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Thursday Thrift: Budget Chic Lifestyle I

So last week's Thursday Thrift topic was tips (courtesy of the Star-Ledger) for dining out thriftily.  Another article in the series is Budget Chic Lifestyle.  The article stresses the role of creativity in living less expensively (they say 'cheaply', but I find that word so aesthetically displeasing).  E.g., one person quoted uses plastic bags from Target as garbage bags and makeshift shower caps.  Forsooth!  (Now there's a quality word.)  Most creative.  Here are some of the suggestions; the rest will be in a future post.

1. Quit the gym and rock out doing stuff around the house.  E.g., if you have a cleaning service, fire them, pump up the volume and make your housecleaning into a workout.  Also, weather permitting work out outside: in the yard, helping a friend/neighbor/relative do something around their house, use the exercise stations at public parks, etc.
2. Pot luck & clothing exchange.  Invite your friends over; everyone brings a dish; plus they bring clothes that are in good condition, but that they no longer want/fit into/etc.; everyone tries on stuff, takes some items home and you've livened up your wardrobe for the cost of a covered dish.
3. Barter.  Everyone has something they can offer others...a thing or a service.  The classic barter item is to swap childcare related activities with other parents, e.g., taking turns driving the carpool or watch your friend's kids if they need to go somewhere w/o the kids.  There's probably lots of things we all have or can do that would be of value to someone else, but we don't even think of ourselves in that way.  I also think that relying on others in this way helps to strengthen relationships.
4. Puzzle night.  Buy some cheapo puzzles, invite your friends over, form teams and race to see which team finishes first.  I guess you could do this with board games, electronic games, backyard games (which reminds me: I bought a fab retro badminton set on ebay a couple of months ago and I totally forgot about it!  Now it will have to wait until spring.), etc.
5. Make your own coffee.  Kevin does this.  He used to have some at home in the morning and bring the rest of the pot in a travel mug for his drive in.  Now that he takes the train in, he just has coffee at home (being the law abiding citizen that he is, he doesn't bring food or beverages on the train).  He used to get coffee during the day at the cafeteria at work, but then his floor got one of those Keurig machines.  They have to supply their own coffee nodules, though, so he buys a bunch of boxes a few times/year.  Keurig coffee is more expensive than homemade coffee, although I don't know how it compares to coffee shop coffee (e.g., Starbucks).

Thursday Thrift: Read (and Follow) the Instructions

So I'm reading the washing machine manual the other day, looking to see how to soak some stained kitchen towels before washing them, in an effort to get out the stains (and zomg! it worked!).  After slaking my thirst for knowledge re: soaking things in hot water, detergent and bleach, I continued reading, it being a riveting read.

I actually learned several handy things about better using my own washing machine.  The most important thing was that I was reminded that this washer is the 'Super Capacity Plus' washer.  Huh.  I'd forgotten about it.  Kevin further reminds me that we bought it so we could wash more clothes more efficiently (or something) and so that we could wash large things, e.g., quilts, bedspreads, etc., w/o having to go to a laundromat or send it to the cleaners.  This all sounded vaguely familiar.

Truly surprising (as surprising as appliance-related revelations can be) were the loading suggestions in the laundry tips section.  Here they are for the Super Capacity Plus washer:

Heavy Work Clothes

• 4 jeans
• 4 workpants
• 4 workshirts
• 2 sweatshirts
• 2 sweatpants

Towels

• 10 bath towels
• 10 hand towels
• 14 wash clothes

Mixed Load

• 3 sheets (1 king, 2 twin)
• 4 pillowcases
• 3 shirts
• 3 blouses
• 9 t-shirts
• 9 shorts
• 10 handkerchiefs

Besides the idea that anyone in this day and age might use handkerchiefs enough to have 10 to wash at any given time, I was quite surprised at the size of the suggested loads.  I have not been washing loads this big.  Thinking back on my laundry habits, I seem to recall that I did wash large loads when we first got the washer.  Some time after that, I helped a former neighbor out when she had premature twins, including a lot of laundry.  She asked me to make smaller loads, and I did, but I do believe it was then that I began to doubt myself.  I didn't think that she likely didn't have a Super Capacity Plus model.  Maybe she only had the Super Capacity model.  Maybe she only had the Capacity model, poor thing.  Those twins are now in (I think) first grade so I've been washing smaller loads than necessary for that long.

So how much energy have I've been wasting?  It was too complicated to look up my particular model's energy usage, figure out how much electricity has cost over the past 6 years, etc. etc., so I'm just going with averages.  Mr. Electricity very helpfully has some average data on the cost of washing machine use here.  I didn't check the accuracy/plausibility of these figures; I simply trust in the power of Google and the internets.

• Let's say 75% of my loads are warm wash/cold rinse; 25% are hot wash/cold rinse; that's prolly too high on the latter, but we'll go with it.
• Mr. E says those loads, using gas heat to heat the water, cost $0.27 and $0.39, respectively.
• I prolly do 6-8 loads/week; so let's say 7 loads/week. Holy moley, that's a lot of laundry. That's a load/day. I should have something better to do.
• Let's say 5 loads are warm wash/cold rinse and 2 are hot wash/cold rinse.
• And that this has been going on for 6 years (it sounds so illicit).

Putting my math cap on (which is a very tight fit, btw):

• 5 loads x $0.27 = $1.35
• 2 loads x $0.39 = $0.78
• so 7 loads = $2.13
• for 52 weeks that's 364 loads = $110.76
• for 6 years that's 2,184 loads = $664.56

Now, figuring that each load was 75% of the maximum load capacity, I'll multiply $664.56 by .25 (25%) to get the excess spent on washing clothes which = $166.14.  Divide that by 6 years = $27.69/year.  Hmph.  Well, that doesn't seem like very much.  Of course, one can always find a better use for money that practically throwing it out the window, but this is a less exciting answer that I anticipated.  It's so late on a Thursday that I'm going to go with this anti-climatic topic bc I don't have time to work up something else.

