Broke-Ass of the Week – Erica Reitman of Fucked in Park Slope

Every week we feature a different person from the community shedding a little light on their life of brokeitude.  Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something about the human spirit'probably not.

Wanna be a Broke-Ass of the Week?  Holler at us here and we’ll send you the questionnaire.

Behind this cute face is a wry wit and a filthy mouth. And of course breath that smells like milk bones.

Erica may not be the brokest Broke-Ass of the Week that we’ve had so far, but she certainly has a lot of insight into brokedom…basically, she knows when to snatch a good bargain when she sees one.  She also is at the helm of the awesome blog Fucked in Park Slope, and you all know that I’m a sucker for anyone who has use the fuck word with abandon.  Dude, the tag line for the site is “Embrace the Hate”!  Are you kidding me?  I love this kind of shit.  Erica, you had me at “Fucked”.

Basically, the site is about taking shit on Park Slope, New York, and the world in general.  So yeah, I’m thinking you should put them on your google reader like now.

As for the picture, Erica actually is not an extremely talented dog who’s learned how to form complex thoughts and type (although THAT would be an amazing blog).  She sent the photo of her dog Oliver becuase, “I don’t usually send pics of myself (as I don’t like getting lynched around my nabe)”.  Read below for some of Erica’s other insights.

Name: Erica Reitman

Age: Very fucking old

Occupation: Marketing Director slash badass blogger

What neighborhood do you live in?: Park Slope, Brooklyn

Best money saving tip: If you’re buying any more than 2 slices of pizza, just buy the whole pie and have some leftovers for tomorrow. Those specialty slices can be $3+ each…if you buy 3 of em, that’s *almost* as much as a whole pie. Also, it’s usually cheaper to buy a plain bagel and a 1/4 lb of cream cheese than it is to get that bagel with the cream cheese already on it.

Not sure why, but them are the facts. You’re welcome.

What do you refuse to spend money on?: Cereal…why the hell is cereal like $7 a box?! I just don’t get it.

Most expensive thing you’ve ever bought: Our apartment…and all the shit that’s in it.

How’d that feel?: Honestly, very fucking good.

Favorite cheap eat: In NYC there are soooo many. The 5 dumplings for $1 at Tasty Dumpling in Chinatown are pretty rockin. And at Sahadi’s in Brooklyn (right near Trader Joes) you can get EPIC hummos–$3.85 for an entire pound. Go next door to Damascus bread for some pitas ($1.25) and you are sitting pretty for up to a week. Also, here’s one I use allll the time: when ordering out at lunch, order TWO lunch specials. This way you can eat one for lunch and have one for dinner (or even if you don’t want to eat it for lunch, but you expect to be ordering out for dinner later, order the lunch special and save it).

Favorite dive bar: See question #2 regarding my age…I don’t go to many. But in Park Slope, I’d have to say the Old Carriage Inn.

Best deal you’ve ever gotten: Uhm…probably our apartment when we lived downtown after 9/11. Not to get all morbid-n-shit, but they were practically giving places away back then. AND we got an extra $500 per month off of our rent from the LMDC for two years–basically, they were bribing people to move back downtown. And it worked. Though instead of being smart and saving the extra cash every month, we ended up just getting ourselves a phatty, phat phat apartment.

Favorite free thing to do: Hang out in Prospect Park. It’s like Central Park, but way less crowded and more manageable. They’ve got all the same shit: a zoo, a carousel, paths, screaming kids, hot dog carts, etc.

If you woke up a millionaire, what’s the first thing you’d buy?: Probably a little weekend house on Long Island or in upstate NY. I had a BLAST decorating and renovating our apartment when we bought it, but the place is like 700 square feet–so once we were done, we were done. I would love to do it again with a weekend getaway place. And then we would need a car, of course. And also I love, love, love to travel, so I would probably want to do an amazing month-long trip to Italy. And, uhm, the Barney’s Warehouse sale would be pretty killer if I was a millionaire (is all my fantasy money gone yet?).

Despite not having money, do you still love your life?: Well, I mean, its all relative, right? I feel slightly weird busting out with “I’ve got no money,” when there a shit ton of people out there with waaaay less than I have that are dealing with supporting their whole families. But, I do have to say this: the whole recesh thing has been great for me, in that its helped me completely reset my I need this/I want this-o-meter. I used to be rich and I didn’t even know it, so I’m thankful that I’ll never let that happen again (not the rich thing…I will DEF be rich again one day! You hear that universe!? I just mean, when I am, I’ll appreciate it way more).

Do you own my book?: No…and isn’t that a rather insensitive question to ask someone who’s low on their benji’s?? Ok, kidding–but do you give discounts to kind and caring people like me who take the time to carefully answer your questionnaire?

Best hangover cure: McDonalds

Are you a hipster?: I’m a BALLER