DTA informs clients of summer meals program. In August.

This just came in the mail. Note the date.

Do they not WANT people using the summer meals program?!

Lots of free fun at the Big Head festival today

Free books for kids this weekend

This is a great event that we've attended in years past. Kids (I believe students of any age) get a package of free books. In past years they've gotten shirts and backpacks as well. The event also features free entertainment. Check it out!

Everything on Crazy 8 website is $8.22 today

The website doesn't say when this promotion ends, but everything is $8.22 or less today. They have a decent amount of fall stuff too for people looking to stock up -- jeans, sweaters, jackets, etc. I think this is probably the best sale they have all year, and $8.22 is a pretty amazing price for jeans, dresses, sweaters and jackets, especially in the youth sizes. Like any one of these fixed-price sales, there are of course t-shirts and infant/toddler things that are overpriced at this price, so stock up on the things that are usually $30.

Once again, I question whether the MFA actually cares about the community

My family and I love the MFA. The place itself is just amazing; all this stuff that's thousands of years old and still looks brand new just blows my mind. The staff are knowledgeable and will answer questions, the layout and overall atmosphere of the place is very disability friendly, and something about how quiet and calm the place seems to discourage visitors from coming over and patronizing children with disabilities in the way that they do in most other public spaces.

However, there are some things that make me wonder how much they actually want the community accessing the place. I wrote before about how they have a low-income discount, but they illegally refuse to process debit card transactions for the reduced-price tickets (and were condescending about it).

Today, I went to sign up for some art classes. We have previously done some one-time children's art classes. They were $9-$10 per class, and they were great. But apparently in the summer, the only thing offered is these all-day camps, which are several hundred dollars per week. Now, I get that not everyone is blessed with multigenerational families and flexible work lives, and many people need child care in the summer, but how much sympathy can I really muster for people who are paying $600 per week for MFA camp when there are readily available, high-quality programs for as low as $50 a week at Boston Center for Youth and Families, Boys and Girls Club, and so forth? I'm not going to include people who attend MFA camp under the heading of "people who need child care."

The people who *need* child care, of course, are either at the community centers, the free meal programs that have all-day drop-in care, or at home with a relative who is keeping them safe but not doing much beyond that. These kids would love some art classes taught by world-class instructors in an amazing facility. But, nope, no $10 art classes for them. Only $600-per-week art camp. I shouldn't knock them though -- they do offer partial day camp for the low low price for $250 per week. *eyeroll* Have I mentioned that the MFA requires children under *14* to be escorted into the building by an adult and signed out by an adult afterward? So even if a child saves up the money for one of these classes, they would need to have an available adult to accompany them. This is another thing that makes me think the MFA builds their programs and policies around rich people; the age to arrive and leave independently at the community centers seems to vary, but is in the 8-11 range.

Oh, and financial aid isn't mentioned anywhere on the website. I'm going to assume they don't have any? The community centers all do. They apparently manage to stretch their tiny budgets to subsidize families who need it. But these ridiculously expensive MFA camps can't? Hmm...

Free films this summer in Boston

Listings are here. All are outdoors, so they'd likely be good for families with smalls or people with special needs.

Help a scraper out here: what are some good loan options in Boston?

A few years ago my water heater broke and I put the new one on one of those 0% interest cards, planning to pay it off before the promotional rate ended. My plan was working fine, but then my car broke. And the cat broke. And a relative needed some noncovered medical care. And I had to travel out of town unexpectedly. And one of the young folks living here got an amazing scholarship, but there was some payment required, and I couldn't bear the thought of passing up the opportunity. And so forth.

I managed to do fine making at least the minimums, and paid off a good chunk, but, well, I still have a ton of debt, and we all know those promotional cards jump up to 20% APR once the time runs out.

Since I've learned my lesson that life isn't stable enough these days to count on paying off a 0% card, I'm thinking my best option is to find a bank or credit union, either local or online, that will give me a fixed-rate loan or credit card in the 10% APR range. I own my home, credit score is in the high 700s (decent amount of debt, but no missed payments), have enough income to not miss payments on my stuff but I'm not rich and documenting my cobbled-together income is a chore.

Anyone have anywhere I should look?

What the hell do I do with this vegetable: okra and corn edition

The fair foods truck this week had okra, corn, onions, red potatoes, grapefruit, oranges, bananas, and iceberg lettuce. Amazing.