But there's more to the waste than mere money.  There's the wasted water and the wasted time.  I won't say that there was similar waste wrt the clothes dryer bc I think the washer can successfully wash larger loads than the dryer can successfully dry.

My point,, and I do have one, as undramatic as it may be, is that I wasted time, money and natural resources by not using my washer properly.  I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't quite a few practices throughout the household that result in similar waste.  Using my washer correctly is not going to make or break my retirement, but it, along with other small changes, will keep more money in my wallet v. going to the utility company.  It's also more efficient time-wise; I don't know about you, but I don't feel that doing laundry is quality time with myself.  And, perhaps most importantly in this instance, it reduces the amount of water I use.

BTW, longtime readers will recall that I am most definitely not a math major.  It's embarrassing how much time it took to figure out the above.  So if anyone has corrections to the calculation, I'd be delighted to hear them.

Thursday Thrift: Your Local Library: CDs

Today's Thursday Thrift is pretty much a PSA for your local library.  So.  We all have ipods or mp3 players or the like now, nu?  You could buy CDs and then download them to your players.  Or you could buy the songs online.  Or you could get the CDs from your library, download them, return them and spend $0.00.

Let's face it: many, many CDs are not keepers.  It's the same with books: some are keepers and others, once read, are not the worth the paper they're printed on.  E.g., Pride & Prejudice is surely a keeper (like you didn't see that one coming).  Pride & Prejudice & Zombies might be a keeper...keepability is subjective.  I could be wrong about this, seeing as I haven't read it yet, but I'll venture a guess that Untamed Billionaire, Undressed Virgin is probably not a keeper (great title, though!  who thinks of these things? and how much do they get paid to do this? and how can I get that job?).  But what do I know?  I often wonder if my tastes are too parochial.

Anyhoo, you decide what you do and do not want for keeps.  And whatever you don't want, borrow it from the library.  Now, our library's CD collection is pathetic.  It's beyond small, limited or any other respectable word for 'meager'.  It's all the way to pathetic and then some.  But enough about us (btw, if you click that link you'll see the thoroughly unimpressive and sloppy website maintained by me, local library webmaster...*snort*...I still can't say that without laughing...I don't know wtf I'm doing).  The thing to note is that the library's website has a link to the online catalog.  That catalog covers what's called the MAIN consortium, i.e., all the libraries in Morris County.  Any library that is part of a consortium should have a link to their online catalog on their website.

Plenty of other larger and more metro libraries have big collections...some even still have LPs!  Your library prolly has inter-library loans (or some similarly-named arrangement) whereby you request that an item from another library be sent to your library for you to pick up there and borrow.  In our consortium, it usually takes 3-4 days for stuff to arrive, although it could take longer.  If the item is very popular, e.g., the newest James Patterson or Janet Evanovich book, it could take a while to get to you.  That can be frustrating when you're dying to read the new book by your favorite author, but I'm sure you can find something else to read until your book comes in.  Basically, it could take longer or shorter to get your requested item based on:

• if the item is something new from a popular author/artist/whatever; it can take weeks/a couple of months to get crazy-popular stuff
• if the item is not new, but a popular reading club selection, e.g., The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society has been out for over a year now, but reading clubs are still selecting it
• the item is not new, but something in the news sparks interest, e.g., the movie about Julie Child has resulted in a lot of requests for her books
• if the item can't be located right away (e.g., yesterday and still today I couldn't find a book another library's patron wanted so I marked it missing and now the request will go to another library)
• library closings, e.g., scheduled, holiday, weather, etc.

Now, what if your consortium doesn't have what you want?  You or your library may be able to search outside of your consortium.  I did this a bit when I was in school.  E.g., we have something called JerseyCat (love that name, obvs).  Patrons can search for and request the desired item from other consortiums (consortia?) and libraries throughout NJ.  JerseyCat's search feature seems a little less intuitive and user-friendly than the MAIN online catalog, so you can usually ask your friendly neighborhood librarian to help you search JerseyCat or search and request the item for you.  Most of our patrons' JerseyCat requests are placed by staff, but a few people use it regularly and place their own requests.

At least wrt JerseyCat:

• requests submitted by patrons need to be approved by their home library staff; e.g., if a Boonton patron submitted a request from home last night, a Boonton staff person will see it when they check our account with JerseyCat; most requests are approved, but...
• ...requests for wildly popular things that should be in every library, let alone every consortium, will most likely not be approved; e.g., every library has at least one copy of every Harry Potter movie and book, so Boonton would not approve a request for that in JerseyCat
• JerseyCat is supposed to be for things that are not available within your own consortium
• libraries are not required to provide requested items; e.g., the Trenton Public Library is not required to loan me their copy of Basic Data of Plasma Physics if doing so goes against their JerseyCat loan policy or, basically, if they just don't want to
• it will take longer to get an item through JerseyCat; it involves more processing on the part of the loaning and borrowing libraries; it jalso ust takes longer to get a book to Boonton from Cape May County than from Mountain Lakes, which is right next door to us; there is a van service that goes between the libraries, but not all libraries are connected; sometimes the material travels via old fashioned snail mail
• some libraries may charge for JerseyCat items, although we do not and I haven't heard of anybody doing so

The other neat thing about borrowing library CDs is that you never know when you'll come across something new or at least new to you.  E.g., one of our patrons recently borrowed an old David Bowie CD, Pin Ups, from another library.  So then I borrowed it and enjoyed it...I thought it was a lot of fun.  Now, I saw it bc I work at the library, but if you peruse your library's online catalog you'll be requesting stuff left and right.

