Democratic Chinese Dr Pepper

China may not have democracy, but you can have a free Dr Pepper. Because Axl Rose actually finished the album Chinese Democracy before the end of 2008, Dr Pepper is honoring their promise to give every American a free soda, via a coupon on their website (starting Sunday).
Details in this article.



Photo: Jane M Sawyer / cohdra Morguefile.com

Holiday Travel on the Cheap

Some great sites for saving on holiday travel -- or any travel:

Ride share sites like eRideShare.com and Ridester.com let you connect with people who are driving your way. Or, if you have a car, you can post your trip to find someone to split the gas.

I've never tried it, but I've heard others have survived the Chinatown Bus for travel between NYC and Boston/DC/Philadelphia and other eastern cities.

If you are not opposed to getting e-newsletters, Travelzoo finds and aggregates great travel offers and delivers them to your inbox. (You can also just visit the website.) Today's e-mail included free bus tickets in the northeast and midwest (for Q1 2009) and my pals Sean and Sue are going to Prague in January on the cheap through an offer they found there.

If you are looking for airfare and more:
First read this article in Wired Magazine (orignally found it on lifehacker).

Second use Kayak.com (we've mentioned it before) to find great deals and have the option to compare with Hotwire, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity and Airfare.com.

Free Movies On Demand

My first official post! Thanks to the Recession This! Team for having me aboard.

If you have already put your Netflix subscription on hold to save a few bucks, but have kept your cable TV subscription, you can still catch up on great movies any time.

The other day, the wife and I caught A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints and The Mother via Sundance Channel On Demand -- a sub-channel of Free Movies On Demand from Time Warner Cable. It is channel 1008 in Brooklyn/Queens and Manhattan; check channel line-ups to see what other channels you might be missing out on.

If you have another provider (like RCN or Optimum) that offers the same service, let us know!

The Cheap and The Tasty

If you work in Midtown and still haven't discovered Midtown Lunch, this will be the best news your wallet has gotten in a week. The blog is all about the cheap and the tasty -- two of my favorite topics. It has brought me many new food adventures and happy days away from the generic overpriced deli food. Plus, it always lists free food giveaways!

Search and Share the Wealth

From our amazing Recession Tipmaster Franke:

Still want to give to good causes but can't even afford peanut butter for your brown bag lunch? Use Goodsearch.com whenever you need to look something up on the web. First choose the charity you want to benefit, and then each time you search using their engine, a portion of ad revenues go to your charity of choice -- at no cost to you!

If You're Reading This, You're Hip

The New York Times has finally announced to the world how cool we are with an article on the emergence of the Recessionista trend -- though one expert says it's just a way to justify shopping during tough economic times (as long as it's cheap it's okay) but since we were never girls that would consider buying $1235 purses I disagree. But I do like the slogan they pulled from a Sears catalog from the 1930s : Be Smart and Thrifty!

Recession Education

Lately, I've been too paralyzed by fear as I watch the economy collapse around our ears...I've barely known what to think let alone what to write. Oh, also...I've been working in Louisville, KY since August so I've been out of the NYC cheap stuff loop. So, I mark my return to RT! posting as well as my determination to UNDERSTAND this thing and GET THE BETTER OF IT with a referral to This American Life.

Most of you probably already listen to Ira Glass' slightly twee but always entertaining radio show on your local NPR channel...or perhaps, like me, you do the free weekly podcast.
I want to call out 2 particularly fantastic episodes that you can listen to for FREE.
In May, they aired Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money which began to explain (for normal people) what the mortgage crisis is and how it happened.
Just a few weeks ago, Episode 365: Another Frightening Show About the Economy followed up with more explanation of what has been happening to the economy.

I urge you savvy RT! readers to listen to both shows - they do a great job of explaining how we got to this crisis without pointing fingers - just logical explaining.
After you listen to the This American Life shows, check out the Planet Money Blog and Podcast. Created by the same team that put together the TAL shows, the blog and the podcast are keeping up with the current economic situation in the same "info for the normal guy" manner.
Now that I'm more informed, I'm starting to creep out of my cave and into the (scary) light of life in a recession.

Recession Consumption: 123 Burger Shot Beer

The owners of 123 Burger Shot Beer have made recession prices their business model. As the very creative name states, it's $1 Burgers, $2 Shots, $3 Beers. This place is probably a frat infested nightmare in the later hours, but I visited on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon and we had the patio in the back to ourselves. You have to order at least 3 of the one buck burgers, but they are surprisingly tasty for what are essentially White Castle sliders. (As you can see from the photo, you could eat a lot more than 3 of them). The honey peanut wings were stupidly delish, like a satay on steriods, and all the fried sides we tried hit the spot. Plus, since everything is so cheap you feel like a king -- sure, I'll have another! Yes, bring us waffle fries!

10th Ave between 50th and 51st Street. Beware (or Rejoice, depending on your outlook): There is a little bit of a Hooterish vibe to the place (the waitress's "shorts" were shorter than her apron)...

Recession Consumption: Pie for Dinner

My time in the UK rekindled my love for all things wrapped in a pastry crust, but sadly Americans are not so hip to the savory pie (other than our comfort favorite the Chicken Pot Pie). Australian friends recently escorted me to pie heaven at the Tuck Shop, where I was delighted by yummy pies with glorious fillings including veggie, Thai curry and traditional beef. Dinner for only $5!

Open late and guaranteed to absorb mass quantities of alcohol.
Tuck Shop is on 1st St between 1st and 2nd Avenue.

Quick Tips: Free Ringtones for iPhone

Thanks once again to our favorite outside contributor, Franke, for hooking us up with this fancy and fun piece of info. Don't fall victim to paying for iPhone ring tones like I did; watch the video and them for free. Who can afford to buy ring tones when we have to pay the government $700 billion?