Behold, the gyrobowl! Credit: BuyGyrobowl.com

I have lost the right to call myself the Bargain Babe.

To my horror, an item on my baby registry is being sold in a catalog I recently ridiculed for it’s high prices and absurd products – SkyMall!

How did this happen? At Babies R Us, my husband caught sight of the Gyrobowl, a small dish kept in balance by a gyroscope. In theory, the tot eating from it never spills her

food. Hehehe, yeah right. But gullible, er, practical man that he is, my husband was sold. On the registry it went.

Weeks later on a flight to Austin for a wedding, I spotted the Gyrobowl over his shoulder in SkyMall.

Heavens, no! My GyroBowl in SkyMall? In the company of a $380 aquarium slash coffee table, a $99 NetiPot, and a $250 stainless steel wall mount fireplace? For shame!

I contemplated nixing it from our registry, but then I noticed the SkyMall price was exactly the same as at Babies R Us. My dinged pride was partially restored.

A good number of readers said they enjoy SkyMall for its entertainment value and because the products are so quirky. But it is one brand I refuse to give my dollars to. Are there any brands or companies you refuse to patronize? I know reader Evie is boycotting Target.

• Dell increased sales by $25 million by changing it’s slogan from “Learn More,” to “Help Me Choose.”
• Product videos at Zappos have increased shoe sales by 6-30% (Babies R Us does this too, and it totally works!)
• Speeding up load times from 6-9 seconds to 2 seconds bumped up Shopzilla’s revenue by 5-12%.

See the infographic on retailer tricks by clicking “more. ” And check out the 19 retailer tricks that Bobbi, Yazmin, and I brainstormed.

Source: VoucherCodes.co.uk

Random expired bras. Credit: How can I recycle this/Flickr

I skipped a post on what I regretted about my August credit card bill, but I can’t do the same for September. I am annoyed by a $18.17 Target charge because it is proof that I gave into boredom buying.

Part of the purchase – a gift for a friend going through a rough period – I don’t regret. What aggravates me is the $12.99 I spent on a beige bra.

I avoid bra shopping as long as possible. But when I found myself with hours to kill after a friend’s plane was delayed, I headed to Target. Not my first choice; I had already eaten dinner, the movie theater was in a dead hour, and if I played another game of Fruit Ninja on my iPricey iPhone, it would leave me directionless to get back to the airport. Target it was.

What did I need, I asked myself. New socks? No. More T-shirts? NO. A new purse? NO! New bras? Unfortunately, yes. No more pushing it off. After trying on a number and vowing to do more sit ups – dressing room lights seem to accentuate my muffin top – I headed to checkout.

That was weeks ago and I still haven’t taken the tags off my new bra. I tried it on again at home and regretted not holding out for a sale at Macy’s, where in the past I have purchased higher quality Calvin Klein bras on clearance for about $15 each.

I was bored and turned to shopping. I spent money and immediately regretted it, but not enough to walk directly from checkout to customer service. I imagine the conversation would have gone something like this.

“Um, hi. I spent 25 minutes trying on bras, purchased this one 11 seconds ago, and now want to return it.”

How foolish to have made the purchase! I am clinging to my receipt and plan to return it.

Reviewing and disclosing my credit card regrets to all of you helps me spend less. Have you reviewed your credit card bill this month?

Stay on top of the latest strategies, coupons, and inspiration to save money everyday with BargainBabe.com’s email list.

I got the idea after talking to a friend who had to cancel her credit card because of fraudulent charges. (This was not the same friend that had her credit/debit/ATM card number skimmed.) My friend didn’t have a back up for some reason and was forced to go without a credit card for about a week.

She was astonished at how different it felt to make regular purchases – with cash. At Target she picked out a gift for her grandson’s birthday that came to $61. She balked. $61? In cash? She would not have thought twice about swiping her plastic.

My friend’s experience made me wonder. Is it easier to stay on budget with cash? I pay my bill in full every month so this experiment is not about learning to spend within my means. It’s about spending less.

I rely heavily on my credit card because I spend cash so easily. In fact, I try to limit my ATM usage to one withdrawal of $100 at the beginning of the month. So there is a chance this experiment could go very badly.

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At the top of the heap you have the CEO, who makes $643,846 and pays 34 percent of his income (some $215, 734) in taxes. At the bottom is the janitor, who makes $28,245 and pays 16 percent of his income (some $4,585) in taxes . Strangely, all the workers depicted are men, unless those are burly cross dressing women.

A pie chart next to each job description shows how many dollars go towards each of the recipient categories. The dollars figures are different for each job but the percentages that goes to each category is the same. Note that military spending is by far the biggest recipient of our tax dollars, followed distantly by health and a nondescript category labeled “other.”

I highly recommend checking out this chart that shows where you tax dollars go.

That means the food at your friend’s holiday party is going to kick ass, but she won’t be giving you a present. To be fair, during this holiday season total spending on gifts ($82 billion) still whomps spending on food ($28 billion). But still – people are pulling back dramatically on gifts. The recession is over, folks!

“More people are pulling back the need to shop for unnecessary goods,” said Toon van Beeck, an analyst at IBISWorld. “It’s not all about giving someone a gift, but going back towards family values and spending time with friends.”

I’m curious if the BargainBabe.com community is pulling back their gift giving, or defying the trend.

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Now that I am making next to nothing as a blogger and freelancer (I totaled $6 in my first week), I feel uncomfortable about spending as much as Hubby does.

When I asked Hubby how he felt, he insisted I still had equal rights to our reduced income. But I am not so sure.

After all, I am the one who decided to quit my job and embrace entrepreneurial journalism. Why should I force my career decision, and its fiscal implications, on Hubby? Tell me what you think by voting and leaving a comment.

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