Free

I am battling back by seeking out whatever is free. If banks and Wall Street want to come at me with fees and greed, I have options.
Free movies at libraries, free plays if I volunteer to usher, free samples at supermarkets, free massages and blood pressure testing at street fairs. Free meals at friends' gatherings, provided I listen to their complaints, practically free books at library sales, free art and photography if you photograph someone else's work when they aren't looking, free music outdoors by those who are slightly pitch challenged, free Shakespeare in the parks, though you can't hear a damn thing, free conversation with anyone relatively clean and cogent, free dance if you wait in Lincoln Center for Julliard students to show up and start leaping for no reason, free candy and t-shirts and hand fans and water at parades if you can fight off other spectators.
Free sports events if you enjoy watching little kids run in circles trying to kick or catch a ball, free drama when parents argue with officials, free comedy in parking lots observing out of shape folks carrying bundles to their car or trying to reach a shopping cart before a fit person gets there. Walking is free and comes with sightseeing, especially along the north Jersey waterfront if you appreciate the found art of crumbling piers and feral cats and rusted metal, free lectures by experts on just about anything.
Let's barter, bypass the whole system. I've got extra socks, hardly used. What are you offering?