaking a bit right now, but we’re still standing and, mostly, smiling.

The move definitely had its rough moments, and even if things aren’t organized to my obsessive standards, the house is box-free, curtained, sheeted, repaired, cleaned, decorated, and filled with our stuff.  (Most of which would not have happened — this soon or ever — without the expertise and hard work of my parents who met us here and stayed until the job was done.)

 

Renting a single-family house is another first for us, having previously lived in apartments or townhouse condos.  In addition to being surrounded by nature, I love having a basement (with a washer and dryer that don’t require quarters), a screened-in porch, and a room for the baby.  On the other hand, a stand-alone house makes me feel vulnerable, and things are breaking all the time, and there are too many doors and windows to lock at night.  Instead of the roar of the city outside our window, we hear leaves fluttering and crickets whirring, punctuated by teenagers joyriding and cats fighting.

The children are in heaven:  the stairs up and down, the backyard, the birds in the tall pine trees, the Friendly’s just a scooter-ride away.  When I tucked my eldest daughter into bed the night she returned from Italy, she said, “This is the best house in the world.  I hope we stay here forever.”

After three weeks of arduous work, that was exactly what I would have longed to hear, if it weren’t for the fact that my husband’s contract lasts but a year.  We may end up staying, but the uncertainty of our future makes our presence here more complicated.

I feel an underlying hollowness about being afraid to embrace a place and its people.  A move usually promises an exciting new adventure, but the building up and breaking down is wasteful of our energy — emotional and physical — and our resources.  After moving ten times in 20 years, I’m really looking forward to sinking my roots deep.  Hopefully, next year we’ll know where that will be.

Another adjustment:  after selling our cars before moving to New York City and going auto-free for two years, we are mobile again.  (We bought used cars from eBay and Cars.com).  Cars signal ease, but to my frugal mind, in which I remember a certain minivan full of HomeGoods loot, they are dangerous.  A car does allow me to take advantage of garage sales and Craigslist, but as my friend Gayle points out, few things can counteract having a Target down the street.

 

So are we breathing a sigh of relief and letting our belts out a few notches now that we no longer live in the most expensive city in the U.S.?  Not exactly.  A few weeks ago the New York Times found that living in the suburbs of New York cost 18% more than living in the city.  Cars need to be bought, maintained and fed.  The extra space you get with a house doesn’t just take care of itself:  it needs to be furnished, heated, cooled, repaired — and if you buy — you’ll be taxed.  And then there’s the upkeep of a yard and, in our case, snow removal.

Adding to our expenses is the fact that our family is expanding along with our share of real estate.  For the first time since we started having children, I’m beginning to pay for occasional childcare and housecleaning, two huge outlays I haven’t allowed myself in the past.

The tiny bit of financial leeway we have been granted by living in a less expensive place with a higher salary has come just in time for welcoming another baby.  My husband insists we’ll continue to need paid help, which makes me re-evaluate my contention that children don’t cost a lot of money, a conclusion I came to partly because I’ve been doing everything myself, including childcare.  However, I didn’t take into account the loss of my income (which in the end might not have been that much, but if I were cut out to be a high-powered lawyer, it would).

 

How our son will enter the world has become an important issue for me.  I’m a passionate believer in natural childbirth, yet somehow my education on the topic had never progressed beyond What to Expect When You’re Expecting. To take more control over this transformative life event, I read every library book on birth I could get my hands on.  Hopefully I’ll have the pure, intervention-free experience I’m dreaming of, and with a highly-recommended midwife, doula and alternative birth center on my side, I feel my chances are pretty good.

Why do I want to experience it all, even though it can be difficult and painful?  I guess it’s like climbing a mountain or running a marathon:  it’s about the total experience and the exhilaration of reaching the peak.

Finally, part of honoring the birth experience for me is safeguarding the post-partum period as a time of recovery and celebration.  Many cultures around the world and throughout history have created a sacred space and time for mother and baby.  Here we glorify women who can get back to their normal life (and physique) the fastest.

