Ms. Dahlia's pastries & cakes

It’s the original stomping ground of Jay-Z, Chris Rock, Lil’ Kim and that old ear-biter, Mike Tyson. It’s the showcase for epic wall art, gorgeous brownstones and some old-school, no-frills block parties. It’s Bed-Stuy. And in recent years, this chunk of Brooklyn has birthed a crop of seriously clutch (and cheap) spots to dine, drink and shop… on top of all the incredible, long-standing neighborhood staples. We know the secret’s been out for a while, but here are 10 deals we love in Bed-Stuy.

FUEL-UP FOR THE DAY One of several great new spots at Classon & Greene Aves., Pilar Cuban Eatery (393 Classon Ave. between Greene & Clifton) serves up traditional Cuban breakfast ($2 pastries, breakfast sandwich for $2.50-$4), lunch bites (empanadas for $4-$5) and daily dinner specials. Tiny Cup (279 Nostrand Ave. between Clifton Pl. & Lafayette Ave.) oozes art-house, with free Wi-Fi and the strongest espresso around… along with hefty breakfast panini for $3, delish french toast for $3.75 and a loaded hummus plate for $5.50. Ms. Dahlia’s Cafe (449 Nostrand Ave. between Halsey St. & Hancock St.) serves a stellar deal for morning commuters en route to the subway: $1 coffee with any pastry purchase. Swing by on your way home and get half-off any pastry after 5 pm.

Breakfast at Pilar

TWO SPOTS FOR CHEAP THREADS Though some may argue that this pick belongs to Clinton Hill (a mere 10-foot technicality, at best), The Salvation Army (22 Quincy St. between Classon Ave. & Downing St.) is enormous, clean, chock-full of high-end finds and well-organized (clothing is even separated by color). The already rock-bottom prices are further slashed by a daily special for half-off all clothes of a designated color. Even better are Family Wednesdays (open to all), when everything  is half-off. You may also recognize the space as the backdrop for Dave Chappelle’s 2005 Block Party.

Collecther (306 Franklin Ave. at Lafayette) is a quirky boutique boasting women’s and men’s vintage fashions, including bags and a surprisingly large selection of sunglasses. Owner Shana has a keen curator’s eye and is always helpful with suggestions. Dresses range from $20-$45, men’s shirts average $20, and the Sunday “recessionista” special is key—all dresses are priced at $25, with 25% off everything else in the store.

Browse at Collecther

And while you’re out and about, take a breather at the positively Zen Vietnamese spot Tigerlily (299 Greene Ave. between Classon & Franklin). Sandwiches go for $6.50, salads for $5.50 and the inventive shakes are totally worth the $4.50 splurge on a hot day (think: papaya, pineapple and ginger or strawberry, lychee and mint, among others).

HAPPY HOURS WITH BENEFITS A local staple, Amarachi Lounge (325 Franklin Ave. between Clifton Pl. & Greene Ave.), is a cavernous space sporting a billiards room, flat-screen TVs throughout and a disco-ball-accented dance floor in the back. Weekday happy hours feature 2-for-1 drinks from 6-8. Colador Cafe (1000 Bedford Ave. between DeKalb & Lafayette Aves.) doubles as a coffee/Wi-FI spot by day and a haven for cheap drinks and eats by night—with a new $3 bottled beer special each week, Cream Ale and PBRs for $1 and a free beer and fries with any burger purchase.

With little more than a signboard out front, Project Parlor (742 Myrtle Ave. between Sanford St. & Nostrand Ave.) has a helipad-sized space in back. Happy hour from 5-8 includes $2 PBRs and a PBR & a shot for $6. There’s also a BBQ competition hosted out-back every Sunday, where plates go for around $5. Sweet Revenge (358 Franklin Ave. between Greene & Lexington Aves.) is also in on the happy hour-meets-BBQ game, slinging $4 well drinks, $3 shot-and-draft-beer pairings and $5 frozen margaritas from 4-8 daily. Anytime specials include $5 shots + a can of beer, and the sand-covered, tiki bar-rimmed backyard is home to a new grill menu every Saturday and Sunday from 3-11 (plates average $5-$8).