I grilled the okra, which is incredibly easy and in my opinion tastes pretty much the same as fried okra. Just cut off the ends, put it on a baking sheet, drizzled it with olive oil and some spices, and baked at 450 until it looked done:

Some of the okra we ate just like this. The rest, I used to make the fritters. I cut up about a cup or so of okra into small pieces, along with one small onion that I had sliced and grilled, plus the kernals from half an ear of corn, also grilled in the oven in the same way. I added half a cup of cornmeal, half a cup of flour, adobo, cumin, about half a cup of cheddar cheese, then enough milk to make it into a firm dough. I dropped it onto a baking sheet, flattened them out a bit, and baked at 400 until done:

What the hell do I do with this vegetable: onions and red potatoes edition

Y'all didn't really need a blog post to tell you what to do with potatoes and onions in the middle of June, right?!

Awesome way to clean the house in a hurry with minimal effort

A friend moving out of the country gave me a crate of things that weren't worth transporting, including several cans of this 3M glass cleaner. I would never have spent $8 dollars on glass cleaner (I usually use all-purpose cleaning stuff from Dollar Tree or just use vinegar and baking soda), or bought something this chemically and in a wasteful aerosol container, but wow, this stuff is amazing. I'm hooked now. Sorry, environment.

I sprayed it on my cabinet fronts, counters, sink, stove, appliances, bathroom fixtures, waited about 30 seconds, then wiped it down with a textured cloth, and the stuff had dissolved everything greasy or sticky with no scrubbing. I literally cleaned my neglected kitchen surfaces to an acceptable state for having company over in about two minutes. It worked as well on the stovetop as those oven cleaners that are expensive and that I wouldn't use unless everyone was out of the house and the windows were all open. It smells slightly like ammonia or similar, so it's not completely non-toxic, but it doesn't have fumes or lingering odors, so I'm comfortable using it with kids and people with compromised health in the house.

It's available on Amazon, so while it's pricey, you can get it for free using Bing Rewards. And even if you pay for it, I think it's well worth it for something that cleans so ridiculously fast.

(Speaking of Bing Rewards, I saw tips on another money-saving blog about using bots to run searches on multiple accounts and rack up Amazon gift cards. Not something I'd risk myself, because Microsoft seems sufficiently evil to press charges or sue people, but I wanted to throw it out there as something that's apparently a possibility for those who might be broke enough to risk it.)

Nonprofit grocery store opens in Dorchester

I haven't yet checked Daily Table out, but it's on the agenda for this weekend. People who've gone, tell me what you've thought of it!

(And if you click through to that article, would you mind downvoting and flagging the comments that are poor-shaming and assuming a Black woman must be on public assistance?)

Tropical Foods coupon policy

The coupon policy isn't listed on the website, so I emailed them. They wrote back and said they accept any manufacturer's coupon. They didn't say anything about limits of how many per transaction or per day or anything like that, so this may be a good place to use large batches. Stop and Shop is still likely the best deal in town most of the time though since they double them.

Washer fluid for a dollar a bottle

Dollar Tree in Roslindale on American Legion Highway has windshield washer fluid right now. This isn't something they always carry. Stock up! They also have huge bottles of ketchup for anyone who needs some before the next time it's free or better than free with coupons (probably Independence Day for good deals on condiments).

Some good deals right now using multiple mobile apps

Marley coffee is $1 off on Snap, $1.50 off on Checkout 51, and $2 off on iBotta. The shelf price is $6.99 at Wegman's. Mike's Hard Lemonade is also on multiple apps, as are Ciao Bella gelato, Scrubbing Bubbles, various Clorox products, CLR products, and Beech-Nut baby food.

Bing Rewards is now getting me $5 every 18 days

So, I'm at gold status, I'm doing the 25 searches every day and clicking on the stuff, and I've been getting a $5 Amazon card every 18 days (sometimes sooner when they run promos). It's pretty fabulous; our household has a prime account that was $39 for the year using a student ID, so we don't pay shipping. I put the Amazon cards in my gift card account as they accrue, then any time I need a school supply, battery, light bulb, etc. that's not available at the stores I regularly go to (which would be Dollar Tree and grocery stores) and is going to be overpriced there anyway, I go onto Amazon and it shows up before I would have had a chance to go to a specialty store. It's such a great thing for busy families.

If you want to try it out, show me some love and use my referral linky thing.

Free bananas

Right now:

• iBotta has an offer for 20 cents off bananas
• Checkout51 has an offer for 25 cents off bananas
• SavingStar has an offer for 20% off bananas

Bananas are 39 cents per pound at Wegman's right now. Buy one pound, use these three offers, and you'll get 7 cents plus 20 cents plus 25 cents back, making the bananas -13 cents. Is it sad that I'm mentally figuring out what equation one would use to figure out how to get the most free bananas?

(And if you don't have these apps already, use my referral links to help out the broke mofo who told you about them, right!?)

