Check out these two new posts on the Frugal Fe$tival blog:
How the FF raffle works and prize list
Free professional financial advice at Fe$tival
Join us on Sunday, July 26 from 1-4 p.m. in Woodley Park in Van Nuys if you want to celebrate being frugal! The Fe$tival is free and open to the public. Get directions and RSVP on the Frugal Fe$tival blog.
Add this to my list of what I am going to buy as soon as my July spending moratorium is over – a new pair of sunglasses. My current ones are so pocked that it’s like a chicken pecked my eyes out. Add that need to a fabulous sale on SelectSpecs.com.
They have twenty pairs of sunglasses for $13.07. There are five styles that come in various colors, plus two ski goggles for $36.
SelectSpecs.com also has a limited selection of super cheap – I’m talking $8 a pair – regular glasses. The site currently has eight pairs at $8 and two pairs at $13.
The site lays out a price comparrison to rivals Zenni Optical, Eye Buy Direct and Goggles4U, and SHOCKINGLY, SelectSpecs.com comes out ahead. (Internet sarcasm, there.)
But there are drawbacks to purchasing new glasses online. At these prices, however, I think they’d be great for a second pair. Maybe something a bit funkier than your dad-to-day pair.
The Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale starts Friday, July 17. Take a peek at the sale catalog here. It’s stuffed with leather and dark, fall colors. Ohhhhh, Nordstrom.
This might actually be a sale I can go to without spending anything. I’ll leave my wallet behind and browse the isles, guilt free. No cash or credit card, no possibility of buying anything!
Or, since the last day of the sale is Aug. 2, perhaps I will break my spending moratorium at the sale in August.
Find a Nordstrom near you. For upcoming sale dates, click here. Thanks, SouthBay LA!
My new site BargainBabeLA.com has mostly local deals but here are a few everyone can use:
Cost Plus World Market 10% off coupon good thru Aug. 11, shared by So_Cal_Retail_Slut
Free chili dog or ice cream at Weinerschnitzel Tue, July 14 only, shared by meital
Free iced or hot mocha at McDonald’s every Monday through Aug. 3, shared by shop4sanity
LOCAL deals on BargainBabeLA.com:
A&M half-price anniversary book sale, shared by HoneyGram
Free concert series in Culver City Thur nights, shared by amygrahek
Check out BargainBabeLA.com and share your favorite deal today!
A friend pointed out a new (to me) blog called Consciously Frugal that is well-written and interesting. The writer was raised by “socially conscious parents (read hippies) in rural America” and has clean-looking blog. Lots of green/frugal resources, no ads.
In one recent post the writer admits natural cleaners do not work as well as the regular, petroleum-based ones. She starts off:
How many people do you know who are novelty cleaning product junkies? They’re always proclaiming the virtues of the latest bleach pen, toilet disk or disposable cloth, as if germ killing really is akin to godliness. I swear, novelty cleaning product junkies are a subculture. Or a cult. Or maybe just family members.
In another post, she rants against “the idiot box,” her pet name for TVs. I don’t agree with everything she says, but I do like hearing other opinions. If you do too, check out the Consciously Frugal blog.
Thanks, Amy!
Due to technical problems I was not able to publish this weekly roundup on Monday, when it usually runs.
CashMoneyLife has a post about everybody else knowing your credit score.
Bargaineering has a really good post about his wife quitting her job.
FreeMoneyFinance writes about the five psychological steps of getting laid off.
GetRichSlowly dug up a cool chart that shows how average Americans were spending money before the meltdown.
MainStreet has a post about stealing jobs from teenagers. If you need a job, read it.
Frugal Gossip found a year-long subscription to Real Simple for $5. Score!
Three new posts on the Frugal Fe$tival blog to check out:
Start collecting extra coupons for the coupon exchange.
Get info about wheelchair access at FF.
Find out what’s the latest prize we added to the free FF raffle!
SpendLessTV.com has a video on how to complain to get your money’s worth. Good tips, though I disagree with one tidbit. The expert they interview, Vera Gibbons, says at :42 “you don’t have to be polite necessarily, but you have to be reasonable.”
I think you always have to be polite, with very rare exceptions. In fact, being friendly often pays off! (Like when I used my coupons at Target.)
Watch the video here.
My spending moratorium has elicited some strange behavior from my family and friends. For the first time in my life, my mother encouraged me to drink. Egads!
I was getting ready for happy hour Friday and telling her about my no-spend plan for the bar: eat before I go, order water, hope no one notices.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Order a beer.”
“But Mom, that’s the whole point. I’m not supposed to spend,” I said. “It’s a sacrifice that will make me realize how much of a privilege it is to spend.”
She wasn’t convinced.
I headed over to the bar on my beater bicycle, the one I bought off Craigslist for $50. It is so old and heavy I never worry about someone cutting the lock. At the bar I kept my eyes off the fried calamari my friends had ordered and asked for a water. No one said anything or seemed to care I was “starting with a water.” Struck up a conversation about food blogging, making videos on YouTube and my new site, BargainBabeLA.com.