Well, I'm off bc I have to go take care of something in the kitchen.  I'm working on an ingredient to try in another batch of chili this weekend.  It might just supply the certain je ne sais quoi that I felt the last batch was missing (although no one else seemed to think it was missing anything...I think so...but I don't know what!).

Thursday Thrift: Dining Out

Och, I'm awake earlier than usual (and necessary!) today bco some kitty making a racket this morning.  'Some kitty' indeed.  I would normally blame Miles bc he's always getting into something so he gets a sort of blanket blame, but I knew fer sure it was him when I saw that someone had knocked a bunch of stuff off of a bathroom shelf.  He has this fixation with Q-tips and, once he spies them, will go to any length to get them.  I have to admit that he is adorable running around with a Q-tip in his mouth or when I find him asleep with a Q-tip.  In short, I can't get mad at him.  Or any of my cats; I certainly can't stay mad at them.

Today is Thursday which means it's Thursday Thrift here, not Friday Cat Blogging which is on, well, Friday.  Somehow those cats creep into everything around here.  They're like a fog that settles over everything.

On second thought, maybe I can stay mad at Miles.  I'm still yawning.  Gotta get another shot of diet coke.  Easy for Miles...he'll just be settling down into his daytime nap (approx. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.) when I'm leaving for work today.

In January, I posted about the first in a series of articles published in December, 2008 about thrift in the Star-Ledger.  The second article is 'Be Thrift on the Homefront' and discusses ways to save on food and energy costs.  Let's see what they have to say about dining out.

1. BYOB.  Yes!  Definitely.  Alcohol is much more expensive when purchased from the restaurant.  Bonus: Presumably, you know you like whatever you're bringing to drink.  Con: If you're fussy about food-wine matching, you're bringing wine that may or may not well match whatever you decide to eat.   I wonder if people who BYOB drink more...hmm.
2. Look for deals.  Check newspapers, mailers, etc. for coupons, BOGOs, etc.  I would think that 'look for deals' pretty much applies to everything.
3. Dine early.  Some restaurants have senior discounts; others have kid discounts/kids' menus or kids eat free deals.  You don't have to be an oldster to take advantage of early bird menus.
4. Bring half your meal home...and have them for lunch or dinner another day.  Bonus: A popular weight loss tip is, when you order your meal, ask to have half of it packed to go before they bring it to you.  No temptation to eat the whole thing when you're no longer hungry, but the food is as yummy as ever.
5. Order cheaper items.  E.g., order appetizers instead of entrees; share entrees of several appetizers when dining with others; order off the bar menu; etc.
6. Sign up for restaurant email.  You'll get emails with coupons, special offers, etc.  You'll also get emails about other stuff, so it's a tradeoff if you're concerned about the amount of email you receive but end up deleting.
7. Get take out.  Provide your own drinks; no tip (or at least a minimal tip at the take out counter; certainly less than what you'd tip a waitperson); maybe you already have at home the fixings for part of the meal, e.g., salad or dessert.
8. Eat out at lunchtime.  Lunch menus are generally cheaper bc the meals are smaller.  There may also be lunch specials.  E.g., my usual lunch haunt has lunch specials, but not dinner specials (except on Friday& Saturday nights).  Yes, the lunch portions are smaller, but I still often end up taking half of that with me and I might leave it at work to have for lunch the next day.  Sometimes, when it's going to be a long day at work and I'll be there for lunch and dinner, I'll get a lunch special at said haunt, have the cup of soup that is an option with a lunch entree (or salad) for lunch and then have the entree part for dinner later.  So lunch and dinner at work for $7-$8.
9. Don't skimp on the tip.  Although I heartily approve this message (having been a member of the second oldest profession in the world), I'm not sure how this saves you money.  If you go to the same places regularly, it probably helps ensure you get good service.

To the above suggestions, I'd also add:

• Try restaurant.com.  The deal there is: You buy restaurant gift certificates for at least 50% of their value.  Sometimes they have sales where the certs will be, e.g., 50% off the 50% price.  So a cert originally valued at $10 regularly sells for $5 at restaurant.com, but if you get on their email list or somehow or other learn the current magic sale code you get it for $2.50.  Restaurant.com must have some kind of deal with Kevin's employer bc employees occasionally get emails with some special code to get even more $ off.  Anybody can use the codes, not just employees.  You get an email that tells you how to access your certs and then you print them off.  Notes: Sometimes there are restrictions, e.g., a particular restaurant's cert might be good Monday - Thursday (which is still handy bc sometimes you just don't feel up to cooking and if a meal out costs you maybe 75% less than usual, why not?).  Others might specify a minimum expenditure or minimum number of guests.  So read carefully before you buy the certs.  If you like to give gift cards, I think restaurant.com offers some kind of gift card.  You can also buy them as if buying them for yourself and then print them off, but I think the gift card would look nicer.

I was going to also blog about the article's tips for grocery shopping, but I gotta get a move on and this moving of which I speak is not going particularly fast this morning.  I'm sooooo tired that I just want to close my eyes and put my head back right here and now in the comfy chair, but I know I'd fall asleep again in seconds.  So I'll leave the article's grocery shopping tips for another day.

Thursday Thrift: ebay

ebay.  What would life be like w/o ebay?  I don't even ebay that much (my # is <100), but I find it valuable.