Thanks to the help 0f friends and bloggers who will be guest-posting at Frugal Mama, I’ll be able to carve out a little quiet time.  In the next couple of months, you’ll hear some unique voices about living economically, simply, and with children.  I hope you enjoy their perspectives as much as I do.

Being frugal, to me, is not just about finding what’s cheap.  And it’s also not about sacrificing my happiness in an all-out pursuit of a fat bank account.

Of course, spending less comes out of necessity for our family  — my husband wanted to change careers and is still in medical training, and I choose to take care of my children full-time.  But I’ve been happily surprised to realize all the ways we gain, even while we cut back.  This bright side of being parsimonious is what I like to write about at Frugal Mama.

Sometimes what we gain from keeping a tight budget is a new skill, a stronger family or network of friends, a simplified life, or a sense of satisfaction.  And in more cases than not, an extra benefit of spending less is that we end up polluting less and wasting less.

So when I was asked to co-host an online talk last week on The Motherhood about Saving Money While Living Green, I knew there was a lot of material to mine.

Also organized by Discovery and led by Annabelle Gurwitch of Planet Green’s Wa$ted!, the talk was co-hosted by an impressive line-up of women who run these dynamic websites:

• Big Green Purse
• EnviroMom
• Green My Parents
• Inhabitots
• Mindful Momma
• Practically Green
• Real Mama
• Stimeyland
• Twofer Mom

The text-based chat galloped along at a lively pace and, while you can read the transcript, I felt it was worth trying to condense the conversation into bite-sized pieces.

In a few words, here is the wisdom of many:

1.  School supplies: Instead of going out to buy pencils and notebooks, use up what you have. If you don’t find all you need “shopping” from home, try Freecycle.

2.  Backpacks & lunch boxes: Cheap of-the-moment backpacks usually need to be replaced every school year.  Why not buy a long-lasting quality one like those from Dante Beatrix, EcoGear, Columbia, or REI?  Same goes for lunch bags.  Try Goodbyn, Laptop Lunches or Mimi the Sardine.

3.  Meat: Eat 20% less meat (much more expensive than vegetables, grains and legumes) and reduce your impact on the environment as much as you would by switching to a hybrid car.  (Livestock production creates almost 20% of the world’s greenhouse gases.)  Even making one meal a week meat-free (Meat-Free Monday, for example) can save a family hundreds of dollars a year.

4.  Produce: Buy in-season fruits and vegetables.  (See this peak season map at Epicurious.com.)  They cost less, taste better and can reduce the environmental impact of long-distance shipping.   An added plus?  When produce is in peak season, organic sometimes costs the same as conventional.

5.  Cleansers: Clean almost everything in your house with vinegar, water and baking soda. (Fill a spray bottle with 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water and use it as you would Windex or Clorox cleaner.)

6.  Exchanging: Try swapping with friends and neighbors everything from clothes to dinners to babysitting. It’s amazing how our communities can grow and our quality of life can improve when we help each other out.   Also think of borrowing and lending large, infrequently-used items like tools, garden equipment, car luggage carriers, or inflatable mattresses.  A neighborhood listserv is a huge help in connecting people.  If yours doesn’t have one, start one at Google Groups or Yahoo Groups.

7.  Baby food: Make your own with as little equipment as a saucepan and a food processor or food mill, or simply by oven-roasting in foil.  When your baby is ready, simply grind up a portion of what you’re making for dinner.  Or prolong breastfeeding to the point where you can just cut up food into small pieces or smash with a fork. For a simple cookbook, try Cooking with Baby.

8.  Transportation: Ditch the car a few days a week and use public transportation. The average family can save almost $10,000 a year by using public transportation. Or try car sharing service ZipCar for in-town trips and GoLoco for longer trips. Carpooling is another great way to build community and save gas.

9.  Books: If you like to keep your books instead of borrowing from the library, try online book swapping services like Papberback Swap or Book Mooch.   If you can’t find a book you want, check it out from the library first to make sure you really want to buy it.

10.  Paper towels: Annabelle says, “On Wa$ted, I found a heretofore undiagnosed addiction in America: PTA, paper towel addiction. Break the habit, save hundreds of dollars a year!” Use sponges, rags or kitchen towels instead.  Try placing a basket of cloth where you would normally keep paper towels.