EDIT: The math is actually pretty simple; 56 cents worth of bananas is the maximum that would be free -- you'd get back 20 cents + 25 cents + [X/5, which is 11 when X is 56], so 56 cents back.

Free pizza!

I came across this story, in which people are apparently using this online chat/dating app to get people to buy them pizza.

My first thought of course is, hm, I could pose as a young lady and take advantage of some desperate guys with too much time and money on their hands, right? Of course, my next thought was, naw, I'm grown, I got other stuff to worry about, I'm not actually going to give my address to these sort of people, nor am I going to take advantage of anyone, even cocky rich boys trolling on the internet.

The idea kind of intrigues me though, and I'm sure I have readers who are the type to try this, so, well, I thought I'd let you know it's a thing. You're welcome.

Nail clippers for -43 cents at CVS

This worked at the Fresh Pond CVS in Cambridge using the self checkout. Near the nail care items, there are hanging coupons for $2 off any Beauty 360 implements. The implements on cards are all $4-$10 or so. To the right of that are loose implements in bins, including $1.57 nail clippers. The tiny stickers on the bins indicate that they are Beauty 360. It was a ridiculously cheap price for nail clippers anyway, so I figured I would try it and pay full price if it didn't work, but it did. Unfortunately, the coupons say one coupon per customer, so you can't use them to get a whole bunch of free stuff. 

Free financial literacy training

I came across this training offered by ABCD, which looks good. It's free, but you have to preregister. 

Free entrance to museums and cultural sites this summer

I've heard great things about this Free Fridays program. My family generally prefers to go to museums during non-peak times, because of family members with medical and mobility issues, so I've skimmed right past this offering in past years. Looking at it more closely though, I'm thinking some of the sites that are a little ways out of the city and/or largely outdoors might be less crowded and worth checking out. Has anyone had experience with this program?

Local libraries offering free and discounted admission to museums

I've been aware of the museum pass program at the library for well over a decade, but I just recently found out that they've redone their system so that it's much easier to use. The first system I remember involved calling or visiting each library branch and asking what passes they had available on what dates, and they would look in a physical signout book. I did use this a few times, but it was tedious and I would end up reserving whatever pass they had for several months out. The next improvement was basically an online version of this, in which
one went onto the website, chose a branch, a date, and a museum, and did this repeatedly until an available date came up.

I was extremely pleased to see the new system, which has a searchable interface that lets you put in the date, branch, and museum, or leave it as open as you want. I did one search to see what passes were available for the next few days and found that there are many openings; if you aren't picky about which museum you visit, you could go tomorrow. I specifically wanted to go to the aquarium (holy expletive, it's $26.95 for 12 and up, $17.95 for kids, and there is no low-income discount available), and there are many passes available starting in a few weeks.

If you're interested in different museums from the ones BPL offers, Momlifehacker has a nice roundup of different museum passes that are available at different libraries in the area. FYI, the BPL, Minuteman, and Old Colony library networks have a policy that any Massachusetts resident can apply for a card in their system. Minuteman and BPL let you use the same physical card for convenience, but they each have to register it separately. I've found that several of the staff members at the town branches seem to think library cards are only for residents of that town, and will try to have you pay for a day pass or courtesy card or some crap to check out materials. It's not actually required unless you don't live in Massachusetts; just check the policy on the system's web site and show it to the library staff if you have to.

Free ferry rides to Georges Island tomorrow

The ferry rides are offered on a first come, first serve basis and more information is available here. The ferries are accessible to people with mobility impairments and Georges Island is probably the most accessible island, with flat paved trails, modern restrooms, and so forth. Georges Island is a neat places for kids, with a historic fort as well as gorgeous natural areas.

Pleasant surprise in the mail today

This is one of the bigger checks I've gotten from class action suits. But come on, it really was the least they could do for causing me pain and suffering, right?

America: Where soda is cheaper than water

This weekend I was in the grocery store, about to check out, when I decided I really needed a beverage since I was coming down with a sore throat and pressurey sinuses, and this was really getting to me all of the sudden. I didn't know off the top of my head where nearby I could fill my water bottle, was in the checkout line with a cart full of stuff and various kids and elders in tow, so decided I'd just buy something. My position at the end of checkout line was right at the head of the beverage aisle, plus there were various fridges and bins of beverages near the checkouts.

I looked around, and discovered that the cheapest single-serving thing was store-brand soda. It was cheaper than the store-brand water of the same size and even cheaper than the smaller store-brand water. I don't generally buy bottled water because it's a waste of money and horrible for the planet, but it was there, it was what I wanted and what I ended up getting. Just killed me that water with chemicals in it costs less than plain water.

