Dining out

8 ways to hack UBER, ditch your car, and save money in the on-demand economy.

By Brad Beckstrom

In the middle of a crowded Irish pub, my friend stood up and shouted “Brad will be taking Uber home tonight!” and ordered another round to cheers and jeers. Late that evening, a shiny Jeep showed up and drove my wife and me home in the freshly falling snow. The total cost of the ride $6.28. My friend didn’t know that I use UberX about once a week and whenever I’m traveling

Having a shiny sedan show up at your home with a driver may not seem very frugal until you consider parking costs $6-$10 for a night out in the city and the occasional $50-$100 parking ticket. I got $200 worth the year before I started using UBER. The hundred dollar parking ticket was due to an expired Virginia inspection decal. I was a bit peeved until I saw that this parking ticket actually said “ticket and tow” and I’d gotten to my car before the tow truck had arrived. My Virginia inspection decal was two days expired and I was parked in Washington DC! That city will do anything for a buck as long as it’s a pain in the ass.

A few years ago when Virginia tried to ban Uber, I wrote to my Congressman and told him that he was putting drinkers back on the road if he supported banning services like Uber and Lyft. I didn’t use the word drunks because many folks who get a DUI think they’re fine until it’s too late. The average cost of a DUI can range anywhere from $7000 to $25,000 depending on the area and fines. The younger the driver, the more invincible they believe they are and more likely to have others in the car with them, not to mention the other drivers and pedestrians they endanger when driving impaired. If you’re going to be out celebrating, use it tell your family and friends to use it. I’ll give you some Uber hacks below to eliminate any excuses. [Read more…] about 8 ways to hack UBER, ditch your car, and save money in the on-demand economy.

If you’re traveling on a budget, plan a trip to a 4 star resort on a Greek Island.

07/16 by The Frug Leave a Comment

IMG_8950 (1)

By Brad Beckstrom

Wait, The Frug hanging out at a four-star resort in the Greek Islands? That doesn’t sound very frugal. The fact is, it’s never been more frugal. This has a lot to do with the strength of the US dollar versus the Euro which is regularly hitting 10 year lows, but it has more to do with Greek hospitality and choosing the right time and the right island to visit.

Location, Location, Location

While I was researching Greece, I was a bit disappointed to see pictures of summer crowds in places like Santorini and Mykonos. One website even included photos titled “perception” and “reality” showing a photo of beautiful whitewashed houses and windmills on Santorini next to a photo of the same spot, covered in tourists, with every alleyway bursting at the seams with dreaded shoppers and selfie stick wavers.

From the start, I wanted to avoid the crowds. That was going to be tough as our kids weren’t getting out of school til late June and, like many other families. we’d all be hitting the highways and airports about the same time. The strategy we came up with was to visit a few Greek islands that most Americans have never heard of, Paros and Antiparos. We talked to some Greek insiders including a celebrity chef my 14-year-old son had been chatting up on Twitter and got the scoop on these two islands. They’re in the same Cyclades chain of islands with Santorini and Mykonos, but because Paros is a ferry hub, it’s often the first stop coming and going on the ferry from Athens. This would be our destination.

Timing

The other key element in our plan was timing. [Read more…] about If you’re traveling on a budget, plan a trip to a 4 star resort on a Greek Island.

Should I have another?

05/16 by The Frug Leave a Comment

The best way to track your alcohol intake without carrying around a breathalyzer or having someone offer you one.

intellidrink-iphone

By Brad Beckstrom

So one friend says to me “I shouldn’t have a beer, I’m driving.” Another friend says “Let’s have another round.” And he may have already had 5. Even though I frequently use UBER or Lyft to get around, I still think it’s a good idea to keep track of what you’re drinking. I’ve been trying to cut back on the amount of alcohol I consume to lose a few pounds and live a healthier lifestyle.

I found a subtle trick you can use to limit your drinking and stay well within legal limits. You’ll be able to your enjoy yourself whether it’s with the 1 beer friend, 5 beer friend, or no beer friend. Here’s how it works:

The past couple of years I’ve been using a smartphone app called IntelliDrink. The app uses an algorithm based on information you put in to set up your profile. Your profile includes things like height weight, and gender but also allows you to put in your favorite drinks, including type, size, and alcohol content in advance. So, when you have a beverage, all you need to do is click on the drink button. You can even adjust the time you started, as well as whether you have recently eaten, or are drinking on an empty stomach. Just make sure you’re sober when you complete your profile and put in the drink information. You only need to do this once.

frug intellidrink

The most important feature on the app is the blood alcohol content (BAC) graph. What many people don’t realize is that your blood-alcohol level continues to rise after you stop drinking, especially if you’ve had several drinks over a short period of time. This app does a great job of tracking and predicting blood alcohol content based on your profile and the types, time, and number of drinks you’ve entered by hitting the drink button. [Read more…] about Should I have another?

The Costco Date. Declaring War on your Grocery Bill.

03/15 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Jumbo Dog and Refillable 20oz Pepsi. $1.50

My wife Kelly and I have started a new tradition. The Costco Date. Kelly actually coined the term and I jumped on it. I was recently complaining about our grocery bill that two growing teenage boys have something to do with. We had bailed on Costco a few years back primarily because the times we usually went, weekends, it was usually a zoo. I have better things to do with my time than visit a big-box store on a weekend. We also started ending up with oversize stuff we didn’t need like giant jars of olives and other questionable clothing and gadget purchases.