11.  Napkins: Cloth napkins are so much more pleasing, besides being more effective.  Use them for a few days then toss them in the laundry.  Favor darker colors so you don’t worry about spot cleaning.  Try them in your child’s lunchbox, along with real silverware and re-usable containers.

12.  Party favors: Make edibles to stuff your goody bags and you win three times:  get off the treadmill of buying single-use items, model behavior for your children, and save money all at once.

13.  Seeds: Plant a family garden for super-cheap organic food and teachable moments.  Try just one vegetable first, like tomatoes, which can be incredibly rewarding for your tastebuds and your wallet.  Or place pots of herbs on the porch in reach of the kitchen.

14.  Large appliances: When purchasing washers, dryers, refrigerators and dishwashers, choose machines with an Energy Star star rating.  Not only do they use less water and energy, they’ll pay you back big time in reduced energy costs.

15.  Beauty: Simplify your morning routine and cut back on the number of personal care products you use (like shower gel and body wash), which usually contain parabens and sulfates that wash down the drain, get into ground water, and damage fish, frogs and other aquatic wildlife.

16.  Home energy use: Save money by using programmable thermostats, keeping the shades drawn, lowering the temperature on hot water heaters, turning off the tap, and using fans instead of air conditioning.

17.  Dinnertime: Eat meals together. Not only do home-cooked meals cost less and taste better, but important bonding happens over the dinner table.  Sharing meals is even thought to be a mood-lifter.

What are some ways that you save money and feel good about it?

Congratulations to Vicki Pennock who won last week’s family pass to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This article is the final part in a series about visiting New York with children:
Part 1 | General Travel Guide
Part 2 | Uptown & Midtown

Here are our family’s favorite wallet-friendly destinations below 42nd Street and beyond the island of Manhattan.

West Village

The charming, Euro-flair West Village has a special place in my heart as Jane Street was my first home in the City, back when I was young and single.  While kids might not get as much out of wandering down the quarter’s crooked, brownstone-lined streets, there are a few playgrounds (with restrooms) you can bribe them with, such as the strategically located Bleecker Playground or the maritime-themed Pier 51 Playground in Hudson River Park.

The Downing Street Playround, with its jewel box-like setting, is near my favorite pizza place:  No. 28 Pizzeria at 28 Carmine Street.  Outside of visiting Naples, this is about as close as you’ll get to tasting real Italian pizza.  The owners and staff are Italian, and in true Neapolitan style, they only accept cash.

 

For a real Italian gelato to finish the experience, walk right by the lines at pricey G.R.O.M., and get a just-as-authentic scoop at Cones.

Another fun itinerary in the (far) West Village is a jaunt through the gritty yet glamorous Meatpacking District to the High Line, a park created on an old elevated railroad track (above 10th Avenue from Gansevoort to 20th St).  Enjoy some unusual views of Chelsea’s post-modern architecture and the Hudson River, then grab a bite at Bill’s Bar and Burger.  If you go in the late afternoon, you might catch some of the debauchery of the — believe it or not — decadent brunch party scene of the Meatpacking District.

Soho

These days Soho is more of a chic adult playground than an artsy quarter of cafes and funky shops, but there are still some vestiges from its more bohemian past.

For kids I would recommend the wacky and totally hands-on Children’s Museum of the Arts (182 Lafayette St. between Broome and Grand Sts.).  Besides all the messy paints and other art activities, they even offer their own take on a ball pit — great for getting the wiggles out if it’s yucky outside.  On Thursdays from 4-6 pm, the museum has a pay-what-you-wish admission policy.

When it’s time for grub, try Delicatessen for “international comfort food” like cheeseburger spring rolls, fish and chips, and some fun desserts like the candy-bar sundae.  Its open-air and casual vibe all year-round is great for families.

Statue of Liberty and Waterfront Parks

First of all, if you’re going to visit the Statue of Liberty, you must get reservations ahead of time, or expect to wait for an hour or two in line.

