😅💸 Looks like we’re never having kids

🍜 Our next Supper Club is on the books! We’re going to James Beard Award finalist Merai in Brookline on April 14 at 6:30 p.m. Spots are limited, so grab yours before they’re gone. Not a Member? Start one here for $3/month to get a spot! We’ll email you the link.

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

Happy National Financial Literacy month! We’re celebrating with our new series, “Money Smarter, Not Harder,” where Boston Globe senior assistant business editor Andy Rosen answers all of your burning $$$ questions every Thursday this April. 

You asked, he answered:

🏡 Long story short, it depends on your circumstances. How long do you plan to be here? Do you have enough for a down payment to make your mortgage bill manageable? Putting 20% down can save on insurance and reduce your monthly payment.

🤑 Think about big $$$ decisions by comparing them to other opportunities. Homes in Boston have generally been a good investment in recent decades, but there are other ways to build wealth. If you’re “house poor,” i.e., you can afford your home but not much else, you might not have enough to save for retirement or pay down student loan debt — not good! If the money you’d otherwise spend on a house is growing through interest or investment, you can make up on part of the home equity you’re missing out on while renting. 

🍼 Let’s look at the biggest cost you’ll encounter: childcare. My colleagues reported in 2023 that Eastern Massachusetts has some of the highest childcare costs in the country, with center-based child care for infants in Middlesex and Norfolk counties exceeding $26,000 per year. For comparison, in-state tuition and fees for the UMass system is about $19,000 this year. And you get 17 years to save for college! 

💸 Budgeting is as important as savings. For most people, the cost of childcare is going to require a dramatic rebalancing of your spending. Get used to eating at home and driving that entry-level sedan for a few more years. Ideally, you’d have enough savings to cover emergencies — advisers often recommend three to six months of essential expenses.

💳 Step one: Don’t fall victim to credit card interest. Even if you get rewards or points, you’re on the losing end if you’re not paying off your card every month (interest rates are routinely above 20% APR). Compare that to a savings account that pays a few percent a year in interest and you can see that when you owe consumer debt, you’re working for your money, rather than the other way around. 

🙂‍↕️ Step two: Be on top of your budget. If you account for all your purchases and put money aside to pay the bill when it’s due, a credit card might benefit you with free travel, gifts, or cash back. And even if you’re carrying a balance from month to month, reserving some of your income to pay down that debt can reduce your interest payment. Every bit helps!

👀 Got more questions for Andy? Drop them here!

🌡️ The Iran War has done a NUMBER on our heating bills. Brace yourselves: New Englanders using home heating oil paid at least $200 more this March compared to March 2025 — about $224 more here in Mass. That’s nearly a 40% jump! Prices were already ticking up as tensions grew in the Middle East, but really spiked once the war broke out. Why? When major supply routes get disrupted — like the Strait of Hormuz — costs can skyrocket fast. It briefly reopened during a cease-fire … but it didn’t last long. So don’t expect relief just yet.

😍 It’s a good day to be a $1 portrait on the Common. Nick Shea, yes, THAT Nick Shea, is teaming up with the MFA and Uniqlo for, what we consider to be, the perfect collab. Starting April 10, you can snag seven Boston-inspired designs of Nick’s artwork on T-shirts and tote bags available exclusively at the new Downtown Crossing Uniqlo for an entire year. And let’s just say, we need them ALL. Even better: Nick will be in-store April 10-12 from 3-5 p.m., drawing people live. 

🙄 Prepare to wait at this list of local businesses. We’re no statisticians, but if it’s sunny and 60, there’s a 100% there’s going to be a line at Blank Street Coffee. Boston.com compiled a list of local businesses where you're most likely to see a line out the door. The list unsurprisingly includes places like Blank Street Coffee, Brandy Melville (literally why), Brick Street Bagels (valid), and the big three: Mike’s, Modern, and Bova’s. What businesses do you think are actually worth the wait? Drop your picks here. 

🍣 The perfect way to eat sushi doesn’t exi— We stand corrected after discovering Brighton Sushi and Fry, a new pop-up serving sushi in Push Pop-form. Your job: Take your pick from rolls like spicy tuna and California, snap the tube and cap off, pour some soy sauce, and push! TBH, the menu is kind of a fever dream, serving a mixture of sushi, fried chicken, a random steak and cheese, and poke bowls. Is the pushpop a little gimmicky? Probs. Are we still gonna try it? Yup!

B-Side Members can save more than $150 across our events this month, plus monthly freebies like free coffee at Flour Bakery.

🏃 RACE Cancer Boston 5K Summer Series. Run eight Thursday night 5Ks along the Charles River from April through September with the Summer Series Full Season Pass. You’ll get a UPF shirt, a custom race bib, and post-race beer and pizza. Save $20 on the pass as a B-Side Member!

😂 April 24: Rockwell Nova Comedy Show, $27. The Nova Show returns to The Rockwell on April 24 with "I Dream of TV," 90 minutes of sketches that surf through classic sitcoms, game shows, and reality TV. The first 14 members to use the 20% off code get a drink ticket upon entry. Grab yours here!

👀 Want to feature your upcoming event above? Click here.

🩷 💫 A room full of ambitious, empowered women? We’re in. Rise & Thrive Women’s Conference hits The Cyclorama on Sunday, April 19. Expect panels, shopping, networking, and cultural performances all day. Tickets are going fast — grab yours here! Members enter for free.

Non-members: Start a membership for $1 here.

It’s been a rough few weeks on Earth … but something magical happened this week in the sky. 

You’ve probably heard about the Artemis II launch, the first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years, setting the record for the farthest humans have ever traveled (over 252,000 miles!). 

True to form, there’s always a Massachusetts connection: They’re collecting data and imagery using a new laser system developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington.

But lasers aside … This mission actually made us sob. Mission commander Reid Wiseman ended up on this mission because his wife, Carroll, dying of cancer years earlier, urged him to follow his dream.

During their lunar flyby this week, the crew proposed that Mission Control dedicate an unnamed crater on the Moon to her. “It’s a bright spot on the Moon,” astronaut Jeremy Hansen said, his voice breaking, “and we would like to call it Carroll.”

The crew hugged in silence, floating in space.

Fair warning: This clip may cause emotional damage.

— Written by Emily Schario, Andy Rosen, and Claire Nicholas

🌕 Thanks for reading! Carroll, you’ve got the best seat in the house.

📲 The results are in: 84% of readers agree: GET THE KIDS OFF THE DAMN PHONES. One reader wished phone bans were a thing back in the day, “my psyche has been permanently damaged by Tumblr.” Unfortunately not an original experience …

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