Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. I’m working a half day then heading to the beach so there won’t be any more blog posts today. See you Monday!
If you live in LA and are looking for deals, some exciting stuff is being added to BargainBabeLA.com, including a kids clothing sale in Burbank and a massive 50% off dress sale in Tarzana.
Miss my announcement post about my new site? Read all about BargainBabeLA.com here.
Today I am unveiling an exciting new website – BargainBabeLA.com!
This site helps people save money in their neighborhood using Google maps. Current deals on the site include free yoga classes on the Santa Monica beach, a $1 grocery sale in Buena Park, and $6 Angels tickets. Wahoo!
The most exciting part about BargainBabeLA.com is that EVERYONE can share a deal, be it a clothing sale they spot on their drive to work, a restaurant discount they come across while ordering take out, or a free event coming up nearby. The goal is for everyone to be able to get the deal you saw!
After you register on the site you can start sharing your favorite deals. You’ll see a few of my ardent bargain hunting friends have already shared their favorite deals. Remember to add a location for your deal otherwise the software randomly locates your deal in the ocean. No joke, a friend shared a deal that ended up off the coast of Africa. If it’s a chain store, pick one of their locations in the LA region like Culver City, Glendale, or Sherman Oaks.
I’m installing a cool box on the upper right hand of BargainBabe.com to remind you of the exciting deals on BargainBabeLA.com. Click on it to visit the new site.
If you live outside of LA and are insanely jealous, email me. Maybe we can start a deal site in your city.
Along with the new site, we’re rolling out incentives to become a Bargain Buddy. Buddies are core members of BargainBabeLA.com and have greater access to the site. They can publish deals immediately, moderate comments, and monitor deals being added by regular members. Bargain Buddies are trusted members of the Bargain Babe LA community.
Soon, Bargain Buddies will be able to create a profile on the site by uploading a picture and tracking their deals. We’d also like to feature a Bargain Buddy deal of the day on the homepage!
Bargain Buddies will receive a free BargainBabe.com T-shirt. It’s going to be hot pink, of course!
To become a Bargain Buddy, I ask that you share three deals or tips on BargainBabeLA.com every week. That’s about 15 minutes of your time. I know your schedule fluctuates, so if you share 5 deals one week, 1 deal the following week, and 3 deals the week after, that’s okay with me. Sound reasonable?
Please accept my invitation to become a Bargain Buddy by registering and sharing deals on BargainBabeLA.com. After you’ve shown a consistent track record for one month, email me and I’ll send you your T-shirt.
The deals you share can be a sale you spotted driving home from work, a coupon you received in the mail that others can get ahold of, or a quick blurb about your favorite cheap haunts! I’ve already added a number of my favorite deals – short and long term.
I’m super excited to share BargainBabeLA.com with you. Please accept my invitation to become a Bargain Buddy today!
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
Don't Panic.
This is a post by Alex, BargainBabe.com’s intern. In addition to being a fantastic intern, he knows things about microwaves that only a college student would know.
To anyone like me who cooks at home or eats Chinese food, leftovers are your best friend. A well-cooked meal never quite reaches its previous glory after being refrigerated, but with the help of a microwave and a few nifty tricks, we can come close. No need to waste food – and money – ever again.
1. Rotate That Meal. Microwave ovens are basically all the same: they use a certain kind of wave to heat your food. Certainly you’ve heard of radio waves and shock waves (think ripples in the water), well microwaves aren’t much different.
The thing about waves is that they aren’t consistent. Your microwave oven has certain areas that heat faster than others. To help combat this, we have to rotate our food so that the whole plate of food gets hot, not just certain spots. If you don’t have a turntable built-in, manually rotate your food at least every minute.
Pro Tip: When placing your food on a turntable, make it as off-center as possible so that it has an oblong rotation in the waves. Placing it in the middle creates an axis of rotation where the food stays in one place. Think about how the center of a wheel doesn’t do much moving around despite a lot of spinning. You want your food to do as much traveling as possible.