You’ll still have to go through a serious security checkpoint, but that didn’t stop us from bringing our own picnic food.  You can buy lunch on the island, but the food is greasy and overpriced, and there are plenty of tables and grassy areas for eating your own spread.

While nothing can compare to seeing Lady Liberty up close, you can get a gratuitous side view (and comfortable boat ride) on the free Staten Island Ferry.

Even if you decide to stay on terra firma, the gorgeously landscaped Battery Park is a great place to spend a few hours, taking in the sea air and the views of the financial district skyscrapers (and Lady Liberty, of course).  The Park, which extends all the way up to Tribeca, where it is joined  by the Hudson River Park, offers several cafe’s as well as playgrounds.

Two museums in the area have free hours:  the Museum of Jewish Heritage (free on Wednesdays from 4–8pm) and the National Museum of the American Indian (always free).

Wall Street and South Street Seaport

Also down at the tip of Manhattan island is the financial district and the seaport.  There is something deliciously atmospheric and sobering about the cavernous streets in this historic part of town, where money and power soak the air.

For a more light-hearted vibe, head over to see the tall ships docked at Pier 17 at South Street Seaport.  There is plenty of boat action on the river to entertain kids and, on the other side of the cheesy mall and food court, is a man-made beach in the summer.

In the summer, Water Taxi Beach, sponsored by the boats that shuttle from Manhattan to Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey, offers the unusual experience of sand-sifting-through-toes and Brooklyn-Bridge-gazing.  The temporary beach even has a putt-putt golf course and a dance floor, which comes to life after dark with the over-21 crowd.  The food is reasonable (if mediocre), but if you want to consume elsewhere, we found the management was okay with allowing our kids to just play in the sand.

The seaport area can be a bit touristy, but if you wander off the beaten path, you can get a real feel of old New York.  Reminiscent of other historic seafaring districts like Annapolis, the Seaport has a distinct Colonial flavor that you won’t find anywhere else in New York.

An added plus?  TKTS now has a ticket booth here, so you can score half-price tickets to a Broadway show in plenty of time for dinner and a subway ride up to Times Square.

Chinatown

Kids will be duly impressed by the foreign-country quality of Chinatown.  We love wandering around, gawking at the beautiful Chinese lettering on all the signs, the curvy red-roofed architecture, and the colorful markets selling all sorts of unusual fruits, vegetables and sea creatures.

Adults and kids alike will love browsing the Pearl River emporium:  a kind of Chinese department store chock full of curiosities, trinkets and practical items that won’t blow your budget.

If you’re in the area on a weekend, a memorable experience is doing brunch, Chinese-style, in one of the many dim-sum palaces.  One of the most popular — also delicious and economical — is Jing Fong (20 Elizabeth Street between Bayard and Canal Streets), which we visited with a New York friend from Beijing.  The Vegas-banquet-style room is humongous and carpeted, so noisy kids won’t make a dent.  It’s easy to get intimated by the throngs of people waiting outside and the apparently arbitrary seating process (with loud speakers and a long escalator leading you up to the dining room when it’s your turn), but the place has buzz.

For another cheap and fun place to eat in Chinatown, my Chinese friends also recommend Quickly Shabu Shabu, where you can get Chinese fondue (meat cooked in hot broth) and bubble tea.

If you’re looking for an indoor activity, the Museum of Chinese in America is free on Thursdays from 11 am to 9 pm.

Bronx

There are many more things to see in this borough, but if you have limited time and/or tolerance for kid schlepping, most people focus on the two gems:  the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo.

The New York Botanical Garden, designed by the same landscape architect as Central Park, is grandiose and a delight for the senses.  There is a children’s garden and educational center, as well as trams which ply through the park and pavilions for picnics.  And it’s cheap too:  adults $6 and children (2–12 years) $1.  Plus admission is free on Wednesdays and from 10 am to 12 pm on Saturdays.

The Bronx Zoo will surprise with its majestic old-world architecture, as well as its vast leafiness.  Fully updated with all sorts of exhibits and attractions (including a carousel, monorail and delightful children’s zoo), the Zoo will add another facet to your sense of New York.  Wednesdays is pay-what-you-wish.