Places to find inexpensive spices

When I post a recipe along with cost information, I generally don't include the cost of things like dried spices or small amounts of pantry staples. This seems to be true for most bloggers and writers who include cost information. But if you're like me and have gone from being a middle-class small family eating Trader Joe's food and takeout to a lower-class large family cooking from scratch most every day, you might find that your spice stash is running low. Sure, spices are versatile, and they keep fresh for a long time, but do I really want to pay $6 for cinnamon?

Here are some of my spice tips and tricks:

Goya adobo
I probably put this in 90% of the things I cook. (The others are baked goods, and that would be weird.) Goya often has a 50-cent-off coupon on their website or in the paper, and it often goes on sale for 99 cents at Stop-and-Shop, which doubles coupons. I currently have five bottles of free adobo in my cabinet. If you aren't familiar, it's salt and pepper, plus garlic, onion, and various other versatile spices (cumin, parsley, etc.) depending on the variety. I pretty much use it in every recipe that calls for salt and pepper.

Spice blendsFor whatever reason, these are cheaper than individual spices. My favorite two -- pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, a few other things depending on the brand) and poultry seasoning (sage, marjoram, thyme, etc.) -- are significantly on sale around Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie spice works great in, well, pumpkin pie, as well as apple pie, holiday cookies, various fall baked goods, and just about anything that calls for cinnamon. Poultry seasoning is great for pretty much every Thanksgiving dish, or anything that calls for sage.

Latin, Caribbean, Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian stores...or the Latin aisle in the supermarket. You can often find the same spices either in small plastic bags or large jugs for a fraction of the price per ounce of the same spices on the spice aisle of the supermarket. If you get them at a family-owned local store, you can support local businesses, people of color, and/or immigrants. The bags can be messy once you open them, and the jugs are kind of ugly if you store your spices on the counter, so I either purchase the spice the first time in a jar and then refill it, or get some jars from Amazon to pour them into. These snazzy glass ones are about a dollar apiece, or these plastic ones are 59 cents each. If you have more time, a Google search shows that you can buy empty plastic spice containers by the dozen for 5 to 15 cents a piece directly from many suppliers.

Chili: ridiculously cheap and ridiculously easy

Chili (shown here on some delicious nachos) is one of my favorite standby meals. Everyone in the household likes it, it keeps for a week in the fridge if it lasts that long, it freezes well, and best of all, it's incredibly easy and cheap to make.

It's easy to make with couponing finds, pantry staples, veggies from Fair Foods, WIC, or your other favorite source. Pretty much all you absolutely need is beans, some sort of tomato product, and seasoning.

My easiest chili recipe is quite cheap, but isn't actually the cheapest recipe I've come up with (which I'll get to later.) Here's what you need:

• Two cans of beans -- I used one can of kidney beans and one can of black beans
• One 16-ounce can of diced tomatoes -- can also use one can of tomato sauce, one can of tomato puree plus water to make it about 16 ounces, or two to three fresh tomatoes
• One onion
• Spices -- I used Goya adobo plus lots of cumin
• Peppers with some heat to them, or powdered pepper, or hot sauce -- I used hot sauce

Put everything in a pot. Cook on the stove until boiling, then turn down and simmer on low for about two hours, until it looks like chili. If it needs it, add a pinch of sugar to bring out flavor and help everything caramelize. Add salt, more seasonings, and more hot sauce or other hot peppers if needed. As listed here, it makes about six servings for about $2.50 worth of ingredients (assuming full shelf price). If you coupon, you likely have cans of beans and tomato products in your stash that were somewhere between free and 20 cents each.

If I have time, I prefer to cook chili in a slow cooker. It's less likely to stick and turns out better, but you need to plan ahead. I would at least double the batch if I were doing this.

You can also add veggies to chili. Zucchini and yellow summer squash are my favorites. Corn, yams, pumpkin, spinach, kale, and peppers are all great too. Especially if you're using the slow cooker, I imagine you could add just about any vegetables, since they get really soft and blend together with the other ingredients.

If you want to make the recipe even cheaper, use dried beans. Obviously this method takes several hours, even if you use the stove on high heat. They're considerably cheaper though, since a pound of dried beans is about the same price as a can but will absorb water and yield a whole pot. I don't bother soaking beans when doing slow-cooker chili. My slow cooker is the large oval type, and I generally put a total of one pound of dried beans (usually some combination of kidney, pinto, and black beans to add up to one pound). For a pound of beans, I would use two to three cans of tomato products or several pounds of fresh tomatoes, two to three onions, and a lot more spices.

Where to get inexpensive spices warrants its own post, I think. Stay tuned!

Steep post-Passover markdowns still available

Universal Hub posters report on which stores still have items for 50% or more off. A lot of foods sold for Passover make good staples; the latke mixes are great to add various shredded veggies to, and matzos and matzo meal are great for breading things.

