Clear Your Bookshelves
Before you buy a single new hardcover at Barnes & Noble or go on another paperback spree at the Strand, read (or at least attempt to read) every volume that’s currently gathering dust on your shelves. Admit it: You’ve never even cracked half of them! Time to start.
Annual Savings: $299.40
(Assuming one $24.95 hardcover a month.)

Cancel DVDs by Mail
Use the New York Public Library’s DVD stacks instead. The library gets new releases nearly as soon as Netflix does (though not as many copies). Just go to nypl.org and request the films you want. You’ll receive an e-mail when the disc is ready for pickup at your nearest branch.
Annual Savings: $204
(At $17 per month for a Netflix account.)

Take the free water taxi to the Red Hook Ikea.
And then skip Ikea. Hang out on the esplanade for an hour or two, then water-taxi back.
Annual Savings: $48
(Assuming one monthly $4 round trip to Ikea.)

Go to Museums Only on Friday Nights
MoMA, free 4 to 8; Bronx Museum of the Arts, free all day; Guggenheim, pay what you wish 5:45 to 7:45; Morgan Library, free 7 to 9; American Folk Art Museum, free 5:30 to 7:30; New-York Historical Society, free 6 to 8.
Annual Savings: $79
(Assuming you’d go to each once.)

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Table of Contents: Nov 10, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!