We’re three weeks into the new year: How are you doing with those resolutions?
If, like most people, you resolved to get your financial house in order, you are probably feeling the first stirrings of wanting to get out there and spend. Don’t do it. Put your money away. Instead, get out there and experience all the great things in life that are free – and, no, stopping to smell the roses is not required. Never underestimate the thrill of getting or doing something for nothing.
Here are seven ways to have fun without spending a dime.
1. Free books: Project Gutenberg
It all started with the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Bible and works of Shakespeare. In 1971, Michael Stern Hart, a “cyber hippie,” started to type historic texts into a mainframe computer, believing in e-books decades before e-readers were developed. By 1989, he had completed 10 books; today, Project Gutenberg (Gutenberg.org) offers more than 38,000 books for free downloads But the Bible or even Shakespeare’s finest aren’t the most downloaded – that honour, according to the site, goes to something a little more risqué, The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is second.
There is also a Gutenberg Canada site (Gutenberg.ca), which offers Canadian titles in both English and French, as well as international titles.
2. Free films: The National Film Board
The Cat Came Back, a hilarious seven-minute animated short film, is the perpetual leader of the most-viewed films on the NFB website (www.nfb.ca), a film lover’s dream. The National Film Board has 4,000 videos that stream for free, but there’s more: At nfb.ca/free-downloads/, there are video-watching apps for every kind of phone and tablet, as well as the PixStop app for an iPad, which lets you create stop-motion animation. All are free to watch on the site, but cost money to download (downloads can cost less than $5 for SD, usually $2 more for HD). Feel like going out to see a movie instead? In Toronto and Montreal, the film board runs the NFB Mediatheque and the NFB CineRobotheque, respectively, with free films on the big screen and in digital viewing booths. There are also free activities like animation workshops and screening programs.
3. Be in the audience:
Still consumed by Pottermania? You could have caught Daniel Radcliffe – live – on Thursday as he’s interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos, if you had ordered free tickets for the taping.
Any Canadian show with a live audience, like George Stroumboulopoulos Tonightor The Marilyn Denis Show, provides free tickets for tapings. Just go to their websites for how to get them. For kids, there’s Mr. Young, the YTV hit show that films in Vancouver, and for teens, MuchMusic and MTV offer a number of ways to see stars be interviewed and perform.
4. Astronomy: Get familiar with the night sky
This year “is a good year for easily visible events,” says Terence Dickinson, the author of a slew of astronomy books and editor of SkyNews magazine (skynews.ca). That means astronomical events that you can see even if you live in an apartment building downtown.
At dusk this Thursday, DIY astronomers can witness a “conjunction” between the brightest objects in the night sky, a crescent moon and Venus (the brightest planet). It will look like two jewels twinkling in the night sky, Mr. Dickinson says. If you miss it Thursday night, you get another chance on Feb. 25 and March 26.
Also this spring, Venus passes Jupiter for three nights from March 11 to 13, which means the two brightest planets will appear close to each other.
5. Art
Public art galleries often have free viewings, like the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Thursday evenings, but it’s the commercial galleries that offer amazing shows that are always free.