Free insulation and other weatherization services if you qualify

If you qualify for fuel assistance through ABCD, and you call them and tell them you're interested in weatherization, they have some really great benefits. I had heard from people in other communities that the waitlist was several years long, but apparently this isn't currently the case, at least in Boston at the moment. I called them about two months ago, they sent me an application, I sent it back, and last week someone came out to do the audit.

They said they would insulate our home, tune up the furnace, and repair some leaky siding and roofing -- all for no cost. They also can replace furnaces if yours is beyond repair. I will update when the work actually gets done, but they said it would be within the next few weeks. The program is available to homeowners of any type of home and renters with landlord's permission. The only thing they no longer do is repair or replacement of windows, but this is inexpensive compared to insulation and heating systems, and the Building Resource Center can hook you up with necessary supplies.

In case anyone says the government just hands out money

I think our food stamps are reinstated. The web portal thing is showing that we're getting $66 per month this time.

What did I have to do to get this $66 per month?

February 23: Faxed the updated income information to DTA.

Several times in the weeks after that: Looked in the online portal, saw that nothing had been received or processed.

March 19: Finally called them, which involves six minutes of typing in my EBT card number, social, ZIP code, birthdate, and pressing keys acknowledging that I know that the info can be found online (no it can't; that's why I'm calling), then waiting on hold for 10-30 minutes.

Was informed that my fax arrived there on the 23rd but even though it was clearly labeled with my name and SSN, it got filed to another household member's SSN, not mine, and that person isn't listed as a head of household with an open case, so it just sat there having nothing done with it. They then decided they would process the info and give me my benefits back.

March 30: Nothing had been done, called back. Someone was confused about one family member having self-employment income plus W-2 income. Decided we were trying to call the job self-employment and deduct things we aren't allowed to. Instead of just realizing people can have two jobs, they mailed me a paper letter which I never got, asking for entire business records for said self-employment income (which is about $1000 a year). Person on the phone actually agreed the records weren't necessary and cleared that request out. Spent several minutes asking me for the name of the family member's business. Couldn't seem to wrap brain around that most people filing Schedule C don't have a business and you put the person's name under "business name." Kept saying "I need a business name."

April 2: Saw on online thing that we were given benefits starting next month, along with summary of our household income and how they had arrived at $66. Called to ask why they weren't put in going back to when the paystubs were from, which was what they said would happen. Spent 45 minutes on phone, while worker asked me about every paystub, whether that was my correct income, whether relative's disability income was correct -- pretty much just read the entire file to me and asked me questions about it, even though the previous workers had already calculated the amount and I was just asking about the retroactive part. Worker agreed that retroactive benefits were due and would be deposited. Said something about how "if you don't say anything, no one knows that you didn't get the benefits we said you would."

Is this some kind of intentional cost-saving measure? Or are they just incompetent?

I'm thinking it isn't worth $66 per month to do all this faxing and calling and waiting on hold. Maybe that's the point? Still, I'm sitting here in the richest country in the world, and every time I have a small victory over DTA, the school system, the community health center or some other organization that hoped we would just go away, I can't help but think of all the people who don't have the resources I do and are just hanging up the phone defeated. Should you only be able to feed your family if you previously worked in finance and know to correct DTA's math and correct their understanding of tax codes? Should your kids only get services if you know people who know special education law and Medicaid policies?

This state, man

In February I got a letter from Masshealth saying they needed me to reapply. I did that, it said I was approved, and I got a paper letter saying I'm approved, because that's an efficient use of resources.

Today I got a robocall saying it's very important I go online and apply for Masshealth, otherwise my coverage will end at the end of this month. I went on the website, logged back in, and it says I'm eligible for Masshealth. There doesn't seem to be any way to contact a person on the website other than the general "contact us" e-mail address. I guess I'm going to have to call and be on hold for an hour to figure out why I got approved but apparently didn't.

What the hell do I do with this vegetable: spinach edition

I still have about 3.999 pounds left of the four pounds of spinach from Fair Foods. Did you know that spinach is mostly water and shrinks like crazy? I wilted some (dig my fancy cooking term there) by putting it in the microwave for one minute, then chopped it up with scissors. I ended up doing this about five times, because I'd put a huge bowl full of it in there, then take it out and it was like a tablespoon worth. I added the spinach to a batch of latke mix from a box, along with some cumin, and baked them in the oven. They're gone now, so I think that means they turned out well.

What the hell do I do with this vegetable: avocados and spinach edition

I got 15 avocados and four pounds of spinach from Fair Foods yesterday. I don't really need to make a WTHDIDWTV for avocados, right? They're easy to use for guacamole, sandwiches, or dumping some adobo on them and eating them. The four pounds of spinach though is requiring some creativity, and tonight's dinner involved both, so there.

