Read This for FREE!

To my best recollection, I first came across the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely while on vacation. While my wife was checking out clothing and jewelry stores—a mild form of torture for me—I found a local bookstore and flipped through some of the more interesting chapters in Ariely’s book. One chapter’s thesis is that getting free stuff can be “a source of irrational excitement.” While the chapter is mostly about how our penchant for free things can be manipulated by marketers, it did get me thinking.

What are a few of my favorite free or nearly-free things?

Public Libraries. This freebie is so obvious it could be easy to overlook. I often order books online and have them delivered to my local library for pick-up. The checkout slip for my latest selection reminds me that I “just saved about $25.95.” Also noteworthy, I avoided adding a volume to my already overstuffed bookcases.

Parks and Nature Preserves. In my county—Lancaster, PA—there are 45 nature preserves and at least eight county parks, not to mention dozens of community parks. Hundreds of miles of hiking trails are available, with no admission charge for any of them. During the Covid pandemic, I discovered a jewel of a park about a mile from my home. I had overlooked it for years as an apparently abandoned building stood in front of its entrance.

Knoebels Amusement Park. Nestled in rural Elysburg, PA about three hours from Philadelphia, Knoebels is a nearly hundred-year-old amusement park with free admission and free parking. The park is in a pastoral, shaded setting. It’s won the Amusement Today award for best food in the country 19 times in the last 25 years. We make a trek there each summer to take a train ride ($3) and listen to an hour-long free concert. Of course, we always get lunch at the park. This year I had what might have been the best chicken cheesesteak I’ve ever eaten, for under $10. For dessert, I downed a huge cone of creamy raspberry-vanilla soft-serve costing $4.

Community Concerts. The town next to us puts on a free concert series each summer. They feature a variety of quality acts ranging from Celtic to jazz to oldies. Typically, an audience of a  few hundred gathers at the cozy outdoor venue for these events. For me, this is the perfect size.

Community Theater. There’s an organization in Lancaster called Servant Stage that uses a pay-what-you-will model. Their mission reads in part: “…to serve the community with outstanding musical and theatrical productions; make the arts accessible to all, especially people with financial or physical limitations; provide a creative outlet for artists in our community….” This is not amateur hour, folks. The most recent production we saw was Fiddler on the Roof, and it was mesmerizing. Of course, we support Servant Stage with donations, along with hundreds of other appreciative folks in our community.

HumbleDollar. I’ve only been part of the HumbleDollar community for a little over a year. I have learned so much from Jonathan and the other writers, while being entertained and participating in our congenial online community. Additionally, I had the benefit of Jonathan’s editorial services and insights for the 36 articles I had published prior to the launch of the Forum. Occasionally, people say nice things about my writing, which tends to elevate my mood at no cost to me.

One giveaway to consciously avoid: the free dinner invitations extended by various financial advisors. As Dan Ariely might say, the cost of zero cost can indeed be quite high. What are some of your free or nearly-free favorites?