SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle
Dec 6, 2010, 2:55 AM | Updated: Mar 28, 2011, 3:46 pm
David Volk is a cheap bastard. That’s a compliment.
“Basically a cheap bastard is saying not that you’re going to beat somebody over the head to save five or ten cents, but that you’re a person who is interested in maintaining a certain quality of life,” Volk says. “It’s about allowing you to do the things you want to do, for less.”
He’s written “The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle, Secrets of Living the Good Life – For less!”
It’s all about finding the best deals in the Seattle-area without having to do a lot of comparison shopping because he’s done all the research for us.
“The joy of being a freelance writer in Seattle is that I’ve know about a lot of these deals,” Volk says, “and I’m a cheap deal savant. I just know how to sniff them out.”
Hear my 10 minute interview with Volk on my weekly podcast . He gives me ideas about places you can go with the family, or explore on your own.
Here are some examples of deals that are cheap, and even free:
- Students at South Seattle Community College’s Northwest Wine Academy produces their own wine, and they have four free tastings a year.
- If you have a smart phone and texting, Starbucks has 12 deals for you. It’s part of the 12 days of sharing. Text 29943 for daily deals.
- Go to the Seattle’s Best Coffee Facebook page, like it, and you’ll find out how to get a free coffee.
- Picasso Teen Night Out at the Seattle Art Museum, Friday, December 10th is free.
- Free museums – the book has an extensive list of museums, and you might not have heard of some of them even if you’re a life-long resident. There’s a Coast Guard Museum at Pier 36, a power plant museum in Georgetown, tours of Benaroya hall on Tuesday and Friday.
- Free food – Il Fornaio in Pacific Place has a free food happy hour 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Limited seating, so get there early.
- Free samples – Beecher’s Handmade Cheese (recently praised by Oprah) 1600 Pike Place Market, and Chukar Cherry Company 1529 Pike Place has samples of dried, curried cherries and cherry chipotle barbecue sauce.
- Many free tours available in the area, including Boehm’s Candies in Issaquah, the Alki Point Lighthouse, and the Klondike Gold Rush Museum in Pioneer Square.