We’d started using Amazon Prime for paper products, pet food, and lots of other items so we decided not to renew our Costco membership. That was before I decided to declare war on our grocery bill. [Read more…] about The Costco Date. Declaring War on your Grocery Bill.

The Snack Artist.

11/14 by The Frug Leave a Comment

A Minimalist approach to snacking.

With football season in full swing and the holidays on the way, this would be a good time to go deep on snacking.

When I used to work in an office, one of my coworkers would regularly bring in a large jar of dry roasted peanuts. He used to leave the dry roasted peanuts in a few different spots around the office.

Several times a day he would walk by and grab a handful of peanuts from the jar. He would also gesture at people, with the jar and say “nuts” ? I would usually answer yep, then, keep on walking. Other times, I would grab a handful en-route to a meeting.

I always wondered why he didn’t just leave the nuts in his office. Later, I realized my coworker had a snacking strategy. By leaving snacks in a location outside of his office, he had established a routine whereby he needed to get up and walk to get to the snack. [Read more…] about The Snack Artist.

10 things you should know about great dive bars

02/14 by The Frug 4 Comments

By Brad Beckstrom

Years ago I worked for Miller Brewing Company. Part of my job was visiting wholesalers who were independent distributors of our beer. I worked in marketing, so after my pitch on the latest programs from the brewery we would visit key accounts including bars and restaurants in the market. We’d say hi to the bar owners, buy some beers, discuss what the competition was up to, and how our programs were stacking up in retail.

Many of these beer distributors were in small towns. I visited places like Snoqualmie WA , Cumberland MD, Ocracoke Island NC, and Harpers Ferry WV. As a recent college grad, this was a great opportunity to see the country and spend time with experienced business owners.

The distributors would take brewery reps like me to their best accounts. These were generally taverns that sold a lot of beer. They were always independently owned (not chains) and had a large local following. The formula in all of these accounts was remarkably similar. Keep it simple, sell ice cold beer and great food. Keep it relatively dark and cool inside and hang a lot of interesting stuff on the wall. These were classic dive bars.

In search of local dives.

Fast-forward many years and true dive bars with good food are getting harder to find. This is especially true if you are living in the suburbs. Around Arlington, are always plenty of places to eat including chains, ethnic spots and high-end concept restaurants owned by restaurant groups and celebrity chefs. Some of these restaurant groups even do a nice job at re-creating the feel of an Adirondack Tavern or a Nantucket Sailing Club. Sure you may feel like you’re in a hundred-year-old tavern, but you’re paying for it.

There’s nothing wrong with this once in a while, but just because you enjoy something like a great bottle of wine at an expensive restaurant, doesn’t mean you need to try and recreate that experience every week or even every month. In an expensive area like Arlington Virginia, trying to recreate this dining experience weekly can add up to a couple of car payments every month.

This is where the local dive becomes important. They’ve spent very little on decor. There is no wine list, just what’s on the table tent. The focus is on value. If you’re a Frug, you need to seek these places out. You need to support them. I’m not talking about hipster dive bars. These are very easy to spot. I can find any number of them over the bridge in DC. They may look like dive bars but they charge eight to ten dollars for a cocktail or seven dollars for a microbrew. Sadly they are often the victim of location (high rent district) and no short supply of urban hipsters. More power to them but they’re off my list.

How to spot a true dive. These are getting harder to find.

It’s coveted by the locals. Reputation and repeat business from regulars is what keep these places going. Ask around.
The floor may be dirty but the dishes and glasses are clean. Serving ice cold beer or a cocktail in a perfect spotless glass is a true dive bar’s bread-and-butter.
The menu is simple, and generally unhealthy, but the quality is there.
The price is right. They should offer a good selection of old-school domestic beers like Miller High Life and PBR for about three dollars.
The taps are clean. If you get a funny tasting draft beer, be suspect. A good dive bar will have very clean beer lines, just like a great Irish pub will pour a perfect Guinness.
The customers are definitely more interesting than those you may find at a local chain restaurant,
The hipsters may have discovered it but the owner doesn’t care,
A good amount of the decor has been provided by local beer and liquor companies. Some of the stuff hanging on the wall is over 50 years old.
It’s not well lit, which helps hide many imperfections.
The kitchen is simple and clean. You can hear the cook complain about your order.

If you like to go out once a week or so, try seeking out the best local dives. Heres how.

Explain to your wife, friends or significant other that you want to try something different and that this will be a new experience.
Do your research. After all if you find your favorite local dive you may be going there for 10 years or more (like we have) so it’s worth a little bit of effort.
Start with Yelp or Foursquare. If you don’t have the app it’s just as easy to visit Yelp.com. Create a free account so you can bookmark your dives.
Do a search for dive bars or dives. Look for 4 star ratings on Yelp and Google Maps or a rating of 80 or higher on Foursquare.
Don’t just stop there, browse some of the food comments this is always a good indicator of the quality of the dive.
Do a test dive. Don’t just show up for dinner on a Saturday night. Maybe stop by for happy hour and try some chicken wings to get a feel for the place.

It may turn out not to be a place you want to eat but the drinks and bar food may look great. While you’re trying it out share your thoughts on the yelp app or foursquare.

Keep searching. Like most other things in life, you only need to find one.

To get you started here’s a list of my favorite dives, http://goo.gl/kgWvkl

The Frug