Brokelyn

A smart phone helps you find free condoms, serious discounts and even the details on the nearest happy hour. Free apps are super great, right? But as a fellow money conservationist, you probably noticed the quality of many free apps available lately has been way down (here’s looking at you, Talking Tom Cat). They crash, or are a limited “lite” version, or just have horrible graphics. With more than 400,000 apps available from iTunes, the free little gems are easy to overlook. To separate the great apps from the cr-apps (I mean, seriously), Brokelyn waded through the iTunes bargain bin and compiled a list of useful ones you might’ve missed that will help you save money and time in Brooklyn, more so than a free sex positions game, at least. Read the rest of this entry »

Villas near Puerto Vallarta, $266/week and up.

My challenge was this: to figure out how to get a group of four out of town for a week, with a $500 budget for lodging. It was a tall order, even for this frugal traveler. Most choices at that price were slim, and they tended to look like they were furnished for our budget—several decades ago. But a bit of sleuthing uncovered rustic cabins in magnificent park settings and appealing homes advertised at higher rates but available to the skilled negotiator for less. There wasn’t a Sun Valley chalet or a Bora Bora bungalow in the bunch, but I did find some nice getaways for little more than the cost of a staycation. Read the rest of this entry »