Go to University (without the student loans).

So I happened upon an interesting article about freebies, with a particular bit of info I feel must be passed on. It seems that several esteemed universities in the US and around the world offer lectures (and sometimes even textbooks) via their websites (or outside websites) for anyone to view for free. Granted, their entire catalogs of classes will not be offered (thought that would be cool), but a good deal is available, with subjects ranging from literature to astronomy.

Click the links below to get your school on:

Open Culture

Academic Earth

Free Video Lectures

Lecture Fox

World Lecture Hall

Learners TV

Free Language Learning at Busuu

Becoming a local tourist, vol. 3: The Theater (Not the Movies!)

If you've been looking for that chance to see a play, this is definitely it. And go for free!

Free Night of Theater 2010 offers the ability for many locals of specific metro areas the ability to see live drama in all its glory. Click here to check out your area.

And if you aren't one to frequent the theater, this will expose you to theater companies that you might not have thought of or have experienced before. Furthermore, this will invite the opportunity for you to mingle with other locals who may have more suggestions for you concerning theater venues and the like.

Becoming a local tourist, vol. 2: Museums

There are tons of perks to living within proximity to a city. And some of them include reduced entrance fees to museums and zoos in the area on given days. These organizations like to reward the local folk with a tempting offer to visit them. Now, being members of museums and zoos are a good idea if you plan to visit often, which is ideal for families. But if you only venture out to such venues every once in a while, read up on when these places host locals at a discount, or even for free. Often times, this will greatly reduce what you'll spend on admission to special events or exhibits that may be there at the time of your visit.

Consider Milwaukee:

• The Milwaukee Public Museum hosts a free day to County residents on Mondays. This doesn't include special/visiting exhibits, however, it will off-set the cost of entrance for such things. Normal admission is $12, with special exhibit prices varying.
• The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (aka The Mitchell Park Domes) gives Milwaukee County residents free admission on Mondays from 9am to Noon. This saves you $6.50.
• The Milwaukee Art Museum offers free entrance every first Thursday of the month. The normal admission fee is $12.
• Milwaukee County Zoo offers Family Free days on specific days throughout the year (see their website for details), as well as discounted admission to the zoo for Milwaukee Co. residents all year, with Wednesdays a further reduced $8 admission. Parking is additional, so consider going with a group to off-set the cost.

You can also save money by buying a multi-pass to varying venues depending on the city you live in or are visiting.

For example: In Milwaukee, we have the Charles Allis Art Museum - Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museums - Pabst Mansion Pass for $12. Each of the first two are regularly $5 each, with the Pabst mansion normal admission costing $9 ($10 during the Christmas season), saving you $7.

On a side note, the Charles Allis Art Museum hosts a series of classic movies on certain Wednesday nights, perfect for a night away from the kids or an evening with the girls. It's free with admission to the museum.

The Harley-Davidson Museum offers a "Double Play" that gives you admission to the museum and a terrace seat at a Brewers game for only $16. The museum admission alone is valued at that, so it's like getting in a game for free.

Other affordable adult entrance fees include:

The Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design - $5

The Haggerty Museum of Art (at Marquette University) - free (donations accepted)

West Allis Historical Society - free (limited hours)

The Grohmann Museum (at Milwaukee School of Engineering) - $5

Jewish Museum Milwaukee - $6

Mitchell Gallery of Flight (at General Mitchell Int'l Airport) - free, though there is parking fees at the airport.

Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum - $5

Check out the many museums in your area by Googling your city, or picking up a visitors' guide. Learn about your area, have some fun, and save money all at the same time!

Becoming a local tourist, vol. 1: History

Whether or not you find yourself with bored youngsters or need an interesting place to bring a date (on a budget), consider researching your local historical associations. The maintenance of age-old properties often offers you the chance to learn more about your city or town.

The Milwaukee County Historical Society operates several properties, including a farm, that brings the past back to life for those who visit. Their main center also offers periodic exhibits to the public (not currently due to renovations that will end in August 2010). Surrounding counties, like Washington, Waukesha, and Racine counties, also have museums and other properties of note operating most if not all year, giving you the opportunity to expand knowledge of the area.

Milwaukee is also home to the Northpoint Lighthouse, a fixture in the city since the 1870's after it replaced the original lighthouse built two decades before.

My mother was born and raised in Mower County, Minnesota. Though not nearly as populated as the city she currently lives in, the area is still rich with history, including a GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Hall built in 1891 for use by the fraternal order made up of sixteen Civil War veterans and the Women's Relief Corps. This is one of only two still in existence in Minnesota. Spring Valley, in neighboring Fillmore County is home to the Wilder homestead, the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband, Almanzo.

From somewhere else? Consider Googling your county or parish's history and see if they have a historical society and what they might have to offer.

Admissions tend to be on the cheaper end of the scale, less than the cost of a movie, if not being free altogether.

A Learning Experience

A friend of mine invited me to visit the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University a few weeks ago to see an interesting exhibit of Thomas Woodruff's Freak Parade. This particular museum is free to the public and is a great way to spend some time on a lazy afternoon. You can free your wallet of a few bucks by offering a donation in the name of art at the door, but this isn't required (much like Como Park Zoo and Conservatory).

It turns out that there are a number of universities around the country that also feature museums on a variety of subjects, from science to culture. Not all of these museums are free, but admissions tend to be less than other larger or more well known museums in your area. Furthermore, you're contributing to the advancement of that particular museum through your donations.

To get more information about these types of museums, consider Googling universities in your area. Another way to find these museums is to visit the Association of College & University Museums & Galleries website and then Googling a particular museum (unfortunately there are no direct links from this website).

Surveys for free magazines

I joined e-Rewards a while ago on the promise of receiving freebies (why else do some surveys?). They don't have a lot of magazines subscriptions, nor a lot of rewards, but it's worth it for the selection they do have.

