Even though summer is wrapping up,
there is still time to catch some fun in the sun without breaking the bank.
So to learn about some of the best ways
to save money while enjoying the city I spoke with
via Chow, an expert on cheap and free things to do around NYC.
You have this beautiful day.
So go
in New York City in Brian Park, Viva,
an amazing
city.
How do you save money in this city and take care of it? Yeah.
So two things immediately come to mind. First is
I'm actually part of this like neighborhood
group on Facebook called Buy Nothing where you
can connect with your neighbors around you and you can give things for free.
Also, you can get things for free.
So one of the things I love about New York City is that people
are so kind here and the community that you create is really important.
It's just a great way to get to know your
neighbors and also just like kind of share free things.
And the second one is I would say there's this
app called Seated where you can support local restaurants.
And once you take a picture of your receipt and put it in the app,
you get cash back.
So that's a really great way to like eat out, but also get money back at the same time.
It's like two of my little hacks. I like that. That is a very good advice.
I mentioned that we're here in beautiful Brian Park, there's a beautiful lawn,
all sorts of free activities
in terms of attending and partaking in these free activities. What's your advice?
So during the summer, there is not a short shortage of free movie nights.
It's actually like throughout a lot of different parks in New York City.
So Astoria Park, Washington Square Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, basically,
you get these amazing movies with an incredible view.
So you know, bring up your little picnic blanket and enjoy.
That's great advice. And I see that you were born and raised in Hong Kong,
moved to New York City recently
as a performer. How has that impacted how you view the city?
Yeah. So I moved to New York City as a performer.
And I think I'm really attracted to like storytelling.
So I think my storytelling skills as a performer
has kind of translated to curating my social platforms.
And I actually started out posting a lot of
content about Chinatown because I was really affected by
the negative stigma and narrative that was surrounding the
a api community during the peak of the pandemic.
And so I started sharing affordable hidden gems,
cheap eats, life acts,
you know, just hopefully, you know, kind of changing the narrative a little bit. And
um
I guess,
like I discovered realized that I was really passionate
about cultivating community that was rooted in creativity,
positivity, and adventure.
So that led me to just posting a lot of free things.
So you have a very active social media profile
as you're mentioning in addition to being a performer.
But why is social media an important outlet for you?
I just think the impact that we're able
to have is incredible through our tiny screens.
And
I just want to encourage everyone to explore the city.
Have fun, connect with others and kind of do it without the pressure of feeling like,
oh every time I go out I have to drop like x amount of money to have fun, right?
Yeah.
And it can get really expensive in New York City. So expensive.
What do you think that is the best way to
go about planning for an outing in New York City?
OK. So some tips that I use. I
really like to call hashtags on Instagram like
hashtag NYC pop ups or hashtag NYC freebies.
I think there's so much content there and also event, right?
Favorite places to eat because everyone wants to eat when they're in New York City.
What would you say?
Um I love holding the walls. I love Chinatown.
You know, there's so many restaurants where you can get a meal for under $5.
Obviously, art and theater is very important.
You yourself are a performer for any tourist.
What's a good way to take advantage of Broadway?
There's a website called Broadway for broke people dot com.
And there's, it's a basically a really fantastic resource and it shows you,
you know what shows give you lotteries on the day, cheaper tickets.
We call them like rush tickets or standing room summer unfortunately,
is going to come to a close here very soon.
Tips for our viewers on how to enjoy it
by stretching your dollar.
There are so many free things happening right now. So there's free yoga at
a
car that's happening Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. There's free movie nights.
There's also free tai chi and yoga. Elizabeth Street Garden.
A lot of those little things sprinkled around the city
via,
thank you for all the tips. I'm going to be trying some of them myself. Thank you so
much for having me.
All right, great tips
via
chow. Great to see her.
And of course, thanks to Paramount Plus movie nights and Brian Park Corporation
for having us.