We liked getting to the Zoo via the plush BxM11 express bus, which makes stops along Madison Avenue between 26th and 99th Streets, then travels directly to the Zoo’s Bronx River entrance (Gate B).  The 2 and 5 subways will also drop you off (just 2.5 blocks away from the Asia Gate).

Brooklyn

Of course Park Slope is the place to be if you are raising children in Brooklyn, but here are some other ideas for experiencing the quieter side of New York.

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade is fantastic for its picture-perfect views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.  Dream of being a New Yorker as you gaze at the neighborhood’s elegant brownstones, and wander along Montague Street where there are plenty of quaint places to grab ice cream, pizza or burgers.

Brooklyn Bridge Park is another fun destination right on the water, under the Manhattan Bridge, hence the moniker DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge).  The park also puts on a free summer outdoor movie series with some kid-friendly choices, and net fishing is organized by the Coastal Marine Resource Center.

If you like amusement parks, you might want to make the trek out to Coney Island.  It will take you an hour (or more) by subway from Manhattan, but if you are not familiar with East Coast boardwalk beaches, it’s worth the haul.  It’s a little run-down, with empty lots interspersed with family-run fun fairs, but it all adds to the colorful montage that is — in the words of a New Yorker my husband met — “big, funky New York.”

On Fridays from 3-5 pm, the New York Aquarium (right next to the amusement park) is pay-what-you-wish. Combined with a jaunt to the beach to dip your piggies in the water, it makes for a festive day.  And the kids will be in heaven.

This article is the final part in a series about visiting New York with children:
Part 1 | General Travel Guide
Part 2 | Uptown & Midtown

It’s good to be frugal, but it’s even better to be happy. In my reading about happiness as it relates to money, being content with what you have seems to be an important key.

I know: easier said than done. But there are ways to give yourself a hand.

Beware of Marketing

The entire point of advertising is to convince us that what we have is not enough. We are incomplete, the ads tell us, but we would be much happier if we only had THIS.

Advertising is everywhere — TV, cellphones, magazines, billboards, even coupons. One way to easily reduce it is to cancel catalogs and other “offers” that come in the mail.

Stop Catalogs

Start by visiting DMAChoice.org . Even though the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) represents the organizations that are sending out the junk mail in question (or “direct mail” as they call it), they want consumers to be happy.

Therefore they are offering us all sorts of choices for opting out. At their glossy website, you can cancel some or all direct mail, credit card offers, catalogs and magazine offers.

If you already have a relationship with a company, you will probably continue to receive their catalogs (even if you ordered one item a long time ago). To stop these too, the best solution is to contact the company directly and simply ask to be taken off the mailing list.

Toll-free 800 numbers are usually very easy to find, and many e-tailers offer live chat and email as a way of contacting them. If they ask why you don’t want the catalogs anymore, just say you don’t want to be wasteful and you’ll visit their website the next time you need something.

Reduce Spam

DMAChoice.org has a new eMail Preference Service (eMPS). While participating will take you off the list only for companies that participate in the program, it’s better than nothing.

In the meantime, you can always unsubscribe from the promotional emails that you are already receiving (search for the tiny print at the bottom of the email).

If you want to stay updated on sales just in case, you could set up a separate email address and provide it to companies, while you reserve your personal email address for friends and family.

Opt Out of Email Marketing

Personally, I find that promotional emails — even from stores I like — creates unnecessary noise in my life. My experience has taught me that if I buy stuff when things are on sale — as opposed to when I really need something — I end up spending more. So I always unsubscribe when I start receiving emails from a retailer.

These days, there always seems to be some kind of promotion going on, so I don’t fear I’m missing out. If I don’t see a sale announced on the retailer’s home page when I’m ready to buy, I search for consumer-submitted coupon codes on sites like RetailMeNot.

Look Within

Without the temptations of advertising, I find I am more likely to shop on my schedule according to my needs, instead of being lured into “good deals” — which are never good deals when I was doing just fine without, thank you very much.