First, it gives an idea of how much people will pay for something.  I have this system where, as I find stuff I don't want anymore and that's still in decent condition, I mark a price on it and put it in a box for some future tag sale.  My prices are very reasonable; for the most part, I just want to move the stuff on to someone who can use it.  E.g., I got some no name bath stuff as a token thank you gift; it probably cost $7.99 at WalMart (and it may well have been a re-gift and there's nothing wrong with that); it's now marked 50 cents for the whole basket.

Sometimes I wonder if something is worth more.  I'll look on ebay to see what people are willing to pay for it or something like it.  That item I'll mark with a higher price; still a price less than what people are paying on ebay just to make sure it goes.

Second, it gives an idea of what people are asking and paying for something, even if I expect to buy it at a brick & mortar store.

Third, it gives an idea of what's available ito brands, quality, availability, older but funner models, etc.

Fourth, and finally, it's obvs a different way to buy stuff and often cheaper.  A couple of recent examples.

Sheet Sets - Sheet sets are ridiculously expensive.  It is not uncommon for a queen deep pocket sheet set to be on sale at $75.  As they say over at Cute Overload, that's just redonkulous.  I don't want fancy sheets; I just want simple, 100% cotton sheets.  For starters, with 6 cats there are certain items for which we've learned to not pay a lot.  E.g., carpeting and rugs.  We had some wall to wall installed, but soon learned that bare floors with inexpensive rugs are a better option bc the cats just end up yakking  (among other things) on it.  In fact, Kevin got some old Persian rugs on ebay really inexpensively; I think the shipping was more than the price of the rugs.  I don't feel so bad trying some harsh cleaner on or hosing down a room-size rug that cost <$100.  Also: go for darker, multi-colored patterns!

Enough about how to best camouflage cat yak against one's decor.  So I wanted some new sheets, but did not want to pay $75 on sale for them.  Nosey's just going to sneeze on them, I'm just going to get cracker crumbs and diet Coke or a nice cuppa tea on them, Kevin's just going to sweat up a storm on them (hence no flannel sheets are allowed chez nous), I'm just going to launder the stuffing out of them due to aforementioned affronts against textiles, etc.  So I noodle around ebay, checking out the bedclothes (I love that word; it sounds so medieval).  I eventually bid $24.99 (incl. shipping) on a plain white, queen size, deep-pocket, 400TC, 100% cotton sheet set with two extra pillowcases (so 4 in total).  Okay, white is a bit boring, even for me, but what the heck.  Now yes, I'm taking a chance bc the sheets might feel like sandpaper.  And actually, I took a double chance bc I bid on a second set w/o first winning, receiving and trying out one set.

Things worked out well.  I've laundered and am currently using the first set I won (the white set) and I like them.  I especially like the extra pillowcases bc Nosey sleeps between the pillows and gets his black fur (and I guess his white fur) all over them.  So I can change the pillowcases before I'd change the sheets.  I'll use the second, green set next and since they're the exact same thing except for the color, I expect I'll like them as well.  Here's the picture from ebay; I got the white set at the top of the left stack and the green set third down on the right stack.

Pinking Shears - I had a pair of pinking shears that were probably ~25 yo, but practically brand new bc I hardly ever used them and kept them well.  I recently needed them, but could not find them.  I imagine I put them in some safe place which means they'll be found by whoever ends up handling my estate.  Fortunately, my MIL loaned me a pair to use until I finish my current project and/or find my own pair, whichever comes first and who knows if either will happen.

I looked and looked and still didn't find my shears.  Kevin suggested I go out and buy a new pair since that will most likely cause my old pair to turn up.  Though true enough dat, I didn't really want to buy a brand new pair of pinking shears.  Good quality sewing shears are expensive; I don't need two pairs (albeit one missing pair) of expensive pinking shears.  So ebay it is.

Now, one thing about ebay that is similar to shopping in person is that it's possible to end up buying stuff you don't truly need and weren't even looking for in the first place until you saw them on ebay and decided, Hey!  I want that!  And, I admit, so it was with me.  I was looking for a the usual size pinking shears, 7"-9" or so, but OMG there was the cutest little pinking shears evar up for auction!  5-1/4" total length with 3" blades.  So I bid on and won those.   Fortunately, the whole sordid affair only cost $4.99 ($2.99 + $2 shipping).  I have received those:

 

They're a little stiff and a good cleaning and sharpening wouldn't hurt them, although they do work as is, but it's nothing a quick visit to the hardware store won't fix and did I ask you aren't they the cutest thing?

I did also bid on and win a larger 9" pair, but haven't received those yet.  The total cost of those was ~$10. 

Again, you're almost always taking a chance of some size when bidding on ebay stuff.  I try to mitigatge the chance by only bidding on sellers with excellent feedback ratings.  You might think that a rating of anywhere in the 90%s is good, bc that would be an A in school ! but not in ebay.  I never bid on anything sold by a seller with a less than 99% feedback rating.  The sheet seller had 99.7%, which is great considering that he's had 57,000 ebay transactions.  The scissor sellers (2 different sellers) had between 1,800 - 4,000 ebay transactions and both had 100% feedback ratings.  Sure, there are reasons why a seller might have <99% feedback rating, but someone else can figure that out and give them the benefit of the doubt.  There are enough sellers and things for auction that it's easy to stick with sellers with >=99% ratings.

Another thing that might derail the thrift of ebay shopping is getting caught up in the bidding.  I was the only bidder for the sheet sets and the small shears, so I got those things for the minimum bid.  There were 5 bids in total for the larger shears: me, some other bidder, me again, some other other bidder, then me again for the win.  I did what's known as sniping.  That's when you wait until seconds left in the auction then place a bid that you hope will outbid the current high bidder.  I usually don't snipe bc I don't pay that much attention to what's going on with my auctions, the items are generally not must-have items for me, etc., but this time I happened to be around when the auction was closing so I sniped and did so successfully.