I had some Vietnamese rice paper spring roll wrappers and some Vietnamese vermicelli, both bought from as Asian market for a dollar or so each. (Note to self: write blog post on things one can find in Asian markets). I made spring rolls with vermicelli, avocado with adobo on it, and raw spinach leaves:

Authentic spring rolls would generally have more flavor to them by way of cilanto, mint, and/or basil. I didn't have any of that stuff, and it's usually expensive. So the rolls were a little bland, but the texture was perfect, and it was nothing some condiments didn't take care of. (If you do the coupon thang, you have a whole stash of condiments that were free or near free, right? We poured some Lawry's teriyaki sauce and sesame-ginger sauce up in these, and they were perfect.)

Fair Foods Haul

$6 for all this from the Fair Foods truck today. Not pictured: entire box of spinach

Free IMAX films at Museum of Science during March

I just found out about this, but there are still two Fridays left. The films look pretty good -- Galapagos, Humpback Whales, and Mystery of the Maya.

Couponing has been a little lame lately...

This stuff was $14.25, which is clearly a good deal, but it's a small haul. There just aren't many deals this time of year. However, I did sign up for yet another e-coupon thing, which got me a lot of the free/cheap stuff included in this haul.

The new app I'm trying is Snap by Groupon. It requires you to upload a receipt just like iBotta and Checkout 51, but there's no need to scan the bar code like iBotta requires. Unlike most of the other apps, it allows you to use many of the deals multiple or even unlimited times, so if you have a stack of coupons for an item that's on sale and is listed on Snap, you could get several of them for the lowest possible price. I claimed $5.50 the first time I used it, though I suspect that it gives you better deals at first to get you to start using it; there was $1 off any toilet paper (that 99-cent roll was free), $1 off any toothpaste (free 99-cent tube of Aim), $1 off any pasta (free 99-cent box). It currently has several Coke deals, as does iBotta right now, so you can double these up on a product that's on sale at your store and get Coke for a really low price. If you want to check it out, please click on my link above.

Health Connector website, you gonna make me lose my mind...

You know, I was gonna come on here and write about how the new website on which I had to enter my family's income and everything to renew Masshealth was refreshingly easy, and how I wish DTA would get something similar going on that checks your income against your tax returns, instead of having you send in a big packet of paystubs, a buncha paper forms, and only going by most recent month's income...

But then I finished the process, and I got this:

"Congratulations! Based on your household's federal poverty level..."

BAHAHAHAHAHA...what

I mean, I'm glad we're eligible, don't get me wrong. But. Um.

Oh well. Made me laugh at least

City Strings United program provides cello lessons for youth

This story is from a few months back, but I'm just now hearing of the organization. There's a Globe feature story worth checking out about the program, which provides free lessons and free instrument rentals. The website doesn't have a whole lot of details about logistics of joining, but invites people to e-mail them. I will be on the lookout for their performances as well, which I assume will be free (or if not, certainly affordable and a good cause).

Other local programs that provide free music lessons to youth include Revolution of Hope and Project STEP. If you know of other music opportunities, please post in comments!

Time exchange in JP allows all labor to be valued equally

I just came across a posting for a Jamaica Plain time exchange, which is hosting an open house to learn more. This time exchange appears to be open to people in any neighborhood. I unfortunately cannot attend, but I love the concept and it would be great if people want to attend and try and start them in other areas.

MBTA misses opportunity to help workers economically impacted by storm

Universal Hub and several other sources are reporting that the MBTA is hiring individuals from the community to shovel tracks and other property, but requires that they be members of unions.

I have nothing against unions in theory, and workers being able to organize is a good thing, but if they're going to hire non-MBTA employees to do this, why on earth wouldn't they extend some generosity to hourly employees who have lost considerable wages due to jobs being closed or not being able to get to them? As far as I know, union workers generally have paid days off of some sort. The union workers shoveling snow may well be doing so on a paid day off, or might have taken a personal day to take on the shoveling job. Well hiring union workers seems on the face as a progressive and pro-human-rights thing to do, it seems like the plan wasn't fully thought out.

Another option for low-cost snow removal

The New England Center for Homeless Veterans has a lot of unemployed, able guys, who will shovel for cash. Ask for the supervisor on duty at the front desk when you call, 617-371-1700.

If you know of other options, please post in comments. 

Snow closures mean lost wages and firings for many low-income workers

WBUR has done two great stories on this issue lately, here, and here. Both are very well-done human-interest stories that are worth the time to read.