How do you keep marketing noise — and temptations — out of your life?

This article is the second part in a series about visiting New York with children:
Part 1 | General Travel Guide
Part 3 | Downtown & Beyond

Traipsing around the funky adult playground of Greenwich Village as a twenty-something kid, I didn’t give Manhattan above 42nd Street a whole lot of respect.

Yet this time around I discovered that — beyond the wide sidewalks and gentler housing prices — uptown has a lot to offer former party girls with broods of their own.

Perhaps the most spectacular of these attractions is…

Central Park

In summer, the Park is a constantly unfolding carnival:  around every bend is a musician plunking an instrument you’ve never heard, grown-up children playing a sport you hadn’t thought of, and entertainers of all ages luring you to stop and gape.

All this creative human activity competes with the trees bursting into bloom, horse and buggies clopping along the rolling paths, balloon and ice cream vendors calling out their wares, and artists painting for profit and for fun.

Add on top the Park’s official attractions that offer organized entertainment year-round.  Here are some of my favorites, although there are many, many more.

Rent a rowboat at the Central Park Boathouse and tool around the lake for only $12 per hour.  The boathouse also organizes bike rentals (including kids bikes) starting at $6 an hour.

Horse and buggy rides will put you back about 50 clams, but you can ride the musical kind on the Central Park Carousel (mid-park at 64th St.) for only $2.

We’ve never rented a tiny sailboat, but we love just hanging around the toy boat pond (Conservatory Water) for its picnic-perfect surroundings, including the climb-able Alice in Wonderland statue, the old-world brick and stone cafe’ and gelato stand, and glimpses of Central Park’s resident red-tailed hawk, Pale Male, against the backdrop of fancy Fifth Avenue residences.

But my favorite kid- and wallet-friendly place to eat in the City is the Boathouse’s Express Cafe’:  an outdoor eatery behind the swanky Loeb boathouse restaurant.  For just $3 to $7 for hamburgers and hotdogs, salads and sandwiches, we love the experience of chowing down under a canopy of trees.  The cafe’ is open year-round and indoor tables have views of the lake.  (Please note that the summer hours are advertised as 8 am to 8 pm, but the place has shut on us at 6 pm a few times, so best arrive early.)

Central Park’s playgrounds are some of the best you’ll find anywhere, with unusual materials, themes and some fantastic views (like the vistas of midtown skyscrapers from Heckscher Playground).  In summertime, bring your suits since most New York playgrounds have sprinklers for cooling off.  (Find out more about the Park’s 21 playgrounds.)

After plenty of fresh-air exercise, the whole family can rest their piggies in the dollhouse-like Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater for a puppet show, one of the cheapest productions you’ll find in the Big Apple ($5-10).  Make sure you reserve ahead of time.

Good but not Cheap

Although ticket prices can add up for a whole family, the Central Park Zoo is darling and surprisingly diverse (seals, polar bears, monkeys, penguins).

We also love Victorian Gardens, where our kids’ school carnival was held each year.  This fantastically whimsical mini-amusement park takes over Wollman Rink from late May to mid-September.  Admission and rides are not a bargain, but at least kids under 36″ tall get in free.

From October to April, the area becomes the most picturesque ice skating arena:  Wollman Rink.  While Wollman does charge an admission fee — unlike the Pond at Bryant Park —  it’s still less expensive than skating at Rockefeller Center.

Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is home to the famous American Museum of Natural History, with its dinosaur bones, colorful gems, ocean room with giant squid replica, and planetarium.  One could spend all day here, but if  children get restless, check out the hands-on activities in the Discovery Room.  Visits are scheduled in 40-minute slots, so go first in case you need to sign up.  While suggested admission is $16 for adults, $9 for kids 2-12, you can pay as you wish.

Nearby is the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (83rd Street between Amsterdam Ave and Broadway).  While I never schlepped my kids over there, the museum gets good reviews and is free on the first Friday of the month from 5–8 pm.