Later, some Sweet Revenge

What do you do?
I’m currently in the last semester of undergraduate theater studies with Empire State College. I teach dance at P.S. 209 in Sheepshead Bay through the YWCA, and I intern with Community Word Project at P.S. 27 in Red Hook. My goals are to pursue an MFA in drama, and eventually a PhD in Shakespearean studies.

What are your duties as Miss Brooklyn?
My first few months were full of interviews with local media and appearances around Brooklyn. It’s your job to get the word out about this fantastic program, and the opportunities it provides young women. Secondly, you represent Brooklyn at the Miss New York pageant. The highlight of my year was working with the Block Institute in Gravesend, which serves children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Does Miss Brooklyn have to make any kind of pledges not to pose nude?
Yes—actually! The Miss America Organization, which runs the Miss Brooklyn pageant, is very conscious of its image, so certain things, like posing nude for photographs, are quite obviously off limits.

What’s the best part of being Miss Brooklyn?
Being at the Miss New York State pageant in Albany and having “YO BROOKLYN!” yelled at you the entire week by passersby.Every time the contestants went out in public with our crowns and sashes on, people would see “Brooklyn” on my sash and go nuts!

How did you do?
I believe there were 21 contestants at Miss New York this past year. I ended up as 4th runner up, which I was thrilled about!

A lot of our readers might not be “pageant types.” Any idea how a girl who works in an indie bookstore and cuts her own hair could win this thing in 2010? Let’s assume she has at least one tattoo.
The judges are looking for the young woman who will bring the most to the table as Miss Brooklyn, not the girl who can best play the part of a “pageant queen. I encourage ANYONE who meets the eligibility requirements and is willing to dedicate a year of her life to community service and representing Brooklyn to compete. Don’t buy a “pageant wardrobe”… wear what you feel beautiful in. And depending on where your tattoo(s) are, I’d recommend using some Dermablend to cover them, not because tattoos aren’t awesome, but from a distance (like the distance between the stage and the judges/ audience), tattoos often look more like really bizarre birthmarks, which might be distracting when you’re modeling a swimsuit…

Keelie with Kimberly Cantoni, Miss Staten Island 2009, in a fashion show at last year's Miss New York pageant.

We’re a budget-living blog. Any advice on where to buy a cheap swimsuit or pageant heels?
I’m a full-time student, and I work two jobs to be able to afford to live here and pay for college, so I’m a big eBay and second-hand shopper. For pageant-related stuff, www.pageantresale.com is an online consignment store that sells shoes, swimsuits, gowns… everything! I’ve gotten a majority of my appearance wardrobe from the Salvation Army in Sheepshead Bay. Wednesdays are “Family Clothing Day,” so all clothing and shoes are 50% off except for one specific tag color. I’ve found some surprisingly high-end stuff there. Also, you can solicit sponsors, and Brooklyn has been generous to me in that respect.

Who are your sponsors?
Ellen Stein (www.kettlebellen.blogspot.com) is my personal trainer, who has gone above and beyond the call of duty as my fitness sponsor—she comes to my house to train me, helps me book appearances, sometimes drives me to appearances and even secured my hair sponsor for me! Joe Taylor of J Taylor Salon on 3rd Ave in Bay Ridge does my hair—he’s PHENOMENAL! Bend and Bloom Yoga in Park Slope and Bikram Bay Ridge gave me free classes to help me cross-train before Miss New York. Pacific Tanning in Park Slope gave me free airbrush tanning. Bensonhurst Dental Care donated teeth whitening services. Karolina Almanzar did my makeup for my headshots, David Gardiner photographed me, and Bond St. Studio donated space for my headshot shoot. Additionally, Aqua Health Rehabilitation, Wafels and Dinges, Nature Pure Spa, Miss Jessie’s, Spartak Chocolate Company, North American Crystal, My Darling Diva, Covenant Ballet Theatre and the NY Steakhouse all donated services, goods, time, effort or financial support to me during my year as Miss Brooklyn.

