I went to an Ani DiFranco show last week, and she was just transcendent. I’ve rarely seen a performer gather the whole room into the palm of her hand so easily. Plus, she’s at a new happy place in her life, and all this joy and energy came through even the sad songs–when I find “You Had Time” uplifting, you know the artist is doing well.

But the best thing about the show was that, due to a complicated process of trading with friends of friends and zinging text messages all over the city, it was free down to the drink in my hand. Now that we’ve all blown our budgets on the biggest shopping day of the year, I wasn’t the only one in the blogosphere thinking about free stuff this week….

  • Via Get Rich Slowly, a news article about MIT’s initiative to offer free written and video course material online, and other great free education resources. (Read it at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  • Carrie finds free books, radio and magazines–the commenters on this post suggest even more resources, as well. (Read it at Wise Bread)
  • Myschia insists you can have nice crap without spending a lot of money! In fact, a lot of these tips suggest you don’t spend any money at all. (Read it at Wise Bread)
  • I admit, the price of line-drying your clothes is good (hey, it’s free)–but how much electricity do you have to save to make the penalty fines worth it? Of course, irritating your HOA is always worth it…. (Read it at Frugal for Life)

Of course, if you have to spend money sometimes, it had better be worth it.

  • Mrs. Micah says consumption is investment, an apt and interesting way of thinking about purchases–especially big ones. (Read it at Consumerism Commentary)
  • Penelope Trunk would like the pharmacos to invent a consequence-free instant life upper. Until that happens, she gets structure and a better pick-me-up out of her own closet, one of those investments paying off. (Read it at The Brazen Careerist)
  • And, now that Thanksgiving is past, there’s no more pretending it’s too early to talk Christmas. Trent is already on it, thinking about how he’s going to make a frugal holiday special for his kids. (Read it at The Simple Dollar)
  • Finally–since it’s my roundup, after all–Tegan teaches us to pack a suitcase efficiently. (Watch it at Tegan and Sara’s Myspace)

Queercents Rehash: How to Make a Free To-Do List: Sometimes, it doesn’t even count as “free”–don’t buy stupid things, yall.