(lounging and watching the crowd at SWAY on Monday)

 Some say nothing in life is free, that is true, unless you live in New York City.

 I love my friends; most of them live here in New York, but I have many that live in California, Florida, New Mexico, or Georgia. My friends in those states balk at the idea of how much rent or taxes I pay here, "How do you eat!?!?" "How do you financially survive there?!" They ask with genuine concern. I assure them that besides the rent, New York City has some of the best deals EVER and I think those are just some of the perks of living in this amazing city. Here is a short list of some of my very favorite cheap deals (for those of you who are cheap dates, or those of you who want to take someone on a cheap date).

1. The Johnson's on Rivington & Essex. $1.50 PBR, and $2 well drinks until 9pm everyday. That's some happy hour, plus the bartenders are all hot (both the boys and the girls- and they will let you flirt with them free of charge!)

2. Bryant Park Monday summer movies series. Grab a picnic basket a bottle of wine and curl up with your love (or lust of the week) and watch a fabulous free movie as the sunsets.

3. Coffee and pastries in Chinatown. First of all the coffee is D-freakin'-licious! I think the secret (ancient chinese secret, huh?) is light cream. The great bakeries are plentiful in Chinatown, and both a pastery and a cup of coffee together will run you about a $1.50.

4. Dumplings in Chinatown. You can get 10 for a buck. "A buck?" you say. A buck. One dollar. One clam.

5. Shakespeare in the Park. For those of you more culturally inclined- you can see free Shakespeare in Central Park if you are willing to get up early and wait outside the ticket booth for a few hours. Trust me it's work the wait and you can get to two tickets for free!

I wanted to find new deals last night (and to see how little I could spend), so I went to another one of my favorite sites:My Openbar.

I took two of my gay boys, my roommate Chris, and my friend Mark, with me for a little "adventure in free" last night. Our first destination was a place near Union Square on 20th and Park (in Grammery) called "FLUTE." The title of the party "Glamorous As You" aka "GAY". The deal, free champagne from 9-10pm. Chris and Mark were down. Gay? Champagne? Hot! Mark, Chris, and I are notoriously late for everything, from going to the movies to a make out session, but for free champagne, we were ten minutes early and the first to arrive. The very kind and sweet host (and perhaps owner?) Al greet us with a warm smile and a bottle of bubble. DJ Romeo was playing lush tunes that complimented the strawberries and cream Al brought out to our table for us to try. The place was packed in under twenty minutes.

At the strike of 10 we thanked Al for his hospitality and cabbed it over to Le Souk for our Monday night complimentary four course meal and cocktails. Once again we were early. We were greated by Jordan (the promoter) and he pointed us to the prime table. The hosts came and brought pitches of sangrias and mojitios, baskets of bread and a chile flecked olive tapenade. The beautiful guests poured in moments after our arrival (including a well know handbag designer- who walked in with what looked like the entire tail of a crocodile turned into bag/briefcase- the poor thing still looked alive!) and then became a standing room only after our second course came.

Chris and I decided to go to our next destination, "Sway" on Spring street as Mark decided to stay behind (could it have been the handsome German who was occupying his time that made him stay put? hmmm....me thinks so).

Sway is hosted by the lovely blond bombshell Roxy (aka Roxy Oxycottentail). She is hands down one of New York Cities best promoters, her crowds and d.j.'s are always FRESH, hot, styling and profiling. I cozied up in the booth and marveled at everyones fantastic clothing choices to the dance hall sounds of the lovely DJ Queen Majesty. After a little dancing, and a little suprise text romancing, my roommate and I kiss and hug our fabulous host good-bye to head back to the Chinatown loft.

Total cost of the evening: $12 (two cab rides)

Having your roommate Chris pay for your cab rides: Priceless