IIUC, the powers that be at ebay discourage sniping, but oh well for them.  Kevin uses ebay a lot.  He's kinda off his stamp collecting at the moment, but he got a ton o' stamps from ebay.  He's currently on his coin collecting and wins several auctions/week.  He's pretty much done with U.S. coins bc he's got most of the ones he can afford.  He's moved on to foreign coins, mostly German and German-state coins.   He does a lot of sniping and, I must admit, usually successfully.  His motto is, 'You live by the snipe, you die by the snipe.'   Tough talk, nu?

So.  As you can see, I've used ebay a bit and had some luck with it.  I am by no means an expert on finding bargains on ebay so I'd love to hear readers' stories and tips around using ebay.  And now, my frugal friends, that's all for today's edition of Thursday Thrift.  See you next time!

Thursday Thrift: Laura, Girl Reporter

Like Lois Lane before her, my co-worker Laura is bound and determined to get the scoop...but in Laura's case, she wants the scoop on bargains  And she wants those bargains bad.  One of her favorite things to do is prowl thrift stores for quality clothes at great prices.  On several recent occasions, she very kindly obliged me by wearing some of her bargains to work  to share with readers.

Here she works the always flattering 3/4 shot in an ensemble that consists, I believe, entirely of thrift shop finds, with the possible exception of her underthings (I'm assuming she's wearing underthings, but really, wouldn't it be even cheaper to do away with underthings altogether?).

Shoes, too!

 

Another day, another ensemble:

 

IIRC, Laura paid approximately the following for the above items:

• purple cashmere sweater: $5
• white tee: $3
• white pants: $6
• black flats: $5
• red 100% cashmere full-length coat: $10
• jeans: $5
• blue shirt: $4
• black layering shirt: $3

At some point I'll get a picture of some righteous, truly nearly new black leather boots she picked up for $10.

Laura will pay a certain amount of $ for certain items.  Under her guidelines, the $10 boots would be a splurge.  She also has certain strategies.  E.g., she knows the schedules for the various shops she likes: when new stuff is put out; when reductions are made; when the seasonal shift in merchandise happens; etc..

She only looks at items priced in a certain way, e.g., one store's tags are color coded.  Just-in items have a certain color price tag.  After a while, they're reduced x% and sport a different color price tag.  I believe that at that store Laura only looks at items with the tags colored for 50% and more off the original price.

She's got a number of stores she likes, but will check out other stores.  She and a friend recently made a tour of thrift shops in some of the tonier hamlets in our fair state and were not greatly impressed.  I doubt she will return to them anytime soon.

Laura looks for items in good condition, of good quality (cut, materials), with good fit...I had no idea that much -- perhaps most? -- of her clothes are thrift store finds.

Some of her favorite stores:

• Nearly New Shop in beautiful downtown Morristown, NJ; this shop is sponsored by the Junior League of Morristown
• The Bargain Box, also in Motown; proceeds support the Women's Assoc. at Morristown Memorial Hospital
• (I know there's more...will update shortly)

My own experience with area thrift shops is meager.  I visited the Nearly New Shop, but since I was squeezing the visit in that day, I did not have enough time to do more than get the lay of the land.  I also visited the Goodwill Store on Route 46W in Fairfield, NJ.  It's a large-ish store.  Clean.  I spent a good amount of time checking out almost every department.  I came away with one shirt, a royal blue 3/4 sleeve fitted number, for a grand total of $3.74.  I thought it was about $7 (an amount which Laura would never pay), but some kind of discount appeared at the register.  Everyone who has complimented me on it is informed, whether they wish it or not, of the enormity of the bargain that was had.  I expect to mosey my way through more thrift shops and will let you know what I find and learn.  I'm afraid I'm not much of a clothes person, so I imagine I'll be looking in the shops for other items as well.

I admit I seriously perused the baby clothes for something I could easily alter for Miles, but the most suitable item had the wrong team logo on it.  I don't think Kevin could abide Miles, as adorable as he is, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles tee shirt.

 

Thursday Thrift: Cheap v. Thifty

Gaaaahhh!  I just lost this entire post!  I'll repost later.  Grrrrrr.

Okay, I'm back and no, I didn't lose my post on purpose just so I could post that picture of a fierce cheezburger cat.

So.

The Star-Ledger ran a four-part series called 'Cheap Thrills' last month.  It's all about the new black, i.e., frugality.  The very first paragraph of the first part:

Once a word used to describe embarrassingly stingy tightwads who favored inexpensive, tasteless items of poor quality, "cheap" now means chic, hip, fashionable and most of all, smart.

Now, IMHO, this is just part of the story.  Wrt the first part of the definition: There's nothing necessarily bad about being cheap in this manner.  If you like inexpensive, tasteless (and taste is up for debate, even when it comes to items almost universally recognized as kitsch) items of poor quality AND it works for you AND you're happy, then rock on.

Cheap has also meant and continues to mean - at least for me - obtaining things, services, experiences, etc. via questionable means.  Such means might include saving money by stiffing your waitperson (who provided good service) all or some of the tip for good service.  Or saving money by stuffing eats from an all-you-can-eat buffet into your purse, briefcase, diaper bag or what have you.  'All-you-can-eat' means all you can eat at this meal, not all you can ever eat if you were only given the chance.  That's screwing someone else over in order to save money and that, my friends, is cheap.  It is not cheap to bring home leftovers from an a la carte meal.  You paid for that entire portion and leaving leftovers at the restaurant is like (say it with me now) leaving money on the table.