Wow. Any budget beauty tips?
And I’ve been going to Bay Aqua Nails on Sheepshead Bay Rd. since I moved here in 2005—it’s nothing fancy, but it’s cheap (appx $25 for eyebrows, manicure and pedicure), and they get the job done. I’m really DIY when it comes to this sort of thing. I make my own exfoliant out of coffee grinds and almond oil or yogurt. And I’m a drugstore girl when it comes to cosmetics.

What’s your advice for the Democrats and Republicans on forging an agreement on healthcare?
I’d like to remind them that while they stall and re-write and argue with each other, they’re doing so as insured Americans. They’d do well to try and channel some of the urgency of the uninsured Americans who cannot wait much longer for affordable healthcare.

Does Miss Brooklyn get free drinks?
I actually don’t drink, so yes, my drinks are free, but only because I’m drinking water.

Photo by Stefan Tonio

I never really decided to spend only $8,000 in one year—it just sort of happened. I didn’t even realize the extent of my thrift until tallying up my income on the eve of March 15. When you take the amount of money I brought home (roughly $13,000) and subtract the amount I had thrown to the black void that is private student loans (roughly $5,000), combined with the fact that both my checking and my savings accounts were more or less empty on January 1, it was pretty simple math. And while I maybe didn’t expect my spending to have been quite that lean, I can’t say I was all that surprised either. Since I moved to Brooklyn two years ago, I’ve staunchly maintained that despite New York City’s reputation as the playground for the rich (or, as will become clear later, because of it) you can pretty much spend as much, or as little as you want here.

So how did I come to only spend eight grand? Well, in a way, the answer starts right before I packed up my life into a clunker of a 92 Jetta on the verge of a breakdown, and made the drive to my first apartment in Brooklyn.

Just a few days before, I was sweating under the weight of a cap-and-gown ensemble while Mayor Bloomberg addressed my class of roughly 450 Bard College grads. To paraphrase, he promised that all of us who moved to New York City would be welcomed with “open arms.” But that wasn’t exactly how it played out for me.

During the first month of my new life in New York, the superintendent of my building, who I later learned was addicted to crack, broke into my room and stole a handful of blank checks. She then proceeded to use them to milk my checking account to -$1000. After my first six months I was unemployed, having been fired from my first two jobs, the latter of which was bussing tables at a roach-infested restaurant.

I finished up 2007 doing freelance photography. Though it has a romantic ring to it, this more or less translated to taking snap shots of drunk people in nightclubs, and a myriad of odd jobs from taking head shots of a police detective for his MySpace page to playing the role of one of ten “fake” paparazzi photographers in a Burger King commercial. For all of this, I made around $800 a month, $550 of which had to go to rent at the time. With only $250 left for everything else, including student loans, I had to figure out how to live frugally.

Shelter

One of the main reasons I’m able to spend so little is that my rent in a shared Bed Stuy brownstone is cheap, even for Brooklyn. I pay $440 a month, all utilities included. Also included are wooden floors, two large windows, original molding, two large walk-in closets, a built in bookcase, and a personal bathroom. Yeah, that’s right—I have my own bathroom. My rent dropped $110 because we decided to rent out our living room. Bed Stuy might not have the same restaurants and bars as trendier neighborhoods have, but it’s quiet with tree lined streets, and it’s got perhaps the best roti in Brooklyn.

When it came time to paint my room, I went to Build it Green in Astoria and walked off with a gallon of blue paint and a quart of white for a total of $6, which of course I wrote off my next rent check.

Clothing

I don’t need to spend much on clothes because my job, as a part-time assistant for a small business owner, requires only that I look clean. So I usually shop at the Salvation Army or go to a Free Market, basically a massive giveaway that happens usually every few months. They’re highly unpredictable. There’s either tons of great stuff, or a meager selection that’s clearly been sitting at the bottom of someone’s closest for the last year. Still, it’s free, and always worth a check. (To sign up for email notices for when the next one is planned, contact them at inourhearts@gmail.com.)

That said, I did need to buy clothes since moving to the city for interviews, and found them at chain stores common to Brooklyn like “Danice” or “Pretty Girl.” I’ve gotten nice blouses sold two for $10, and basic black skirts for $15 that look just as professional as more costly items elsewhere.

