I have done all except No. 4. Normally get the large bag of peanuts outside the park for a fraction and when i still lived in chicago, we would stop at McDs across the street or Heroes at Addison & Western and take that food in to the game. There are many, many substitutes for expensive ballpark food, including bringing leftovers from home.

Tickets are another story. I agree that it got so expensive that I could no longer justify paying to see the horsecrap product put out by this organization. I only went when friends got comp. tickets from work. However, the grandstand reserve is your best option as you pointed out. Just dress accordingly, including long underwear if it's early in the season.

I stopped taking the bus, too. The "L" for sure, but only if I could drive close to a stop. When driving I found there to be plenty of parking in the side streets southwest of the park, but maybe that is all zoned now? I also liked walking to a place on Southport after games, a couple blocks south of Addison, so I didn't mind parking that far away and walking, it's great exercise and I abhor the bus with a passion so I enjoyed walking as fast or faster than the sardines in the bus.

Attending a MLB game is an expensive exercise. But it can be done affordably if you don't mind the cheap seats and bring your own food.

Wrigley may not sell veggie hot dogs, but they do sell black bean burgers at a few of the concession stands -- I'm fairly sure the one nearest Gate K does.

...the best parking for night and weekend games is at DeVry University. $5 to park, with free shuttle service to and from the game.

Adn rememeber upperdeck 500 sections is basically club level view at any other park.

And check the schedule. Not all games are priced the same so take the $10 you were going to buy a shirt with and upgrade fromt he $10 500 ticket to a bleacher ticket for $22 on non-premier games.

to find the 'Value Games'

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/ballpark/seating.jsp

...you can show up without a ticket and buy one on the street once the game has started at a really good price.

I would suggest a weekday...the brokers overbuy all the games and end up stuck with tickets.

1) Seats: Get your seats from a corporate sponsor...this must be done with some advance knowledge but most of the major corporate venders in town have seats...law firms, et cetera....but you to seek out the poor dates...April-May....Choice two....check the weather in advance and go to weekday games that are marginal weather dates...the private scalpers will be selling seats below face as the game approaches game time...or there after.

2) Since I always take the "L" and ask myself why most others do not I don't understand, most of the time I park at the Skokie Swift but before we moved West I started taking the NW to Evanston and then transferring at Howard from the purple to red line. Saved time and money....

3) We always packed...although we liked going to the Jewel and getting their fried chicken the night before and fridging to pack in. Furthermore my wife became quite creative packing libations in apple and grape juice jars along with soda water for coolers and high balls. Saved beaucoup bucks.....

4) trinkets.....well one should go to resale shops they are many things to choose from....

I've pretty much done all that except taking the L in.

Since I live in the South Side when I'm back home in Chicago, I find it's better and quicker to run in to the lots around Wrigley. IF you have to drive, use a lot close by and the one I use is the one right on the corner of Fremont and Addison .. you get there two hours early and then you walk two blocks through the alley and then you are front and center on Sheffield facing the right field bleachers. It's one of the most joyous walks through Chicago I can ever have when I go home . ... very easy to get to and get out of. I think I paid like 20 bucks to park, which is about the most I
paid except for the tickets that day.

We get Subway sandwiches and eat before we go and then nibble on them during the game. They always let us take in the 1.00 20 oz bottles of water we get from the vendors. Never had a problem.

We don't drink booze, so we got that money problem licked. Of course, Wrigley is the major watering hole in the city during a game, so if buying rounds for your group in the bleachers is your cup of tea, you'll pay for the privilege.

There is next to nothing at Wrigley souvenir stands that I haven't already purchased. In fact a LOT of my T's and caps I get from VF outlets in southern Illinois and northern KY when I drive through. I got a really cool Soriano longsleeve T for only $10.00 there and don't even go to the gift shop in Wrigley. I went one time and saw nothing that interested me. If I did go back, after reflection, I might get one of the Cubbie "Watch For Foul Balls" signs, but that would be it.

We then just go in or walk around and enjoy the Wrigley experience. And we don't make the TribCo any richer.

When I lived in Chicago I was in a place right near Wrigley - on the 3700 block of N. Fremont. I lost my job in April one year, and didn't find another until August, but managed to see about 15 games for free. On game days I would walk over to where the players would enter the park and hang out a few hours early. When visiting players would get out of cabs (or occasionally walk over from the Red Line), I'd ask them for a ticket. I'd say something like "I gotta see the game today, but my wife will kill me if she finds out I paid to go to the game instead of went out looking for a job. Can you help me out?" It didn't work out every time, but it did about half the time I tried it, and the seats were always excellent. Larry Dierker, the Houston manager, got me tickets to all three games of an April series.

Well a friend of mine claims to have done this. He knows up front he's gonna get an SRO ticket then checks the scalpers on Addison for UD seats that are unlikely to sell, remembers the location and plants his butt there for the game. Now his reasoning is a little different that most. He uses the logic of money saved on the seats (usually him and his girlfriend) goes towards a couple ballpark items; hotdogs (real ones) and beer.

As for gas, don't complain. $3.50 isn't as bad as the price our European friends are paying, approx double of us. From our location, we have to drive in. I work more than 20 miles from the park and live more than 40 miles away. Day games, I know the sidestreet locations very well. Night games; it's a lot I have privey to near Halsted and Addison, near the 23rd police district. If that's not availalbe, the DeVry lot shuttle option of $6 a car is a buy.

On a last note, I think the words frugal and Wrigley visit in the same sentence are an oxymoron. The Cubs have the 2nd highest average ticket prices in MLB, behind only the BoSox (and by a margin).