The waitress came back with the next round of drinks but had forgotten my water. I didn’t say anything. After she came back a second time without my water, a friend reminded her. She brought it promptly.
When it was time to go I said goodbye and grabbed my bag. I was halfway out of the bar when I remembered I had forgotten to tip the waitress, as reader Terry had berated me to do in a comment.
Do you think bars are in business so you can sit there and visit? At least purchase an ice tea, sometime. That table is costing them money and the poor waitress tips. You are not the only one who has it hard but don’t make it harder on others.
Terry was harsh but his/her last sentence rang true. And it goes back to the frugal v. cheap debate. I may chose to live frugally by going on a spending moratorium, but when I force my choices on others I become cheap.
I turned around, pulled out the dollar I had brought just for this purpose, and found the waitress.
“Thank you for bringing the water,” I said.
When she saw the dollar her face turned sad.
“Oh, thank you so much,” she said in a way that I knew meant my single dollar made a difference.
It was the second time I broke the moratorium and I’m glad I did.
I don’t recommend making a regular practice of going to bars and only ordering water, but if you are on a spending moratorium, recently laid-off, or in serious money trouble, it is possible to go to a bar, enjoy your friends and spend next to nothing. If you have a guilty conscience about taking up space, go with hard drinking friends who rack up a booming tab and tip your waitress.
I’m making a list of all the things I am going to buy as soon as my spending moratorium is over August 1.
1. Hair ties ~ $2. I’m down to three, including one that has lost all its stretchiness. If I run out entirely I can use rubber bands, but that’s not fun.
2. A new tire for my road bike ~$25. I have been having problems with flat tires. At first the inner tube deflated over a few weeks. Then it lost all the air overnight. I found and patched a small hole that held for a few days. Saturday before heading out on an ambitious bike ride to drop flyers for the Frugal Fe$tival at libraries across the Valley I found a second hole.
Why is my inner tube getting so many holes, I wondered. I inspected the 
tire and found two cracks, including one that is about a quarter-inch across, between my fingers usabove. Since I couldn’t buy a new tire I used a trick my dad showed me. Take a dollar bill and fold it in half twice so it is about 1″ x 3″. Tuck that into the tire so it covers the crack, below. Then put in the inner tube and inflate. The folded dollar is strong enough to protect the inner tube for short periods. I used this trick twice so I guess you could say the fix cost me two dollars!
3. Maintenance check up for my MINI ~$750. She only needs it every 15,000 miles and I have a coupon from the dealer for $100 off. I’m tempted to go to a non-dealer but the dealer has does solid work, has great customer service, and washes my car!
Get the details on a special raffle prize that our sponsor Savings.com is giving away at the Frugal Fe$tival. If that isn’t enough to entice you to join us July 26 from 1-4 p.m. at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, Calif., a very special guest will be there – my Mom!
The Frugal Fe$tival is a free, public celebration of being frugal. Please join us and RSVP!
This week’s reader comment of the week shocked me. When I first read reader Julie’s response to the guest post, 17 tips to keep it cheap in Vegas, I didn’t understand why she was so upset over a total stranger taking tissues and toilet paper from a hotel room. The author of the guest post, a longtime reader and Vegas-aficionado, recommended others take home these items at the end of a hotel stay as a way of saving money. Julie’s comment reads:
Just have to jump on the bandwagon — please, no more posts including info like “take the tissues and tp.” I come to this website to get info about frugality, and be inspired by other people’s smart ideas, not to become a cheapskate and — yes, I’ll say it — total douche.
Mind you, I don’t take home tissues and toilet paper – lotion and soap are enough for me – but I don’t care very much if others do. To each their own, right?
But Julie’s passion troubled me, so I brought it up with Hubby.
“Why is she so upset?” I said. “And another reader threatened to break up with me for the post! I don’t get it.”
Hubby wasted no time.
“Because taking tissues and tp makes frugal people look cheap.”
Ahhhhhhhh. Yes.
The fraught relationship between frugal and cheap, otherwise known as the difference between swiping lotion and taking tp.
Who know toiletries could cause so much distress?
Here’s my take on being frugal v. being cheap. Being frugal is making choices to conserve money in your own life, like riding a bike instead of driving, renting a movie instead of going to the theater, brown bagging your lunch instead of buying it.
Being cheap is forcing your frugal choices on others: buying a gift on sale even though it is the wrong size for the recipient or insisting on ordering the cheapest bottle of wine at a restaurant.
Being frugal feels good. Being cheap leaves a bad taste in your mouth (and it ain’t the wine)!
Does taking tp and tissues leave a bad taste in your mouth? Does the hotel expect guests to take these supplies? Certainly the cost of providing them are built into the room price. Perhaps more importantly, what does the hotel do with these supplies after a guest checks out? Are they tossed out or left for the next guest?
It feels a little bit like I’m about to start seventh grade and my Mom has stashed my new clothes and pristine new shoes into the hall closet where I can pull them out one by one and day dream about the first day of school when I can wear them. Actually, she always gave me permission to wear them ahead of time but she laced her approval with a caveat, “If you wear them now you won’t have something new to wear on the first day of school.”