Food

My diet consists mainly of gourmet ingredients: pre-washed baby spinach and watercress, fresh mozzarella, portabella mushrooms, smoked salmon, chocolate croissants, free range eggs, salmon steaks, spicy Italian sausage, hummus, crème fraiche, Odwalla granola bars—these are just some of the gourmet items I’ve picked out of supermarket trash bins in the past year.

As for quality, most of the time the items I find have not even passed their expiration date, and if they have, it’s usually only by a day or two. While sometimes eating for free means slightly bruised fruit or slicing off a bit of mold on a block of cheese, I’ve foraged for everything from fish filets to pork chops and never gotten sick—something I can’t say for people who regularly eat at restaurants.

A recent evening's dumpster haul. Photo by Sara Katz

Where do I find the best stuff? Mainly in Manhattan. Le Pain Quotidien has probably the best bread in all of New York City. It’s covered with rolled oats, and inside is chuck full with nuts and cranberries. They’ve also got nice plain whole wheat loafs, and some serious chocolate brownies. An excess of bagels can be found nightly at Daniel’s Bagels in Murray Hill, or Bagel Store in Williamsburg. For Daniel’s, don’t just hone in on the first bag you find. They usually put out 2-3 bags of just bagels—the freshest will often still be warm, and will always have several bagels still stuck together. That’s how you know they’re fresh off the baking pan.

Fruits and Vegetables: On the Chrystie Street edge of the Whole Foods in the Bowery, between around 4-6:30 PM you’ll find rows of green dumpsters that on any given day are full to the brim with fruit and vegetables. It’s somewhat hit or miss, so if you don’t strike gold the first time don’t be discouraged.

For dairy and meat, Gristedes and D’Agostino also offer a wider array of finds. Pretty much every store is good, but I have particular luck with the branches in Murray Hill. Especially the Gristedes on 32nd Street and Third Avenue. Not only do I routinely get vegetables, dairy, and meat, but this is the main spot where I find special treats like the aforementioned smoked salmon.

Transportation

While the number of people who bike to work rose 35% in 2008, I’d bet a lot of money that even among those most did not bike in the dead of winter. I know because I was out on the streets, come snow or blistery winds, and I can tell you, there were certainly a lot less bikes than there is now.

While I am a huge fan of biking, even I admit it’s not for everyone. You will get into accidents. I don’t care how cautious you are. If you don’t feel you can afford to hit the pavement every once in a while, then biking probably isn’t for you. Even I sometimes drop the cash to take the train if I’m on my way to a photography gig; my camera is just too valuable to risk a long ride.

Entertainment

I always take full advantage of free museum days and summer concert series during summer, but I also have a few money-saving tricks that aren’t so obvious.

Movies: If you don’t have a Brooklyn Library card already, get one. Their movie collection is actually pretty impressive, and while it can be hard to just walk in and find the title you want, you can request anything in their system to be shipped to the branch nearest you.

Eating Out: Two words—mystery shopper. For obvious reasons, there is a limit to what I can say about this, but I highly recommend searching around Craigslist for people advertising jobs as mystery shoppers. It allows me to drop $240 on a dinner for two without having to actually pay.

Drinking: Probably my favorite way to drink for free is the weekly see-and-be-seen fest that is gallery openings in Chelsea. Not only is the booze free, but it tends to be decent, often with accompanying snacks. Plus you get to look vaguely classy in the process, making this a great idea if you want to hang out with a friend who has slightly higher standards. A little advice: I’ve found a somewhat intriguing negative correlation between the quality of the artwork and the quality of the free handouts.

In the end, I’m not sure how long I’ll live like this. While I can’t say that I feel like I’ve missed out at all by living such a thrift-conscious lifestyle, I admit my current situation is not ideal. There are some things that I’ve yet to find a solution. For example, if anyone knows an affordable darkroom rental, uh, let me know.

And certainly, if I landed one of those salaried jobs I sometimes fantasize about, I’m sure I’d spend more money. But until then, I know I can live for a year on less than some people in this city spend in a month.