If you know me from my LA Daily News column and are visiting Bargain Babe for the first time, welcome!
My last day at the Daily News is Friday, Jan. 23. After that I’m officially launching Bargain Babe.
I loved my time at the Daily News and am thankful I had editors and colleagues who encouraged me to experiment with the Bargain Hunter blog. But it is time for me to go on my own and practice what I preach – independent, online journalism.
Bargain Babe is a site that has daily tips on being a savvy-spender. For more about the site, click on the About tab. To sign up for my Email updates or RSS feed, click here.
If you want to hire me to speak about saving money, email me at speaking@bargainbabe.com.
If you have a pressing financial question and want my advice, email me at julia@bargainbabe.com. Here’s an example of how I can help.
I encourage you to sign up for my email updates, leave comments, and participate on the site. I can teach you a thing or two about saving money, but together we will do even better!
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
You might have read about my earlier post about my first iPhone bill: iPricey! Here’s what happened. I called AT&T back about a week after I discovered my montrous bill (due to an AT&T employee forgetting to add the required data plan to our account) and found they waived the entire fee, as they should have. To make amends they gave me a month of free service (I asked for three).
While I had them on the phone I also took care of a few other gliches they created, like dropping my texting plan, charging me $.20 per text, and erasing 374 roll over minutes. AT&T restored my text plan, waived the $.20 fees, and credited us 374 roll over minutes.
It was a pain calling them and explaining my predicament, but every time AT&T took care of the problem quickly with few questions asked. Not a bad resolution.
I discovered yesterday that Kinko’s gives out free colored paper, but I am so used to jumping through hoops to get a freebie that I could scarcely believe the paper’s price tag was $0.
It started when I decided to make flyers for Bargain Babe. I called my local Kinko’s – now called FedEx Office – to check if they were open on MLK day. They were.
“I’d like to make copies on colored paper,” I told the employee who picked up the phone. “Do you sell colored paper?”
“Yes we do,” she said.
“How much is it?”
“If you make the copies here there is no charge.”
“No, I want to make colored copies.”
If you have a financial issue that you would like help with, email me your name, location and describe the problem.
I’m not a CPA or financial planner, but I know a lot of practical tips from writing about personal finance the past year and half. I’m starting with myself to give you an idea!
Name: Julia and Hubby
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Problem: We are good savers, putting aside enough to max out our Roth IRA’s every year, contribute to our 401 (k)’s, and have a small savings fund. But knowing we are saving so much gives us a feeling of financial safety, leading us to overspend. Just yesterday I received a letter saying we bounced… (more…)
MSN Money suggests a few mini-splurges to make you feel rich in a poor economy, like buying a lipstick or bottle of wine under $25. Not bad, but not what I would spend my limited resources on. Here is what I would shell out for.
- A massage from students with rock bottom rates. It won’t be the best treatment ever, but in these days it will have to do.
- Lunch at the taco stand. I can fill my belly for less than $5 and have fun getting out of the house.
- A magazine subscription. Using eBates.com I whittled down a $20-a-year monthly mag to about $10.
- Brewed coffee at Starbucks or Organic-to-go. I spend about $1.85 for a medium that I savor all day.
What do you splurge on when money is tight?
Hi folks,
Thanks again for checking out Bargain Babe and for signing up for my email updates. Just so you know, I am going to be sending them somewhat erratically over the next week and a half. But starting Jan. 26 you will receive one each weekday. Posts will increase in frequency then too. Thanks for your patience and readership.
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
I’m on day four of eating dinner out of my freezer and pantry. (Lunch is another matter.) At first I was too lazy to buy groceries. Now it’s a game to see how many days I can slink out of grocery shopping and fend off the take out food delivery guy. I never liked him anyway.
Saturday I made my hearty spaghetti recipe, substituting sausages for ground turkey and frozen chopped peppers for diced carrots. Hubby barely noticed the difference.
Sunday I heated up a few scoops of the spaghetti sauce and ate it over toasted bread rolls that were camping out in my freezer. Leftover from Thanksgiving? I can’t be sure.
Monday I scrambled… (more…)
I recently created a new threshold that I must pass to purchase a non-necessity: I must dream about the item. Until I get this sign, I am stuck window shopping.
I created this threshold after having a fabulous dream about bras. Now, I’m not saying bras are not a necessity, they are. But buying more bras when you have a sufficient supply makes them a non-necessity.
Being bored with your supply does not, in my book, make them a necessity.
I wanted to tell Hubby about my new threshold. I was sure he would endorse the idea. What were my chances of having more shopping dreams?
