Parking in NYC

So I would really like a car in New York.  I can't find anything I want in grocery stores around here and I feel trapped.  So I've been looking into my options.  There's a parking garage on my street that costs like $350 per month, which is insane.  There's free street parking on my street, and you only have to move your car from 11 am to 12:30 pm Monday and Friday for street cleaning.  That's not too bad.  And then that same garage on my street has a ton of Zipcars.  I have a love-hate relationship with Zipcars.  At first, they seem like an awesome idea but they're really only good for short trips.  They don't allow you to drive it from point A to point B and leave it at point B.  So if I wanted to use it to drive to New Haven, I would be paying the daily rate of $66 for however many days I was there.  But, I looked it up and there are a ton of Zipcars in New Haven.  So I could conceivably take the train to New Haven and then just use Zipcars for any places and fun things we wanted to do there.  And then I could also use a Zipcar in NYC to get to places I'm dying to go to, like this shopping mall called Gateway Center that has a Best Buy, Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a BJs.  All of of those names sound heavenly to me, after being stuck in Manhattan for the past month with only little dinky independent stores with crappy selection and high prices.  I am not ashamed to admit that I would choose a chain store any day, with it's spacious aisles, good selection, quality goods, low prices, and pleasant atmosphere.  Perhaps I should just move to a NYC suburb and commute in? Hah, we'll see : )