Our family is dealing with this as well. We don't have sick time or vacation days, so we don't get paid if we can't come in due to illness, snow, transit being shut down, job being closed for the day, or needing to care for a child. We usually budget for this, but with all of the snow days lately, it's added up. There are no laws in Massachusetts or federally requiring jobs to pay workers in these situations. There is a law for certain types of hourly employees that they must be paid for three hours if they show up ready to work and then are told they are not needed, but this doesn't apply if they are given notice that the site is closed or they should not come in for whatever reason.

I guess the silver lining in this is that our food stamps will be reinstated, and at a generous amount at least for a few months, since we've made so little money the past few weeks. Oh, and that tax refunds are coming soon, so we'll be able to pay the bills this month, and then hopefully it will stop snowing. It's a little scary though knowing that even after the snow clears, there is still always the chance that some sort of natural disaster or home maintenance emergency or something can come up that causes us to need money and/or not be able to show up for work. And that the people who have the power to choose whether to be understanding about these things are always people with paid vacation days and healthy savings accounts.

Free family event in Franklin Park this Saturday

The snow festival is this Saturday from 1pm to 4pm, and it's free.

Inexpensive soccer opportunity for kids ages 3.5 - 6.5

I've been noticing that most activities in Boston that aren't part of public schools (and even some that are) are ridiculously expensive. Especially with February break coming up, I'm getting a lot of e-mails for "camps" that run $300-$1000 just for the one week, and about half of these don't even run the normal hours of public school, let alone afterschool, so they wouldn't work for families who need childcare during that week. Who are these families who have the money for these programs and have flexible schedules that would allow them to drop off kids at 9 or 10 and pick them up at noon or 2? I don't doubt they exist, but it still shocks me that there are enough independently wealthy or executive types to fill all these camps and activities.

Anyway, this brings me to an activity I've been hearing about that's on the other extreme end of the price range. Jamaica Plain Children's Soccer is $25 for the season (spring or fall). No, that's not a typo. No equipment is required except for sturdy shoes and a ball if you have one. The families I know who've done it say it's fun, friendly, diverse, and intentionally and aggressively dissuades competitive-parenting types from joining. Check it out.

Seasonal couponing

$41.09 for $117.46 worth of stuff! Thanks, sporting event, for making there be coupon deals on pizza and nacho ingredients. 

The Purex deal at Stop and Shop right now is a good one -- they're $1.99 instead of $4.99, so you can get six detergents for $7 if you use the $5/$25 on SavingStar. If you have $1 Purex coupons from coupons.com last month you could actually get it down to $1 for all six (I only had two, but $5 for six detergents is still pretty amazing.) 

Can't afford someone to shovel or plow?

I've been hearing good things around the neighborhood and on social media about SnowCrew. In short, it's a site where people can make requests for shoveling and plowing, and people who are looking to volunteer can go and help.

I have long been a fan of the barter system. It creates ways for people who can't work traditional jobs to get goods and services. So, if you're physically unable to shovel or need to be inside caring for someone, use SnowCrew to get some help, then pay it forward. Got a car that needs to be shoveled out? Can you use your car to do some errands for other neighbors, or transport materials for a nonprofit? Or do a post office pickup or dropoff for someone who works business hours? Can you watch someone's children or parents? Take an elder to an appointment? Do some computer work for someone who doesn't have a computer or doesn't know how to use one? Teach someone a skill? We all have something to offer.

Free tax help in Boston

For people who worked and made less than $53,000 last year.

Dollar Tree makes me happy

I should really keep track of how much I save buying various things at Dollar Tree. I seriously love that place. I just got a pair of scissors there for, well, a dollar, obviously. They're nice, sturdy scissors that work well. At any other store they would be at least two or three dollars for the exact same thing. While some of the stuff there is just utter crap, it's worth it to buy things like this which are really the exact same things you'd by elsewhere, only without the overhead of a nicer store.

Yet another article on how hard rich people in Boston have it

© Jeff Durham

Now, don't get me wrong; of course I know it's expensive to live in Boston. I have a blog about being broke, after all. But this article is just aggravating me. Someone can't afford the median rent in Boston if they don't make $100,000 a year? Really?

First, the article lists the median rent at $2497 per month. That seems high. The article says it was based on rents on Zillow. Now, I love Zillow, mostly for, well, window-shopping for homes I'll never be able to afford, and, uh, maybe checking to see how hooked up some of my neighbors in their fancy homes are. But while Zillow is probably the best aggregator of homes for sale and for rent (it pulls from Craigslist and so forth), it still is only going to have homes that people are putting on the public market. Especially in working-class neighborhoods and communities primarily of color, people prefer to rent (and often even to sell) through word of mouth, to people they know and who are members of their community.