“I had an amazing dream,” I said.
“About what?” Hubby asked from… (more…)
When I asked my Mom to take me to SuperCuts as a kid she always made me wait two weeks.
“If you still want your hair cut then, I’ll take you,” she would say. It was her way of testing how badly I wanted my locks lopped off. If it was a passing whim, I would forget about it.
But if I persisted she would walk me downtown, shell out $12, and watch as a newbie cutter went at my thick brown hair.
Now I realize how smart my Mom is.
If you really need to buy something, you will still need to buy it in two weeks (I have a hole in my shoe -> I need new shoes). If your desire is emotional, it will pass. (I love these boots -> I want them).
Having a set waiting period before you buy will save you money by separating needs v. wants. Which brings me to this question.
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Hi folks,
Welcome to the inaugural edition of email updates from Bargain Babe!
If you are used to receiving the Bargain Hunter Daily Digest, this is a warning that the email updates for my new blog are different. The new emails will have links to the latest blog posts, but they will look and feel different.
Change is good! So give it a chance and don’t hesitate to blab about what you like and dislike. Really, I want to hear from you. Leave a comment or shoot me an email at juliamariescott@gmail.com.
To make sure my email to you does not get stuck between Viagra ads and propositions from Nigerian princes (i.e. your spam folder), add juliamariescott@gmail.com to your contacts list or safe list.
Please tell your friends about the new site and email updates. The bargain gods will thank you!
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
I discovered many money-saving Web sites last year. Here are my top five.
Hulu.com – a site that shows dozens of TV shows and movies for free. You can browse by channel or search for a show’s name. The only downside is that some of the best shows are only available in excerpts, like Friends. Hulu is cheaper than cable or Netflix, though the selection is limited.
Goldstar.com – join their free membership program, select which entertainment activities you are interested in, and Goldstar sends you a weekly email with ticket discounts up to 50 percent off.
Retailmenot.com – still the clearing house for coupon codes. The site is easy to search and reflects how often the code was successful for other users, giving you an idea of whether it will work for you.
eBates.com – register and get automatic cash rebates of 1 to 25 percent at hundreds of retailers when you shop online. I used eBates religiously over the holidays and am expecting two big fat checks totalling almost $35 to arrive in the mail next month.
HalfOffDeals.com – the site sells restaurant gift certificates for half of their value, plus a shipping and processing fee. Sign up for their certificate tooter and you will get a weekly email about deals near you.
I was talking to a friend when I realized she is in the same financial jam as a lot of folks. She and her husband have not been watching their finances very closely and now one of them may lose their job. She is overwhelmed.
If you are squeezed financially, where do you start?
First, take a deep breath, step back and look at the big picture. How dire is your situation? How strong is your safety net? What factors do you have control over? It may not be as bad as you think.
But it will take time to remedy. I’m not going to recommend you devote your entire weekend to your finances, although that would earn you a gold star… (more…)
I did it. I bought an iPhone, and the first 23 hours were great. Then I checked my bill online and found I owed $1,214.65. No kidding. Do you think I would kid about $1,214.65?!
How could I possibly rack up that bill in less than a day? I mean, I know what a difference a day makes, 24 little hours. But seriously?
I got on the phone with AT&T pronto and consciously decided to be on my best behavior. Nobody wants to pull favors for a jerk.
A lovely gal named Florinda (“like the state with an n”) took my call. First she helped me set up my voicemail, then she looked into my bill. Turns out Hubby, who I am on a family plan with, did not… (more…)
After my botched attempt to freeze red and green peppers, see below, I am seeking advice about which vegetables do well in the ice box. Freezing food saves money if it successfully preserves items bought on super sale.
For starters I found a list of freezable vegetables on GardenGuides.com. Their list includes peppers, however, which troubles me because mine turned mushy after freezing. Perhaps they will use the frozen peppers in a soup or omelet, which many helpful readers suggested as a solution.
To get to the bottom of the mystery – which veggies freeze and which ones don’t – I’m starting two lists on this blog.
Let me know which vegetables have worked for you. If there are any particular directions or… (more…)
I’m the first to admit that my bargain hunting instincts fail from time to time. The most recent example of this is two doubly wrapped bags of chopped green and red peppers that are consuming roughly 13 percent of my freezer.
I bought the peppers on super sale at my local Albertsons. They were, if my spite allows me to remember correctly, about $.50/lb. I was so excited by the rock bottom price – they never dip below $.89/lb – that I loaded two plastic bags full with the crispy vegetables.
At the checkout counter my copious quantity of peppers perplexed the cashier, who apparently did not get the memo… (more…)