Even though there's nothing morally wrong about being cheap in the first sense of the above definition, it does seem like an ugly word, does it not?  Perhaps that's due to the sense of cheap I described in the above paragraph.  Ugly by association.  I prefer the word 'frugal' or 'thrifty'. 

Getting back to the first article, Adopting A Frugal Mentality: Here are 5 tips to release the inner frugaleer (?  thriftine?  ) in you.

1. Change your mindset.  Amen, sister.  Thrift is a way of life guided by what you've determined is important to you, no matter what your financial situation.  A less expensive car could mean lower car payments for you which could then mean more money at your disposal (figuratively speaking, of course) for paying down credit card debt, retirement, college tuition or outfits for your 11 cats - whatever you value.
2. Don't worry about the neighbors.  Seriously.  Neighbors, peers, colleagues, etc. - they're great, but live to please yourself, not them.  Oh, and family!  Don't worry about what your family thinks of you.  And that goes for lots of things.
3. Think before you buy.  Ever since beginning The Great Budget Experiment of 2009 mentioned earlier, I've been really thinking before buying anything.  And I mean anything.  Earlier this week at work, I concluded that a diet Coke with lemon from  Roma would indeed be worth the $1.50 it cost, if only for the short-term jolt (these 5 day weeks are killing me).  And I spent about $5 on suction cups.  So so far I've spent about $6.50 in unplanned discretionary spending.  (I also spent $9 on lunch out, but I've budgeted a certain amount for some lunches out during the work week, so that's planned discretionary spending.)   Try being an intentional consumer; you might be surprised at how much you don't spend.
4. Look for deals everywhere.  Sure, clip coupons to grocery stores, but also for department stores.  Use online coupons.  There are websites out there that list promo codes for online shopping.  If you shop somewhere on a regular basis, see if they have a rewards program.  The very tasty Mara's has a rewards program under which the basic reward is a $5 coupon (off anything and no minimum purchase) every time you spend $100 (cumulative, tracked on a member card, not all at once).  Plus, you get free stuff on your birthday, your partner's birthday, your anniversary, the owner's birthday, the owner's grandkid's birthday....  For realz.  It's like they'll have a promotion for any reason.  Ask if there are any current or upcoming promotions.

Let's recap.  Cheap in the negative sense (not to mention uncomfortable):

Cheap in a positive sense (it's a win-win for all concerned):

Any questions?

Thursday Thrift: craigslisting

Hi there!  This Thursday Thrift I'll share my first foray into buying something on craigslist.  So.  We bought our house in 1995.  It came with a refrigerator that I estimate is from the early 1970s.  Surely it was inefficient; it ran seemingly all the time.  Lately, it started making these moans and groans...I laughed out loud when I first heard it bc it sounded so tired!  As well it should be.  Say it's from 1975; that's 33 years ago!  We figured that its moans and groans would soon turn into a death rattle and we ought to look for another fridge. 

Longtime readers may recall that I have, in fact, an incredibly ugly kitchen.  From what the neighbors tell me, I've deduced that the kitchen was remodeled in the early 1970s due to a fire in that part of the house.  Naturally, it was remodeled in the style and colors of the time:  dark brown, tan, a semi-island.  We will remodel the kitchen.  Someday.  So I figured, we just need yer basic fridge to get us through until we remodel the kitchen, which I hope will be earlier than 'someday'.  Well, why not get a used fridge?  Not too old, not too expensive, not too far away...get a decent fridge, save money and yes, perhaps use a little gas and muscle to pick it up, move it in, move the old one out and get the old one to the dump recycling center (some in town are very sensitive to the fact that our municipal waste facilities be not called a 'dump', but rather a 'recycling center'; whatevs).

So where to get this used fridge?  They do auction/sell them on ebay.  I have used ebay to buy and sell things, although I'm not a frequent user.  I felt a little odd buying a used fridge on ebay even though some sellers said purchases were contingent on the seller demo-ing the fridge to the buyer's satisfaction.  Plus, some of the ebay fridges were kind of expensive.  This one has a Buy It Now price of $506.  It's very similar to the 1 yo fridge we eventually bought, which cost us $225.

I could possibly buy one advertised in the newspaper, but the ads don't have much info nor do they have pictures.  Plus they don't come up that often in the newspapers.  Plus plus you have to drive to see it and you might know from a picture that you don't like it.

How about craigslist?  I saw a few potential fridges and emailed back and forth with a few sellers about age, height, etc.  We eventually settled on a 1 yo Frigidaire in Rockaway, about 20 minutes away.  I knew that it might end up being a little tall to fit under the above-the-fridge-cabinets already in place in the kitchen, but getting rid of those is no big loss (although Kevin will tell you that it's turned out to be more complicated than just removing them).  What was up there, anyway?  Some fancy shmancy servingware that we only use a couple of times a year.  And a herd of water bottles we collected over the years from when we were more active and actually needed hydration during our leisure activities. 

We went there a few days ago, checked it out, bought it from the nice lady, loaded it onto Kevin's truck (he doesn't get to use his truck nearly enough for truck-like things), brought it home annnnnnd tried to figure out how to get it inside.  We knew it would get through the front door bc that's a wide door.  But who knew that it wouldn't get into the back door that leads directly into the kitchen?  Okay, no biggie, in a way it was probably easier to get it in the house through the front door bc there's only one step in the front of the house; the property slopes so there are about 5 steps onto the back porch.

So it's in the house.  We move the old fridge out the back door onto the back porch.  Through which of the two kitchen doors should we bring it into the ktichen?  Turns out neither becaaaauuuuusssse you guessed it, it was too wide to fit.  So the fridge is now in the dining room (next to the kitchen).  Kevin's working on fixing the space where the fridge will go bc a) the cabinet removal got ugly and b) the wall behind the fridge exhibited some cheesiness in that it wasn't all sheetrock.  He's also currently developing a cunning plan which cannot fail to get the fridge into the kitchen.