In the warmer months, we love eating at the Boat Basin Cafe’, a super-casual restaurant overlooking the bobbing boats on the Hudson River.  The West 79th Street Boat Basin marina, with its docks and nautical vibe, will make you forget for a moment you’re in the city.  Both the cafe’ and marina are nestled in Riverside Park, a four-mile stretch of athletic fields, bike riding trails, and tons of playgrounds.

See the last section on the Upper East Side (below), for more family restaurants with Upper West Side locations.  Time Out Kids New York also suggests the Popover Café (551 Amsterdam Ave at 86th St) for an oversized sweet brunch or the “cavernous, elegant” Dean’s Pizzeria (215 W 85th St between Amsterdam Ave and Broadway) for classic round or extra-thin square pies.

Midtown

I guess I’m a sucker for glitz and glamour, because one of my favorite corners in the city is 5th Avenue and 57th Street.  You can just feel the wealth oozing out of every sidewalk crack in this home to new and old money:  from the Plaza Hotel to Trump Tower, and St. Patrick’s ornate cathedral to the house music booming from Abercrombie & Fitch.

The problem is, once you’re here, how do you avoid spending your inheritance?  Here are some free or low-cost diversions.

Get to Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue) without even practicing by attending their delightful yet super-cheap concerts for kids.
Reserve tickets online to these fantastically creative musical adventures offered in the fall and winter:   CarnegieKids ($6 FREE interactive concerts for pre-K to kindergarten-age kids) and Family Concerts ($9 concerts for 5- to 12-year-olds).

We also love the Museum of Modern Art’s free family tours. These guided interactive talks are specifically oriented toward 4-year-olds (Tours for Fours), 5- to 10-year-olds (A Closer Look for Kids), and tweens.  The best part?  At tour’s end they give you a free family pass for another visit!

While the family tours are currently offered in fall and winter, you can always visit the MoMA gratis during their year-round free hours: Fridays from 4–8 pm.  Also free on Fridays from 5:30–7:30 pm is the American Folk Art Museum (53rd St between Fifth and Sixth Aves).

I’m a bit of a luddite, so I can’t say I have personal experience with the free Sony Wonder Technology Lab (Madison Ave between 55th and 56th Streets), but I’ve heard it’s an entertaining way spend a few hours on a frigid or sweltering day.

You don’t have to risk breathing the expensive air in stores like Henry Bendel to gawk at their glittering window displays at Christmastime. Start with the creme de la creme — Bergdorf Goodman at 58th Street and 5th Avenue — and work your way down to Rockefeller Center (49th and 5th Avenue), where gazing at the ginormous tree won’t cost you a dime (and is just as mouth-dropping).

Finding someplace to eat in this area with character and ambience that won’t break the bank is an almost impossible feat. Restaurants are either super-fancy or windowless cafeterias. Now would be a perfect time to try one of those New York hot dogs or soft pretzels from a street-side vendor.

Pass by American Girl Place at your own risk, and head down 5th Avenue to 42nd Street for the delightful Bryant Park.   This green oasis in Midtown behind the main library (with the lions) turns into an ice skating rink in winter:  The Pond at Bryant Park.  Admission is free, and skates can be rented onsite.  Around the rink, bunches of colorful holiday shops set up during the season.

In the summer, Bryant Park is famous for its free Monday film series, but it’s a little too late for our kids (movies begin at dusk).  The park is still a great place to have a picnic, ride the carousel ($2), or grab a gourmet sandwich at the ‘Wichcraft kiosk.

While you’re there, you must dip inside the main public library to marvel at its extremely ornate and refined interiors.  The famous Reading Room is not a place for chatty kids (take a peek anyway), but I’ve heard the library has a great Children’s Center on the first floor.

Times Square

If you love Las Vegas, you’ll love Times Square.  You just can’t get more over-the-top, loud and boisterous than this famous intersection of commerce and spectacle.

Hold on tight to your little ones’ hands and do like everyone else:  walk really slow and gape at the flashing billboards and animated giant LCDs.

If you need shelter, agree on a closed-purse trip into the mega Toys ‘R Us store.  The racks of blaring plastic trinkets you can find anywhere:  head upstairs for the Lego sculptures and animated dinosaur, or to the lower level for the giant neon ferris wheel ($4).