Any other day of the year I was happy with hand-me-downs, but the first day of school? Even my underwear was new. I still remember in the tenth grade a friend wore dirty, black hi-top converse on the first day. That, I thought, took guts. It also made me realize that not everybody could afford to have new clothes.
But I digress. The stash that I am currently excited about is not clothes but a huge bag of toiletries. I used my coupons from TheCouponMaster.com at Target!
I redeemed 15 coupons totaling $17.25, bringing my bill to $32.74. (Incidentally, I still had to pay 9.75 percent California sales tax on the full, pre-coupon amount.) I paid $1.79 for the coupons, bringing my savings to $15.46 ($17.25 – $1.79).
Yes, I broke my moratorium. But I decided letting a wallet full of coupons go to waste – the ones I used all expire in July – was very un-Bargain Babe-like. However, as reader Tammy suggested, I am going to hide these items away until August in observance of the moratorium. This is the most sensible solution, I decided.
I would not have gotten this big of a deal without befriending the Target cashier. Most of the coupons say only one can be used per purchase. I was prepared to make separate purchases if need be. Turns out my placement in line set the stage for a score.
The person in front of me was a Target employee buying clothing with her employee discount. She started talking to the cashier about a local celebrity that had walked into the store wearing a *very* short skirt and a *very* low-cut top revealing her fake “pillow bags.” Naturally, I joined in the conversation. As soon as the celebrity left, everyone surrounded the cashier, who had rung her up, to gossip.
The cashier swiped the employee’s purchases and asked for her employee number.
“How big is the employee discount?” I asked. “Should I get a second job?”
“It’s not too bad,” the employee said.
“But they are getting more strict,” the cashier chimed in. “Now you have to show your ID card, not just the number.”
“Oh yeah?”
“My son tried to use my number – he is my designated shopper – but he didn’t have his ID card on him. I asked him how much it was. Just $30. I told him I would give him the $3.”
So the Target employee discount is 10 percent, I thought.
“Every little bit counts,” I said.
The cashier, who has a second job, agreed. She works 7 days a week but has Friday evening off, she told me.
Then she started to ring me up.
“Speaking of every little bit counts,” I said, “I have some coupons I’d like to use.”
I had set out my 15 coupons with my odd collection of deodorant, shampoo and facial cleanser.
She looked at the coupons, then she looked at me. I smiled.
“I guess I’m in one of those moods,” she said, scanning all the coupons. “But you know you’re only supposed to use one coupon per purchase (per item).”
“Thank you,” I said, swiping my credit card. “Enjoy your day off.”
A friend invited me to a happy hour Friday and I instantly said yes. Having a drink with friends is one of life’s great pleasures. Then I remembered my spending moratorium. Ug.
I could bail, but this presents exactly the type of situation that makes the moratorium a worthy experiment. The point is not to sit at home for an entire month holding my breath until August when I can spend. The point is to live my life as normally as possible while not making an discretionary purchases. That means socializing with friends.
So far I have found plenty of free activities to do with my friends, including a game of pick-up Ultimate Frisbee, a picnic on the beach, and yoga (I buy classes in bulk to get the best price so it’s already paid for).
But going to a bar is going to directly confront my non-spending initiative. Luckily, I have a plan.
1. Eat before I go so I can honestly say I’m not hungry.
2. Leave my wallet home, except for my ID. No cash = no temptation.
3. Be very engaging so nobody notices I’m sipping water.
Apparently many folks are joining me on my spending moratorium. This morning news outlets reported retail sales are worse than the dismal expectations. GAP is down 10%, JC Penney is down 8%, Target is down 6%.
A reader named Emily, who joined me on the spending moratorium, wrote in with this update:
One purchase that I did make an exception for myself is a used copy of the South Beach Diet cookbook for use at home as I am redoing phase two at present and my father, who is a diabetic, should be eating fewer carbs anyway. As I considered it a health investment, I figured the $2.00 the store was asking for made it a worthy purchase. I’m glad to see your moratorium is still happening, albeit slightly challenging.
Who else is observing the moratorium this month? Email me an update, please.
You haven’t checked out my new site? Tsk tsk. It’s SUPER awesome (if you live in LA).
The coolest thing about BargainBabeLA.com is that EVERYONE can share a deal. Here’s what I mean:
The Unethical Man shared a deal to get 5 free listings/mo on eBay.
Amygrahek shared info about a free concert series in Culver City that features Barbara Morrison and The Young Dubliners.
So_Cal_Retail_Slut shared info about free buses to Venice beach, Playa Vista and Marina del Rey that are operating through Sept. 7.
I posted a quick review of a fabulous burrito joint in Long Beach.
Check it out and don’t forget to celebrate the launch of BargainBabeLA.com with me on July 26, 2009 at Frugal Fe$tival! One lucky person will walk away with a $100 cash prize. Not joking.