At one time in its dark past, our house had been an apartment house.  Let's back up a bit.  The way I understand it, the house started life as a single family home in the 1920s.  During/after WWII it became an apartment house due to a housing shortage.  Walls, doors and a set of back stairs/porches were added to divide the house into apartments.  E.g., the 2nd floor had a couple of doorways on the landing; one led to the front apartment and one to the back apartment on that floor.  The doors were removed once the house reverted to single-family usage, but the doorframes remained.  It was probably easier to not remove the framing.  Those particular doorframes went the way of the dodo when we remodeled that part of the house. 

We think the first floor bathroom and the dining room were sectioned off as an apartment.  There's a Bermuda triangle of doorframes in one very small area by where the bathroom, one kitchen door and dining room meet.  The Plan is that we may be able to get the fridge into the kitchen by removing a doorframe there.  The Other Plan is to do something similar to where the other kitchen door and the foyer meet.

I figured that something would likely go awry on my first craigslistering.  I knew the measurements of the fridge we were buying and it was only slightly bigger in width and depth than our old one.  The height was the main concern.  What went awry was my planning in that, obvs, I didn't measure all the doorways through which we might have to move the thing.  In a way, that's not such a big deal bc: a) we got a good deal on a good fridge; b) it's just the kind of fridge to get us through to whenever we remodel; and, most importantly, c) it was a good transaction, i.e., the seller was straight up about why she was selling it, easy to work with, reasonable, etc.  Internet communication is always chancy bc you don't have the benefit of seeing peoples' expressions, movements, gestures, etc.  Still, there were some postings and sellers I did not pursue bc I didn't care for the vibe of the posting and/or the emails.  Admittedly, they may have been fine, upstanding purveyors of used major appliances, but I figured that there are so many for sale that I'd rather wait for a situation with which I felt comfortable.

The old fridge is on the back porch until it retires to the recycling center this weekend:

 

The new-to-us fridge, external view:

 

Internal view:

Thursday Thrift: Thrifty Linkage

This week I'm listing thrift oriented websites.

America's Cheapest Family and the Home Economiser Newsletter - the story of the appropriately named Economides family:

Steve and Annette Economides (Econo mee dis) have raised five kids, paid off their first home in 9 years on an average income of just $35,000, pay cash for their cars and don’t use a credit card . . . ever. The have cashed in on the American dream in a very un-American way — with no debt.

Susanne, the Hillbilly Housewife, has a website,a blog and a recipe index.  I glanced over a few of the crockpot recipes - bc who doesn't love the smell of a delicious dinner cooking in the crockpot all day long? - and the ones I happened upon look pretty easy. 

I'm Susanne, the new owner and creator of the Hillbilly Housewife. The focus here is on low-cost, home-cooking from scratch. The recipes are all tested in a real kitchen with hungry children, stalking cats, begging puppies and a playful husband underfoot. The ingredients are affordable and readily available in most areas.

Currentcodes.com

Hundreds of well-known online stores like Barnes and Noble, Staples, and Overstock.com have a place within their shopping cart for a "coupon code" that gives a percent or dollar amount off your purchase. If you don't know the code, you can't take advantage of the discount. You can find these secret discount codes and coupon codes listed on many sites across the internet but the problem with these sites is that they're usually personal homepages and they don't maintain their lists! Currentcodes.com has a full-time staff of trained individuals whose only job is to find new coupon codes and discount codes and verify the accuracy of the existing database. We don't flood you with ads and we don't throw deals in your face. No hype, just current codes.

Frugal Living in the UK - I thought it might be interesting to read what those thrifty Brits are up to.

Welcome to Frugal Living in the UK. Whether you want to reduce your debts, save for a holiday, stay at home with your children, live more simply or just beat the system a little and end up with more cash, we hope you find something here to help. Consider yourself as in a clothes shop - look around, try the ideas on for size, take what's right for you and leave the rest for someone else. The main sections are listed at the top of each page and there is a spiritual abundance section listed at the bottom that you can take or leave as you please.

Frugal Families

Frugal Families consists of two sections. Our public areas are chock full of helpful information to help you stretch your paycheck. The other area is the paid community or private forums. The forums are an invaluable source of knowledge and frugal support.

Simple Living America - I haven't read this one beyond skimming the front page articles, but it looks interesting and sensible.

Living On A Dime - well, not quite a dime, but this mother-daughter duo tries to get as close as possible.

Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper are a mother daughter team who learned to live in difficult financial circumstances at a time in life when money was always in short supply. Living in a situation where they had to choose between one necessity and another really helped them gain a new perspective about the value of things. It also helped them make distinctions between needs and desires.

Their goal is to educate people about better ways to handle money in the hope that the people they touch can live more fulfilled and less stressful lives. Their story is not just for people who live on very small incomes. Instead, they hope that sharing their story of money scarcity and how they dealt with it will help people more wisely manage their resources and become financially strong.

If you Google 'thrifty websites' or 'frugal websites' or 'money saving websites', you'll get tons of links.  And many of those links offer lists of links to similar websites.

Thursday Thrift: Couponing

Ah, yes, that wonderful hobby, couponing.  We've used coupons very casually.  If we were going to buy the thing anyway and we have a coupon, great.  If not and we needed it, no biggie.  And sometimes we'll try something new just bc there's a good coupon out there (for very new products, there often are good coupons specifically geared toward suckers like us).  Anyway, today I'll chat about how I've begun to approach coupons with new verve and je ne sais quoi.

