Your no-frills source for Portland bargains, freebies and money saving deals

Weekend on the Cheap:

- Reed Arts Week 2010: ALCHEMY runs through this Sunday with visiting artists, performances, lectures, installation, and student art projects. Every day 12:00pm – 6:00pm, see web site for schedule of activities.

- Children’s Museum First Friday: free admission for all from 5:00pm – 8:00pm thanks to Target!

- Central Eastside Arts District presents First Friday Art Openings this Friday; see web site for map locations.

- Portland Saturday Market reopens this weekend with hours of 10:00am – 5:00pm Saturday and 11:00am – 4:30pm Sunday. Special activities for children include a make-your-own instrument for a 2:00pm parade and a roaming magician.

- 25th Annual Visitation School Rummage Sale in Forest Grove this Thursday – Saturday. Early bird sale on Thursday, March 4, from 7:30am to 9:00am for an entrance fee of $5. Regular sale hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm. Everything will be half price on Saturday, March 6th, with a $3 bag sale from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. The sale will be held at the Visitation Parish Center, located at 4285 NW Visitation Road, Forest Grove, 97116.

- The 20th annual Cascade Festival of African Films wraps up its month-long celebration with film screenings this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Free admission, please see web site for film descriptions.

- Bank of America Museums on Us free admission for card holders to the Portland Art Museum & Pittock Mansion this Saturday and Sunday. Just bring your photo ID and any Bank of America card to get in for free!

- McMenamins Grand Lodge 88th Birthday Party, featuring the Cracked Pots unGarden Art Show this Saturday. Art show runs 11:00am – 6:00pm and music starts at 4:00pm. Free admission, all ages welcome.

- Vancouver Family Magazine presents the 4th annual Children’s Festival this Saturday from 11:00am – 4:00pm at the Westfield Vancouver Mall. Free event featuring performances, activities, games, prizes and entertainment for families of all ages.

- New Seasons Markets features cereal and milk tasting samples this Saturday and Sunday from 11:00am – 5:00m at all area stores.

- The 7th annual SE Portland Art Walk takes place this Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am – 5:00pm. Featuring over 100 artists, please see the web site for locations and to download a map. Free!

- Portland International Women’s Day will be held this Sunday from 11:00am – 4:00pm on the 3rd floor of the Portland State University Smith Student Union. The festival includes entertainment, art, seminars and more. Free for all ages.

- OMSI offers admission for just $2 this first Sunday. See the newest exhibit “Space: A Journey to our Future.”

- Willamette Week’s new Cheap Skate Deal Box features half-price tickets for Portland Center Stage’s “The 39 Steps,” a free concert at Mississippi Studios first anniversary party, cheap bicycle stuff and more.

- The OSU Food Innovation Center is recruiting participants for another upcoming taste test:

The Sensory and Consumer Group at the Oregon State University Food Innovation Center is looking for participants for a taste test to take place on Tuesday, March 16th. The taste test will be about 30 minutes and the compensation is $25.
We will also be holding three additional optional focus groups after three of the taste tests. These focus groups will take 45 minutes and will pay an additional $35. Test times run from 9am to 5pm. If you are interested, please click on this link to submit a questionnaire.

If you are selected to participate, we will contact you via email by Tuesday, March 9th, where you must confirm your intent to participate. We will then send you another reminder email the day before the test.

We only contact those who were selected to participate and will be sending out those confirmation emails by March 9th.
Photo ID will be required to participate in this test.

- For a list of other totally free events and happenings, please visit Aroundthesunblog, updated every Thursday evening.

Spotlight: Portland Shared Housing Resources

It’s a brutal economy and many people have been forced to pinch their pennies and make hard decisions on housing, jobs, family and lifestyle. One of our good friends was laid off back in the fall, just three months after purchasing his first home. Fortunately, he was able to resell, but the sudden absence of a steady paycheck was a shock that resulted in the hunt for cheaper housing options.

He could no longer afford a place of his own; even apartments wanted too much up front, so he looked for shared housing opportunities. Here are some of the resources he shared with us that he found useful:

ONLINE:

- Craigslist, Rooms and Shares category. Postings constantly updated, some with pics and some without, use the search box to limit key words. And be familiar with the Federal Fair Housing Act!

- HousingConnections.org. This web-based community service is sponsored by the City of Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development and is user-friendly and very functional. Under the ‘Renters’ tab, click on ‘Search for Housing’ and then on the next screen click on ‘Shared Housing.’ Free to use, no registration required.

- Roomates.com: basic membership is free and that will allow you to add a profile, browse matches and send RoomMail messages. But in order to read messages received from other members, you must become a Choice Member which costs $5.99 for a 3-day trial, $19.99 for 30 days, and $29.99 for 60 days.

- The classifieds in the Willamette Week and the Portland Mercury maintain a small database of online listings for roommates. Definitely worth a look, especially since it is free.

- Oregonlive.com provides a listing of shared housing, but the ads don’t have a full description and you can’t search for specific terms.

REAL WORLD / OFFLINE:

- Shared Housing matching and referral service. This program is offered by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and program participants are asked to pay a fee of $10 to $30, depending on income. See web site for details and application process.

- College bulletin boards. Find them at any Portland Community College campus, Portland State University or any of the private colleges scattered around the Portland area.

- Other places that might have public bulletin boards include grocery stores (try Fred Meyer, Safeway and Haggen); places of worship like churches and synagogues; senior centers and Loaves and Fishes meal centers; community activity centers like the Salvation Army, YMCA or Boys and Girls Clubs; and multicultural service centers like IRCO Asian Family Center in NE Portland, Centro Cultural in Washington County, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest.

-Finally, let your friends and colleagues know that you are in the market for a place or room to rent out. Many homeowners are turning to renting out rooms to help make ends meet, so it could be a win-win situation.

Homeowner considering renting out a room? Read this article for more.