Good but Not Cheap

Every trip has a splurge factor, and for our extended New York vacation, that was Broadway.

If you’re willing to sit way back, tickets can be had for as low as $30 for some shows like Mary Poppins.  If you want to get closer, try searching for discount codes on the pricier seats at sites like Playbill.com or BroadwayBox.com.

The TKTS booth (right in Times Square and also at South Street Seaport) offers half-price last-minute tickets to shows that have not sold out (forget Lion King).  See the New York Times’ insider tips at Broadway Bargains:  Secrets of the TKTS Booth.

While you won’t get multi-million dollar Disney productions, the New Victory Theater is known for its unique shows geared for kids and the ticket prices are shorter too.

Due to Times Square being colonized by tourists, it’s difficult to find a homey and inexpensive place to eat.  However, head west a block or two to 9th or 10th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen (don’t let the name scare you — like the once-seedy Times Square, the place is perfectly respectable now).  You’ll find plenty of atmospheric and delicious restaurants:  search the New York Times Dining Section online ahead of time for places in Midtown West.

On the other hand, I totally get it if you want to bask in the charged neon glow in the heart of it all.  To stay on budget, you might have to settle for one of the many franchises you’ll recognize — Chevy’s and Red Lobster come to mind.  True to chains, they won’t offer any surprises — except for some Times Square dazzle.

Upper East Side

The Upper East Side is home to Museum Mile and the most elegant stone mansions you’ll see anywhere in the City.  Until Tribeca surpassed it as the most expensive zip code, the UES was THE place for rich people to live.

Walking around the historic district (from Central Park to Lexington Avenue) and admiring the imposing architecture is free, but anything near Madison Avenue is going to cost you a pretty penny (and some hoity looks if you’ve got sticky, disheveled and noisy kids in tow).

To avoid going straight to jail, head east of Lexington for more affordable (and less glamorous) places to eat and shop. Try Patsy’s Pizzeria on 2nd Avenue and 69th, Big Daddy’s Diner on 2nd and 83rd Street, or the open-air Mexican, Cilantro, on 1st and 71st.

Alice’s Teacup, a deliciously whimsical cafe’, has a couple of Upper East locations including 81st and 3rd Avenue, not too far from the Met.  A decidedly girlie place, the hostesses will offer to lend your young companions a pair of fairy wings and will give you a free sprinkle of fairy dust.  (All of the above four eateries have locations on the Upper West Side too.)

Alice’s has another outpost (64th and Lexington) closer to a kind of FAO Schwarz for the tongue:  Dylan’s Candy Bar.  Not a place I’d go every day after school, but what the hell:  how often do you get to experience a modern-day Willy Wonka factory?

There is plenty of nostalgia candy for parents, but if sugar is not your thing, Bloomingdale’s is right across the street.  If you are from out-of-town, stop by the customer service desk on the first floor balcony for a visitor discount or special gift.  When my parents were here, Bloomie’s gave anyone with an out-of-state driver’s license an 11% discount pass.  (You’ll need a whole lot more than that, though, to make this elegant institution a bargain.)

As for the Upper East Side’s famous museums, it’s hard to keep a straight face when I remember our first trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (free for children under 12 and $20 recommended admission for adults).  We wandered into the Greek and Roman statue section and suddenly the theme of our family’s tour became “butts and wieners.” (That was before we put the kibosh on potty talk.)

Your kids are probably much more refined than mine, but even if you suffer from the same giggle-triggers, the Met has plenty of fully-clothed exhibits that kids will find fascinating, including the Medieval knight armor, the giant wooden canoes, and the Egyptian mummies.  (By the way, the museum has a cafe’ on the lower level, but we got away with eating our own picnic food at one of their tables.)

Most kids like wild and weird stuff, like elephants with 16 arms, so they’d probably also tolerate a swing through the Asia Society museum (Park Avenue at 70th St.) which is free on Fridays 6-9 pm.

This article is the second part in a series about visiting New York with children:
Part 1 | General Travel Guide
Part 3 | Downtown & Beyond