Kevin usually does the coupon clipping and grocery shopping at A&P on Sundays, but I've almost pushed the poor guy aside.  Almost.  See, my strategy is, as much as possible, to use coupons when the item is on sale.  Add to this another new strategy, grocery store hopping, and I am able to use more coupons. 

Well, let me back up a bit.  My coupons come from the Sunday paper and the rare coupon that comes in the mail.  There are printable, online coupons available, but A&P doesn't accept them bc people just photocopy them and voila they have 100 coupons.  When they use their 100 coupons, it costs the grocery store money.  The manufacturer, too.   See, you're not supposed to copy them.

I should check and see if the others stores I'm adding (or considering adding) to my rotation accept online coupons.  Although I have to say that a lot of coupons - online or newspaper or otherwise - are for things we don't use or want.   Like Go-GURT:

Go-GURT® Portable Lowfat Yogurt, the first-ever yogurt in a tube, is the perfect snack for on-the-go kids. Not only do kids love Go-GURT® yogurt's fun tube and interactive promotions, but they can't get enough of the smooth, creamy texture and wide variety of great, fun flavors like Strawberry Splash and Cool Cotton Candy.

Longtime readers will certainly be able to predict what I think about Go-GURT.    But!  Moving on.

So.  Kevin clips the coupons from Sunday's paper and puts them in a small index card box according to some very general categories, e.g., cat stuff, toiletries, soup, paper products, etc.  There's also spots for the coupons that I expect to use at the different stores.  And then I:

• Check out the store circulars to see what's on sale that we need or will use (e.g., We have about 60 cans of cat food in the house at the moment.  At this time, I'd buy more this weekend if there's a sale and we have coupons.  When we're at the level where we could feed a small cat rescue organization, I'll hold off on buying more cat food.  The goal is to have purchased enough on sale and with coupons to last until the next time it goes on sale and we have coupons.  Of course, if we run out of cat food and there isn't a sale and/or we don't have coupons, we still buy it bc a cat's gotta eat.  In fact, 6 cats have to eat.)
• See if I can match up any coupons with sale items.
• Write up mini grocery lists, one for each store, noting what items to buy and whether or not I have a coupon.
• Put the coupons I plan to use in the store spots in the box.
• Kevin does the shopping at A&P; I do the shopping at the other stores. 

The other stores are ShopRite, CVS and Aldis.  I think Aldis will become the default store for basic items, unless the quality stinks.  I've only been there once so I don't have a lot of experience with their products.   It's pretty hard to screw up products like canned tomatoes (e.g., the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste that I use to make sauce) and the prices there are pretty inexpensive.

But what about the driving from store to store?  Well, I'm working on streamlining that.  If Aldis is the place for non-perishable items, then I will probably go less frequently.  Aldis is 2 towns over (about 15-20 minutes).  CVS and ShopRite are close to each other 1 town over (about 10 minutes).  So we're not talking about great distances and times, but it's 3 stops more than just going to A&P.

Let me pause for just a moment to say how much cheaper ShopRite is than A&P and why haven't we been shopping there anyway?  I mean, regardless of how much money you make/have, there's no need to just give it away for no good reason.

I've done this for about 2 weeks now.  Too soon to tell if we've saved any money.  My first foray was to ShopRite.  I bought the following at ShopRite:

• 40 cans of cat food (the tuna fish sized cans)
• 3 cans of Hunt's spaghetti sauce
• 5 cans of various Contadina tomato products (e.g., crushed tomatoes, tomato paste)
• 2 deodorants
• 1 toothpaste
• 2 eight oz. pkgs. of shredded mozzarella
• 3 eight oz. bars of cheese
• 2 lbs. of bacon
• 2 Windex
• 2 Fantastik
• 1 Pledge
• 4 three packs of Scott tissues
• 2 three packs of Sunrise paper towels

Now we get to play The Price Is Right.  How much do you think the above cost?  Before sales and coupons, the total was $93.05.  After, it was $67.54, a savings of $25.51 or 27%.  I consider the percentage somewhat more important than the actual dollar amounts.  Assuming I'm not making too many impulse purchases and/or buying junk that's not on the lists, the actual dollar amounts should take care of themselves.  That's the theory, anyway.  My theory, btw; not an actual quantitatively researched theory.

Some people calcualte the amount saved by comparing how much it cost to make a meal before and after couponing (and other strategies they may use).  Some people, e.g., Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Tightwad Gazette, use a price book which tracks which store offers the lowest unit price on items they regularly use and buy (I think it tracks other stuff, too, but I can't remember.).

Those approaches are a little involved for me.  The goal is to save money without getting all compulsive about it and/or putting an extraordinary amount of effort into it.  We use software to balance our accounts, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to see if we're actually saving anything by comparing, over time, the entries charged to Groceries.

BTW, if anyone out there is interested in becoming a true tightwad - that is, not a poseur such as myself - you might find The Tightwad Gazette inspiring.  It's a bit dated (it came out in the 90s), so some things won't apply and there's very little about internet use, online shopping, etc.  This family had some serious financial goals and I think it's accurate to say that they are the tightest wads out there.   Their achievements dwarf my puny efforts.  You can get it at the library and, if your library doesn't have it, ask if they can get it from another library for you.  Or buy it used at amazon or ebay.

I have to admit that it's actually kind of fun.  Stephanie, my friend/co-worker/neighbor*, and I hope to have a good time with it.  I'll post again if any new couponing ideas come up and when I figure out whether or not this is savings money or not.

*I might spend time driving to different stores, but I save time by having people fulfill multiple roles in my life, such as rolling friend, co-worker and neighbor into one person.