I'm currently getting Smithsonian, Travel & Leisure, and Paste. They also have rewards in a variety of other categories including: movies (get free Blockbuster rentals), food and dining (mainly zagat.com memberships and Omaha Steaks), and gifts (get $25 off FTD.com).

Worth the small amount of effort every once in a while. The e-rewards bucks add up quick, and then you can redeem them for the prize you want.

By the way, if you get a Paste magazine subscription, every issue they give you a sampler of free new music. A great way to keep up with the new stuff.

Sign up for your e-Rewards account here.

Como Park Zoo and Conservatory

So, we were up in the Twin Cities a couple weekends ago, and we took in Como Zoo, mainly because it's free.

I have to note some hints for taking this place in and keeping it cheap.

1. The conservatory and zoo itself are free - Como Town and the carousel aren't. The carousel is only $1.50 per ticket, unless you are there during one of their free days (there are only five this year). For more info on the prices of tickets and activities at Como Town, click here.
   
2. Feel free to pay the donation of $2 per adult and $1 per child - not required, but still relatively cheap for a neat recreational activity.
3. Bring your own food! I cannot stress this enough. We blew any budget in the cafeteria. For a veggie sandwich and icee I paid over $9! And then we saw these slick families dragging around coolers. These were not for show. Save money and bring your own food and water. Especially if you're there on a hot day like we were. (Granted, paying that much for a meal is helping to keep the zoo cheap, but if you're rocking a tight budget, bring your own food. If you do decide to get a water or soda from one of the vendors throughout the zoo, you'll pay about $2.50 a bottle.)
4. Consider going during the week and not on major school vacations. Granted, we went on a Saturday at the start of the summer break. It wasn't overly crowded, but everyone had their kids along, so there was a lot of crying and whining. Most families won't mind this, but singles and older adults might want to try an alternate time to go.

To see more details on the park, zoo, or conservatory, click here.

"Your Birthday Coupon has arrived"

Last week was my birthday, and last year, I had the foresight to sign up for all these eClubs from various restaurant chains that operate in the area. Doing so was of huge benefit to me for about two weeks because I got plenty of free food in.

Some of the information on what restaurants do this I got from other blogs last year, but if you have some time, consider going to the website of whatever restaurants (including fast food) that you frequent, and chances are, most of them will have some kind of club that sends you emails with coupons. If they ask for your birth date, don't hesitate because this will pay off about a week before your happy day.

I managed to get a free burger from Red Robin, a free coffee drink from Caribou Coffee, a free bowl of noodles from Noodles & Co., a free like-it size creation from Cold Stone Creamery, and a free dessert from Fazoli's. And those are just the ones I had time for. Be sure to read the fine print. Some of the coupons will require you purchase another of the same item (or entree) of the same or lesser value. Not all though. There was nothing nicer than going to Noodles for a quick bowl and not even having to pay tax. How cool is that?

Another free thing for you ladies is that Sephora offers a free lip gloss.

Some of these also give away anniversary coupons in honor of being members each year. I didn't know this until this year, so you'll get even more free stuff (or buy one get one free stuff).

If you know of any other free birthday giveaways, please let me know.

*Please note: there may be age restrictions (must be 13 or 18 or 21), so be sure to read all of the details.

Here's the list (click on the names to be taken to the websites):

Sephora - click on "Sign up for Sephora" at the very top of the page - free lip gloss

AMC Movie Watcher - sign up to the Movie Watcher club and get a free large soft drink for your birthday

Baskin-Robbins - one free scoop

Fazoli's - free dessert

Schlotzsky's Bun & Fun eClub - free small sandwich

Noodles & Co - sign up for the Noodlegrams and get a free dish of noodles for your birthday

Old Country Buffet - get a buy one get one free meal

Culver's - get culverized with a free sundae

Qdoba - buy one get one burrito

Maggiano's Little Italy - get $10 off your meal

Cold Stone Creamery - free "like-it" size creation

Uno Chicago Grill - get $10 off your meal of $25 or more

Caribou Coffee - free drink (any kind, any size) ON your birthday, they send other coupons too - sign up for an account

Buffalo Wild Wings - get a free dessert - choose from Chocolate Fudge Cake, Deep-dish Apple Pie, or New York Style Cheesecake

Red Robin - free gourmet burger, and remember they come with bottomless steak fries!

Buca di Beppo - free dessert - you can add your wedding anniversary date too!

Atlanta Bread Company - free cookie

Arby's - free swirl shake with any roastburger

Most of these offer other coupons throughout the year too. I especially like Caribou Coffee because they let you know when they're running certain promotions and giveaway free drinks.

Know of any other birthday eClubs? Let me know.

Get your "read" on!

Look, I like to read very much, but I'm the first to admit that I've gotten a bit lazy with it in the last few years.

Now I (and the rest of you slouches, you know who you are) don't have an excuse, because you can download books for free onto your computer (or other device if you like).

* A word of warning, I downloaded the eReader and was not overly thrilled when I couldn't seem to download the books from the website. If you figure this out, let me know. However, I did find a handy-dandy site that offers all free books and gives them to you either in PDF or Mobipocket formats. This site is www.free-ebooks.net. When I saw this I was kicking myself. All that annoyance for nothing. If you don't have an Adobe Reader to read in PDF form, click here.

Now, don't expect to get all the new releases. But for the money (and this is free), it's worth it. There are a lot of classics on there that I wasn't forced to read in high school or college, so this makes it worth the effort.

Also consider Planet PDF, Project Gutenberg and Scribd. Scribd isn't all free, but you can access excepts.

You may miss the feel and smell of the books, but it's not like you'll never buy another book or check out at another library. These are just another free way to expand your horizons.