Can't believe this is gonna be me in 10 years

Celebrity culture's swag phenomenon -- the $30,000 VMA gift bags, the ostentatious "hospitality suites" stuffed with haute goods for the grabbing -- is well documented. "We're living in a time when people won't go to the bathroom without getting a goodie bag," says Simon Doonan, Barney's creative director and bon vivant -- a man who recently recieved a 35 lb. Allure goodie bag brimming with $2,500 worth of beauty products, a gift that prompted him to remark: "In centuries to come, our epoch will be seen as the Golden Age of Swag."

That's a level of graft few of us will ever encounter. But it did get me wondering: just how Golden is this swag age? What, exactly, can one get for free? Where, precisely, are publicists willing to draw the line on ridiculous requests?

To answer those questions, I recently decided to try to live one workweek in Manhattan, Monday through Friday, without spending a single cent. Every hotel, hostel or B&B -- free. Every meal -- no charge. All of the week's parties, clubs, libations -- gratis.