Also, let's talk about what a median is; think back to math class, where you learned (and promptly forgot?) that it's the middle number in a set. So, a median rent of $2497 means half the rents in Boston are higher than that and half are lower. Does that mean most are clustered around there? I don't think so. I think luxury downtown units going for $15,000 per month are skewing things. Those affect the median and mean rental figures, but they don't affect the price of a one-bedroom walkup in Dorchester. This is a city with a large population of students and people coming to work from out of the area who will overpay for an apartment that someone else is likely paying for, especially if they can get it rented and squared away before they arrive.

Oh, and the figures don't tell us what size the apartment is. Is $2497 ridiculous for a one-bedroom and unattainable to most people on one income? Yes. Is it perfectly reasonable for a six-bedroom Victorian near Ashmont with six housemates? Absolutely!

And let's just scrap the idea that anyone in a city is paying only 30% of their income on housing. For most people, it's going to be closer to 50%. Is that unfortunate and a sign of overpriced housing? Probably. But it's realistic and doable for most people.

Anyway, to my point, and yes, I had one. The reason the article is driving me crazy, and what led me to respond to it was this: "The cure to this, if you’d like to live in Boston, you need to find one or two roommates to split the cost. But, even still, it’s alarming to think the ability to live alone is reserved to those who make at least six figures."

MEDIAN. M-E-D-I-A-N, people. A quick peruse of Craigslist finds me several studio one-bedroom apartments in Brighton, East Boston, Allston, Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, and Dorchester for under $1000. They're not the most amazing places, but they all appear to be safe and functional. If you plan it right, and especially if you get connected in a community, you can find a larger and nicer place for around this price. We did. So, if you spend half your income on rent, you can live in these places making $24,000 a year.

Ironically, when browsing, I actually saw the former apartment of some people I used to know. It's a small three-bedroom walkup badly in need of renovation. When I knew this place several years ago, they had 10 people living there -- three related nuclear families, each in one bedroom. Now, I did worry a bit about these folks as far as fire codes go, and I'll admit that during a meal I stepped into a bedroom to make a phone call and peeked out the window to make sure there were fire escapes. But my point is that people do what they gotta do. These folks were happy, hard-working, and grateful for their blessings.

Is it a bit messed up that people were living like this in the wealthiest country in the world? In a country where we have people who could have bought these families each a home with the monetary equivalent of me buying them a coffee? Of course it is. I definitely support the fight for better wages, better working conditions, housing, healthcare, education, and all the other things we as a civilized country can do better at.

But can people lay off with feeling sorry for themselves, and thinking they can't possibly live here if they don't make $100,000? It's insulting to my family and others who are living well below the poverty line. I'm not going to pretend our lives are glamorous or without some periods of extreme stress directly related to financial strains. But most of the time, we're thriving. And while there's a big part of me that's grateful that the sorts of people writing these pieces aren't bringing their privileged attitudes to our hard-working community-minded neighborhoods, I still don't need to hear about how they can't possibly afford to live "in Boston" when they really mean they might have to live somewhere poorer or less white. We're part of Boston too, even if the media likes to forget. Boston wouldn't survive without our labor.

Getting groceries whatever way I need to

Not my best haul ever, but I'm pretty much happy whenever I get more than 50% off. I wasn't doing as much couponing as usual during the past few months, so my condiment and canned goods stash was getting low.

Also, my foodstamps did get cut off, at least for now. I finally talked to someone, thanks to hearing about this governor's hotline linked to around the blogosphere, and they're cutting me off because one family member got a one-time payment from a job for some extra work, but it's included on the November paystub, making that month twice as much as others. We were grateful for some extra work that worked with our family's schedule, but now that person's income looks twice as high. We have to wait a few more months and send in new paystubs so they can re-do the average. For now, we're fine, thanks to my couponing stash of many months' worth of rice, noodles, dry goods, beans, soups and other canned goods, and for having some cash on hand that allowed me to restock on some condiments and things. The stuff that was available was a bit more processed than I'd have liked, but combined with way affordable produce from Fair Foods, we're eating pretty good up in here.

Free Hamburger Helper at Stop and Shop

There is a printable coupon here for 50 cents off one box, Stop and Shop doubles coupons, and they're $1 this week. The coupon will only print once per computer, unfortunately. If you get enough coupons, they're potentially a money maker, since SavingStar has $1 off of three boxes and there's a $3 off $10 worth of General Mills deal at Stop and Shop this week.

By the way, our family doesn't really do meat, so I hadn't ever sought these out until they were free, but they're really no different from any other noodle-and-sauce packets. The mac-and-cheese or Spanish rice ones are fine on their own, or you could toss a can of mushrooms or some sauteed peppers and onions or whatnot into the various recipes.