2. Beware of Ice. Microwaves are designed to heat water, plain and simple. Try putting potato chips in the microwave for ten minutes, they’ll be quite cool and edible when you take them out because they are totally void of water.
The cool thing about that is if you have anything that’s cheese-filled like jalapeno poppers or stuffed crust pizza, the inside will get warmer faster because there’s more moisture, leaving the outside crust or breading dry.
On the down side, if there’s ice or other moisture on the outside of your food (this often happens with frozen foods left in the freezer for too long) then you want to do your best to remove it before microwaving. If there’s still ice stuck to it, wrap it in a paper towel or dry cloth beforehand so the ice doesn’t make the food soggy when it melts.
Pro Tip: Use a sauce or marinade like BBQ sauce on any freezer-burned meat to help with moisture issues. A regular oven, stove-top, or grill will also help by toasting the dried-out areas.
3. Slow Cook.
Ever tried microwaving mashed potatoes? They come out lava hot on the outside and ice cold in the middle. There are microwave settings to help deal with that and any other dense or moist foods, especially ones you can’t mix (like pie!).
Most microwaves have more buttons than any sane human needs. Some of these might make you think the microwave is doing something special to heat the food. Believe me, it’s nothing special.
The one button you should really familiarize yourself with (and I’m sorry if you don’t have one) is the Power Level button. This button allows you to essentially slow cook your food.
Most microwaves have power levels 1-10. The only power levels I use are power 10 (which is the default), and power 5 which acts like half-power. When you microwave those mashed potatoes on half power (5) for two minutes, you should be able to listen and hear your microwave click on and off throughout the process. What it’s doing is cooking for a while, and then stopping for a little while to let the heat transfer to the inside of the food.
Pro Tip: The lower the power level, the longer you’ll want to set the cook timer, but this will allow you to walk away and let the microwave do its thing.
With a little practice you can become a microwave pro. Your belly and your wallet will thank you.
We just wrapped up our latest video. It’s 2.5 minutes of me scrounging for bargains in Los Angeles’ famed Fashion District, the all cash, no dressing room shopping experience. Plus Really. Good. Prices.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlB4LtXwkVc
If you like it, rate it from 1 to 5 stars. Thanks!
The big surprise I let on about a few weeks back is nearly ready for its grand debut. If all goes according to plan I will unveil the surprise on BargainBabe.com first thing tomorrow.
The surprise is going to help you save more money, look very snazzy, and be fun to use. Need more clues?! Hmmm…what can I tell you without giving it away? You’ll just have to wait!
(Guesses that the surprise is $2 Subway gift cards for every reader are incorrect. Sorry to burst your bubble.)
In the final hours before my spending moratorium kicked in today, Day 1 of 31, I made three purchases.
1. I paid $.68 for a Twix bar at CVS on my way home from the library. (To me, candy should still be $.50. I won’t miss paying retail.)
2. I charged $31.65 for a Thai dinner after my dancing lesson with Hubby. Had some very tasty fresh spring rolls and curry at Chili Thai in LA.
3. I spent $12.61 filling up my gas tank at the 76 station. I’ve got a full tank to last me the month – roughly 400 miles.
Now it’s no more spending for a month!
Two brave souls stepped forward to join me on this frugal experiment.
Emily said:
I will be joining you on the Moratorium although I will have slightly fewer restrictions as I have recently moved and am not ruling out the possibility of unexpected expenses.
Tamara said:
I am going to join you on your spending moratorium for the month of July! I do have one question though, and I will post it in the comments, what do you think about buying wedding gifts? I have two weddings to attend in July and am not sure how to proceed with “counting” the spending on gifts. Am I allowed to, or not?
I wanted to make it easy on Tamara so I put her question into a poll.
[poll id="29"]
Related:
BB considers going on a spending moratorium
Votes are in! BB goes on a spending moratorium
Spending moratorium starts Wednesday
I’ve admired the folks at WiseBread for a long time (and not just because they mentioned me in their book), but because they truly have good advice for living frugally. Which makes me oh-so-pleased to announce they are representing at Frugal Fe$tival!
Find out what prizes they are raffling off on the Frugal Festival blog.
